Yep, Kermit Washington. We recently found out, via a small line in a post over at The Starting Five (where else?), that Kermit Washington is actively involved in a lot of charity work.
For those not familiar with Kermit Washington, he's the former NBA player that, during a fight in 1977, threw a punch at an opposing player, Rudy Tomjanovich, that completely broke his face and almost killed him. The severity of the punch and its effects on everything, from the NBA to the participants, has been discussed in lots of other places (including a book by John Feinstein called "The Punch"), so I won't get into the incident in anymore detail than that.
The fact is that Kermit Washington, if he's remember at all, is remembered for that punch above all else. I'm no different - I read the name Kermit Washington, and immediately pictured Rudy Tomjanovich getting the worst speed knot ever. That's why that small mention about Kermit Washington's charity work piqued my interest, and so I did a little research. One of the charities Kermit started is Project Contact - from their website:
Project Contact was founded in 1995 after former NBA star Kermit Washington took a trip to Rwanda, Africa with Northwest Medical Teams, an organization that brings medical relief to different nations of Africa. During his time there, he observed such a high rate of human suffering and such atrocious living conditions; he was inspired to try to make a change himself. Kermit decided to expand his then existing charity, The Sixth Man Foundation, a local (Oregon) charity that helps out the citizens of Portland, into something more global. Project Contact was born.
The aforementioned Sixth Man Foundation was an earlier charity that Washington started. It's focus was "To supply prayer, compassion and financial support for families and individuals going through the hardship of cancer." After the trip to Rwanda, Kermit had a new goal:
"I had been going over to Africa ever since the Rwandan War. I went with a medical group over ten years ago, after donating some money and I just thought it was horrendous. So, I went over there and then I saw how really terribly bad it is. I mean, we don't even let, gosh, the worst animals in the world live like that... rats live like most of those people live there. I just said that I will keep coming and seeing what I can do. And, it got to the point where I did as much as I thought I could and it just grew and grew. We started taking doctors and nurses, volunteers taking medicine and the NBA Players Association has donated close to $50,000 worth of medicine to help supply the clinic."
The 50 doctors, 20 medical students and 10 nurses with whom he first traveled to Africa saw 1,000 people per day for two weeks straight.
"We were given malaria and antibiotic kits for $80 instead of $4,000 per kit," he said. "If you think about it, we were seeing 25 people every four minutes."
According to the website, Kermit Washington goes twice a year to Africa with Project Contact. They travel with volunteer doctors and nurses to provide medicine and treatment. The organization has recently focused on bringing medicine and doctors into the worst slums in Africa.
“Helping starts the moment you make contact”- Kermit Washington
You know, people probably won't ever be able to think of anything else when it comes to Kermit Washington other than that punch. It's a shame, because he is generally regarded as a smart, educated (he is often called to speak at his alma mater, American University) person who has dedicated a lot of his life to doing good work. And we're not talking about a basketball player that made millions here; we're talking about a guy who probably made some good coin, but not enough to be living large. Yet here he is spending his time focused on making the world a slightly better place. Again, from the Project Contact website's news section:
Project Contact in July is beginning a partnership with Feed the Children and the NBPA (National Basketball Player's Association) in feeding ONE million people this summer in the slums of Kenya. The program in Kenya will start in July and end whenever we run out of food. Project Contact not only has a medical clinic but also a school that has 50 students in which they are fed twice per day. We have also built a community center where their are classes for the locals on various subjects.
Since the beginning of Project Contact in 1995, Kermit has made 24 trips to Nairobi, Kenya. The doctors and nurses that volunteer to go with him each trip have been bringing medical relief to areas in which there is no running water or even electricity, let alone medical care. The teams consist of Kermit and volunteers consisting of doctors, nurses, homemakers and everyday citizens who take out two weeks of their lives to assist in this worthy cause.
People associated with basketball that have helped out Project Contact:
- Phil Knight: Founder of Nike - Current CEO and President.
- David Falk: Sports Agent - Considered one of the most powerful men in sports.
- John Thompson: Hall of Fame Coach - Put Georgetown on the map as a national power.
- Billy Hunter: President of the Players Association in the NBA.
- David Stern: CEO of the NBA.
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SML, once again great stuff. 24 trips since 1995 is simply amazing. You know, its amazing how it takes 12 years for this to surface. Thanks for putting it out there.
I just finished reading the book "The Punch" It's truly amazing what has happened to this man for "one" freaking mistake.
After reading this I wish Kermit and Rudy T would agree to meet in person so Rudy T and Kermit put this behind them. I remember "the punch" as I was in High School, but after reading the book, I will remember KW as a decent and cariing person. You never know, maybe if they we're to meet, Rudy T (also a very decent person) can help out KW's charity. READ THE BOOK !
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I believe I caught something on HBO Real Sports about this a few years ago. It's interesting how punching Rudy T changed his life. For example, I don't even know what kind of player he is.
This is great example of a guy continuing on with life after basketball and making a big difference while doing so. Hats off to Kermit!