Sonics legend Gary Payton gives advice to kids

Organizers aim to make every day fun at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, but it’s extra special when a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame stops by.

Gary Payton, the Seattle SuperSonics all-time leading scorer and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, talked to 25 kids about the importance of listening to their parents and setting goals. He told the group, gathered around him in a basketball gymnasium, that it would be impressive if one of them could play professional sports.

Payton admitted to struggling when deciding what to do with his life after retiring at age 38 in 2007. He said he was lucky to not join the 87 percent of professional athletes who go broke within four years.

“I appreciate that you guys want to play sports, it can be your passion, but you have to have something else to back it up,” he said.

Payton said he has been able to do well in his retirement because he learned to manage his money.

“When you get a lot of money, you lose your mind,” he said. “You start buying stuff that you don’t need to buy. You do a lot of stuff that you don’t need to do and it happens. You can enjoy yourself, but you have to understand that you’ve got to plan for the future.”

Payton visited kids at the Boys & Girls Club near Edgar Brown Stadium as part of a whirlwind day of events for the nonprofit. It was scheduled to culminate with the Dinner with Friends event at the TRAC facility, where 450 people were scheduled to attend.

Payton, 47, credits his parents with helping him growing up in Oakland, Calif., but he said he now wants to help kids who don’t have that support, traveling the country to speak to the Boys & Girls Club and other groups. He also is planning a trip to China.

Kids got the opportunity to catch a basketball thrown to them by Payton, who has the eighth most assists in National Basketball Association history. But he told reporters before his speech that he tries to give them words that will stick with them.

“That’s what goes into a kid’s head right now, is when you come back and tell them something to do that will make an impression in their mind,” he said. “I’m not going to go in there and try to teach them basketball because it’s not going to happen in a day. But what can happen is I can come and talk to you and tell you how to be successful and how you can move to the next level with learning.”

Payton said it was his first visit to the Tri-Cities since the Sonics played a 1991 preseason game in Kennewick against the Utah Jazz. He now wants to join a group that looks to bring the NBA back to Seattle, where the Sonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008.

He still sees the effect the team had, with people wearing Sonics gear years after the move. He said the team was more popular than the Seahawks or Mariners when he played.

“People are continuing to wear our jerseys and continuing to come and have rallies, and continuing to try to get the team back,” he said. “The fans were so true. That’s why I always tell them I will never raise my jersey in Oklahoma City. They deserve me or (teammate) Shawn Kemp to raise our jersey in the city of Seattle. We never played in front of Oklahoma.”

Payton’s son, Gary Payton II, was first-team all Pac-12 in basketball at Oregon State University, also the elder Payton’s alma mater. He told the kids that while his son could someday follow him to the NBA, he is more proud of the person he has become.

“Don’t nobody talk about his basketball, all they talk about is how much of a gentleman and what a good character he is,” Payton said. “That lets me know that I did something right, and I learned from my parents.”

The Boys & Girls Club, which serves 2,300 youths in the area annually, regularly gets fun visitors, said Adriana Garcia, 10, a fifth-grader at Captain Gray STEM Elementary.

“I actually really like it. Every day I cannot wait to get to the Boys & Girls Club. I’ve got this ready to put in my backpack,” she said of her membership card.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Sonics legend Gary Payton gives advice to kids."