JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – For the first time ever, an Alaskan basketball player has taken his place among the game’s greats.
Juneau’s Carlos Boozer was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, along with the rest of the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team, nicknamed the “Redeem Team”, that took home gold at the Beijing Olympics.
“It’s everything to me,” Boozer said. “I wouldn’t be there without the people that supported me along the way.”
“Coming from Washington D.C., all the way to Alaska, the community embraced our family and took us in,” he said about his upbringing in the state capitol.
“They helped raise me as a son, taught me what it meant to be a Crimson Bear, and I wore that for the rest of my career.”
To Boozer, being a Crimson Bear meant being very successful.
A four-year varsity player at Juneau-Douglas High School, he led his squads to a 95-12 total record and back-to-back state titles. He was also twice named to PARADE‘s All-American high school basketball team, and scored 22 points in the 1999 McDonald’s All-America game.
Boozer’s parents, Carlos Sr. and Renee, were both in attendance at the ceremony held at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts – over 6,500 miles away from Juneau.
“He was like, ‘Dad! I can’t believe it!’,” said Carlos Sr.
“I said, ‘Believe it, son! You’re in!’.”
Boozer, who has returned to Alaska many times to host basketball camps, says he has no intention of stopping.
“Whatever the dream is, it doesn’t have to be basketball, but if somebody has a dream, they should go for it,” he said when asked what advice he would give to young Alaskan basketball players hoping to follow in his Hall-of-Fame footsteps.
“There’s gonna be obstacles, there’s gonna be roadblocks, there’s gonna be hiccups.
“I would be the voice telling them to stay encouraged, continue to believe in yourself, find your tribe, your purpose.”
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