CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY Dwight Howard has been working hard at his game ever since losing to the Lakers in 2009. But he hasn’t spent every minute on the court. His growing celebrity, his generous nature, and his outstanding athleticism have led him down paths he’d only dreamed of walking.
His charitable activities began in his rookie season, when he founded the Dwight D. Howard Foundation with his parents. The goal of the Foundation is to provide low-income students with scholarships to Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy and financial assistance to middle schools in Orlando.
Since then, Dwight has been involved in many local and international relief efforts. In 2005, he was named the recipient of the Rich and Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award, an award given annually to the Magic player who dedicates time to improving the lives of people in the Orlando community. Dwight had spent many hours that year visiting local schools and talking with children during Read to Achieve events.
“It was fun!” Dwight said enthusiastically. “I am definitely going to keep it up.”
In more recent years, he hosted a summer basketball camp with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida and the YMCA and took children on shopping sprees at toy stores. He helped build a playground. He visited sick children in hospitals and donated money to buy backpacks stuffed with school supplies.
In September 2009, he joined other NBA players for the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) program in South Africa. There, he took part in several basketball events geared at raising awareness of that country’s health, education, and wellness issues. He worked to help off the court, too, by laying cement for a house being built and planting a garden.
Dwight has been busy with other activities, too. He has appeared in several very funny commercials, in two movies, on a late-night talk show, as a guest star on a home improvement show, and on many magazine covers. He’s also the star of a basketball video game, NBA Live 10, a fact that delights him.
“I was going crazy!” he said after he found out he’d been chosen as the cover image. “I’ve wanted to be on the cover of NBA Live since I was a kid.”
When he’s not posing for photos, being filmed, or appearing as a cartoon version of himself in a video game, he’s keeping in touch with his huge fan base through online social networks. He spends much of his free time relaxing in his home in Orlando, a huge house filled with the latest video and gaming equipment, more bedrooms than he knows what to do with, and even a closet dedicated to his favorite candy, Skittles, M&M’S, and Starburst.
Dwight’s dedication to God and the church has remained strong throughout his five-year career in the NBA. When in Atlanta, he attends services at the Fellowship of Faith Church. He also prays regularly before games.
But even one as committed to his religion as Dwight is can falter at times. In 2008, he became a father to a little boy named Braylon, although he was not married to Braylon’s mother. He suffered some backlash from this, and yet, he was very open about how he felt about the new person in his life.
“A blessing,” he calls Braylon, echoing his own father’s description of himself so many years ago. “When I first saw him, I had to turn away from him for a second. Just looking at him and looking in his eyes and seeing the innocence of a little baby… I cried.”
A blessing is what many Orlando fans call Dwight himself. In the six years he has been on the team, he has raised the Magic to greater heights than any other player in decades. While a 2010 bid for the championship title ended in disappointment for the Magic, Howard continues to give Orlando hope for a future Finals victory. His energy and power lead him to routinely turn in performances of 30 or more points and double-digit rebounding stats. His drive to win has raised the team to greater heights than any other player has in decades.
And through it all, Howard brings his own brand of fun to the court. He can’t help it. “Basketball gives me joy,” he once said to his father. “Why shouldn’t I be having fun?”