Not sure if the content here is news, but there was a piece on Bender in the Star today. A pretty good read.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...=2008807090410
July 9, 2008
Bender's new gig
Former Pacer is helping lower income families in New Orleans area
By Rick Cleveland
The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
NEW ORLEANS -- Jonathan Bender remembers the turn of the century, when he was a millionaire teenager playing for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA and all the young guns wanted to become the next Michael Jordan.
"I was different; I wanted to be the guy who owned the team," Bender said. "I wanted to be the guy who signed the checks and was at the top of the chain.
"I thought to myself, 'If there's somebody who can afford to pay us all these millions, then there's a whole 'nother world out there I don't know anything about. There's a whole 'nother level.' I wanted to be on that level."
Now 27 and retired from the NBA for two years because of arthritic knees, Bender plans to use his riches and influence to help make New Orleans, his adopted home, a more livable place post-Hurricane Katrina.
Bender's construction company buys flood-ravaged housing and restores it to better quality than it was pre-Katrina. His real estate management company then makes the property available for leasing, often to former New Orleans residents who evacuated during Katrina and are looking to return.
Bender has earned the respect of local contractors and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority because of his attention to detail -- and his insistence that low- to middle-income housing need not be shoddy housing.
"Jonathan has done more than the government so far as providing quality housing for low- and moderate-income families," said Barbara Major, a board member of NORA, which was established to redevelop blighted housing. "He's not just throwing something together . . . He does quality work. He really cares about the people who are going to live there."
A star from the beginning
Bender grew up in Picayune, Miss., a hoops prodigy, destined for stardom.
"I can't ever remember being considered normal," he said.
Bender hit the national scene when he broke Jordan's scoring record in the 1999 McDonald's All-America Game with 31 points. The Toronto Raptors made Bender the fifth overall pick of the NBA draft straight out of high school and traded his rights to the Pacers, who signed him to a three-year, $7 million contract.
Over those three years, Bender showed enough promise despite chronic knee problems that the Pacers rewarded him with a four-year, $28.5 million deal.
"I've never seen the combination of a 7-footer who could shoot from the outside, handle the ball and jump as high as he could," former Pacers president Donnie Walsh said in 2003. "He's the only guy I've had who stopped practice with the things he did. I thought he would be a great player. Every coach I put him with couldn't believe his talent."
But Bender's knees ached constantly.
"It was such a struggle to play," he said. "My love and passion for the game got lower and lower. I was ready to move on."
He retired in 2006 and set out on a new path, one formed by his bond with Billy Ray Hobley. Bender was 12 when his father died. He met Hobley, a former Harlem Globetrotter, shortly thereafter. Hobley became Bender's basketball mentor and his second father.
Hobley believed in giving back to the community, and he stressed that, as well as basketball lessons, to young Bender. Bender moved to the New Orleans suburb of Kenner in 1999, in part to be close to Hobley and his family. Hobley died of a heart attack in 2002, when Bender was 21.
Mattie Hobley, Billy Ray's widow, ran Hobley's nonprofit charity, first in Los Angeles and then in New Orleans. She now is the director of Bender's foundation, which has adopted an elementary school in suburban Metairie, which flooded during Katrina.
Gloria Willis, principal of Joseph S. Maggiore Elementary, said, "Jonathan's been a godsend to our students. We've got 432 students, and he gave a Christmas present to every one of them. He not only provided an Easter basket for every one of them, he hid the eggs."
Taking pride in quality
Currently, Bender is most interested in his real estate ventures, which are centered in the hard-hit east New Orleans and Gentilly areas.
"Jonathan won't use cheap carpet or linoleum," said Joe Esnard III, a longtime New Orleans builder who has done much of Bender's construction work. "He wants granite countertops, oak cabinets, quality flooring, nice light fixtures. I tell him he's going overboard for rental property, but he says he wants it to look like something he'd live in himself."
Mattie Hobley has suggested to Bender that he begin work toward a college degree. Bender said that's not likely.
"I'm going through my college right now," Bender says. "I'm learning what I need to know firsthand on the job . . . I'm an entrepreneur, and I want to help people. That's who I am."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...=2008807090410
July 9, 2008
Bender's new gig
Former Pacer is helping lower income families in New Orleans area
By Rick Cleveland
The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger
NEW ORLEANS -- Jonathan Bender remembers the turn of the century, when he was a millionaire teenager playing for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA and all the young guns wanted to become the next Michael Jordan.
"I was different; I wanted to be the guy who owned the team," Bender said. "I wanted to be the guy who signed the checks and was at the top of the chain.
"I thought to myself, 'If there's somebody who can afford to pay us all these millions, then there's a whole 'nother world out there I don't know anything about. There's a whole 'nother level.' I wanted to be on that level."
Now 27 and retired from the NBA for two years because of arthritic knees, Bender plans to use his riches and influence to help make New Orleans, his adopted home, a more livable place post-Hurricane Katrina.
Bender's construction company buys flood-ravaged housing and restores it to better quality than it was pre-Katrina. His real estate management company then makes the property available for leasing, often to former New Orleans residents who evacuated during Katrina and are looking to return.
Bender has earned the respect of local contractors and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority because of his attention to detail -- and his insistence that low- to middle-income housing need not be shoddy housing.
"Jonathan has done more than the government so far as providing quality housing for low- and moderate-income families," said Barbara Major, a board member of NORA, which was established to redevelop blighted housing. "He's not just throwing something together . . . He does quality work. He really cares about the people who are going to live there."
A star from the beginning
Bender grew up in Picayune, Miss., a hoops prodigy, destined for stardom.
"I can't ever remember being considered normal," he said.
Bender hit the national scene when he broke Jordan's scoring record in the 1999 McDonald's All-America Game with 31 points. The Toronto Raptors made Bender the fifth overall pick of the NBA draft straight out of high school and traded his rights to the Pacers, who signed him to a three-year, $7 million contract.
Over those three years, Bender showed enough promise despite chronic knee problems that the Pacers rewarded him with a four-year, $28.5 million deal.
"I've never seen the combination of a 7-footer who could shoot from the outside, handle the ball and jump as high as he could," former Pacers president Donnie Walsh said in 2003. "He's the only guy I've had who stopped practice with the things he did. I thought he would be a great player. Every coach I put him with couldn't believe his talent."
But Bender's knees ached constantly.
"It was such a struggle to play," he said. "My love and passion for the game got lower and lower. I was ready to move on."
He retired in 2006 and set out on a new path, one formed by his bond with Billy Ray Hobley. Bender was 12 when his father died. He met Hobley, a former Harlem Globetrotter, shortly thereafter. Hobley became Bender's basketball mentor and his second father.
Hobley believed in giving back to the community, and he stressed that, as well as basketball lessons, to young Bender. Bender moved to the New Orleans suburb of Kenner in 1999, in part to be close to Hobley and his family. Hobley died of a heart attack in 2002, when Bender was 21.
Mattie Hobley, Billy Ray's widow, ran Hobley's nonprofit charity, first in Los Angeles and then in New Orleans. She now is the director of Bender's foundation, which has adopted an elementary school in suburban Metairie, which flooded during Katrina.
Gloria Willis, principal of Joseph S. Maggiore Elementary, said, "Jonathan's been a godsend to our students. We've got 432 students, and he gave a Christmas present to every one of them. He not only provided an Easter basket for every one of them, he hid the eggs."
Taking pride in quality
Currently, Bender is most interested in his real estate ventures, which are centered in the hard-hit east New Orleans and Gentilly areas.
"Jonathan won't use cheap carpet or linoleum," said Joe Esnard III, a longtime New Orleans builder who has done much of Bender's construction work. "He wants granite countertops, oak cabinets, quality flooring, nice light fixtures. I tell him he's going overboard for rental property, but he says he wants it to look like something he'd live in himself."
Mattie Hobley has suggested to Bender that he begin work toward a college degree. Bender said that's not likely.
"I'm going through my college right now," Bender says. "I'm learning what I need to know firsthand on the job . . . I'm an entrepreneur, and I want to help people. That's who I am."
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