former missouri basketball player demarre carroll hosts ...€¦ · utah jazz forward demarre...

COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN

Former Missouri basketball playerDeMarre Carroll hosts youth campBy Jack HayesJune 12, 2013 | 6:00 a.m. CDT

Utah Jazz forward DeMarre Carroll lines up to practice free throws Tuesday at Father Tolton CatholicHigh School. Carroll said he was inspired to hold a basketball camp for children by former NBAplayer, Corliss Williamson, who held a basketball camp in Arkansas that Carroll attended as a child. | Unho Yi

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Utah Jazz forward and MU alumnus DeMarre Carroll smiles at children playing basketball at theDeMarre Carroll Next Level Basketball Camp on Tuesday at Father Tolton Catholic High School. | Unho Yi


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Utah Jazz forward DeMarre Carroll practices free throws during the DeMarre Carroll Next LevelBasketball Camp on Tuesday at Father Tolton Catholic High School. | Unho Yi


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Utah Jazz forward DeMarre Carroll hosted the Demarre Carroll Next Level Basketball Camp on Tuesday at FatherTolton Catholic High School. Carroll created the basketball camp two years ago to benefit children in Columbia. ¦ Unho Yi

COLUMBIA — DeMarre Carroll knows that one day his NBA career will come to an end. Whenthat time comes, he has a plan.

"The ball is going to stop bouncing one day," Carroll said. "My whole thing is I want to helpkids and help people. I'm a people helper."

Carroll, a crucial player on the 2008-09 Missouri men'sbasketball team, is in Columbia hosting a youth basketballcamp this week at Father Tolton Catholic High School.

The 6-foot-8-inch small forward for the Utah Jazz made aname for himself as an energetic, tough defender in the NBA

over the past two seasons, and his success has provided him an avenue to help children. In fact,more than half of the children participating in Carroll's camp are there on scholarships,

Utah Jazz forward DeMarre Carroll coaches participants of the Demarre Carroll Next Level BasketballCamp on Tuesday at Father Tolton Catholic High School. Carroll created the basketball camp twoyears ago to benefit children in Columbia. | Unho Yi


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DeMarre's father, Ed Carroll, said.

DeMarre Carroll's determination to aid youth isn't just a small piece of his life, but rather issomething deeply rooted in his family.

"His grandmother was the mother of the community," said Ed Carroll. "No kid could gowithout any type of need if she knew about it."

Ed Carroll is a pharmacist in Birmingham, Ala., where he has also been a pastor for the past 16years. Ed Carroll and his wife, Cynthia Carroll, are helping run the camp.

"I always tell (DeMarre), you're going to spend more time doing something else for the rest ofyour life than doing basketball," Ed Carroll said. "One day basketball will be over, so what areyou going to do then?"

For DeMarre Carroll, the answer to that question is easy: help children.

"These kids tell me every day how much they appreciate me coming," DeMarre Carroll said. "Itjust makes me feel special, like I'm doing something cool for them."

DeMarre Carroll says he feels his life experiences have put him in a position to be a greatexample for children. After helping Missouri to an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearanceduring his senior season, he was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 27th overall pick.Just two years later, however, he found himself unsigned as he waited for the NBA lockout toend.

When an opportunity finally came with the Utah Jazz, DeMarre Carroll made sure he wasready to take advantage.

"Just because it didn't work out your first two or three years, you can still do some damage (inthe NBA)," he said. "The biggest thing in the NBA is stick around."

DeMarre Carroll has done just that. As a free agent this offseason, he is drawing interest from alot of teams, he said. His hustle and will to do the dirty work is what he notes as his calling cardfor NBA teams. This approach to his game is also the one he brings to life.

"God put me through a lot," he said. "Everything that's happened to me, even here at Missouriwhen I got shot, I feel like I'm a testimony to tell everybody and kids that just becausesomebody tells you, 'You can't do it, you can't make it,' doesn't mean you can't."


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DeMarre Carroll, who was shot in the ankle while outside of Club Tropicana in downtownColumbia in July 2007, is currently pursuing a master's degree in Human Development andFamily Studies through MU, something he hopes to complete over the next two summers.

Although he still has high expectations for his basketball career, DeMarre Carroll sees himselftaking advantage of his education to do things beyond the game. This includes his dream ofbuilding Boys and Girls Clubs across the country, starting with places such as Columbia and hishometown, Birmingham, Ala.

"I really want to do things like this with kids," DeMarre Carroll said. "Hopefully I can buildBoys and Girls Clubs throughout the world."

The DeMarre Carroll Next Level Basketball Camp started on Monday and will continuethrough Friday. It aims to teach youth players the fundamental of the game as well as providelessons for their lives, Ed Carroll said.

Supervising editor is Grant Hodder.


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former missouri basketball player demarre carroll hosts ...€¦ · utah jazz forward demarre...

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