Nice-guy Nash gives Africa a little assist

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After lending his name and considerable skill to the biggest sporting fundraiser of the year in this city, Steve Nash could be excused if he wanted to spend the rest of the summer with his feet up, poolside with his wife and young twin daughters at his Phoenix estate.

But that’s not who Steve Nash is or what he’s all about.

As any of the 16,112 who attended the Steve Nash Foundation Charity Classic at GM Place last weekend learned, the 32-year-old Victoria native was born to help others.

On the basketball court, he helps make those around him better. Off the floor, though, is where the two-time National Basketball Association most valuable player is truly making a difference, and his best work this summer is yet to come.

Getting a few of his NBA friends to show up for a night of fun and a little bit of basketball was nothing. Using his talent, and the fame that comes with it, to save lives a world away is the kind of assist Steve Nash is most interested in.

And so it is that Nash will pack his high-tops and set off for South Africa in the second week of September. He’s taking part in an NBA program known as Basketball Without Borders, and he’s doing it because he truly believes he can make a difference.

"Yeah, it’ll be my first trip back to South Africa, where I was born, so that will be interesting. To give that continent a little bit of support and help is great to me," said Nash, moments after his charity game. "It’s kind of a travesty how we’ve ignored that continent for so long, especially with the AIDS crisis, and right now I think they need us more than ever. So for me it will be about awareness and education, and hopefully it will be a really influential trip."

Nash was born in Johannesburg, but his family moved to Victoria before he was two. So although he has roots in South Africa, he has no recollection of his time there. But he knows there’s such a need for help in so many parts of the continent that he jumped at the chance to go and do his part.

"We’re having a camp for the best basketball players in Africa, and then the rest of the trip is about education, learning about townships and the hardships they face," he explained. "It’s really just getting an awareness and an education of life there and some of the struggles they face."

There seems to be no separating Steve Nash the basketball star from Steve Nash the social activist. They’re just two sides of the unique and well-rounded kid from Vancouver Island who has risen, quite remarkably, to the top of his profession. Cynics might wonder if Nash would be as charitable if he held down a desk job and made $50,000 a year. But he insists his actions have nothing to do with his income.

"It’s just highlighted because I have a platform, you know, and because I play basketball on TV every day, I’m able to do things and exponentially impact people and situations. If I was making the average income in a regular job, hopefully my humanitarian endeavour would be with my neighbours or people I come in contact with," he said with force, but in his soft, down-to-earth voice. "But since we had the opportunity to start a foundation and to get people involved and get media attention, and to create awareness and create funds, it’s highlighted. But there are probably millions of people around the world who have a social conscience and who are willing to be selfless and look out for one another and have a sense of community."

And has he always been socially conscious?

"Since I was three or four—just kidding," Nash replied with a laugh. "I think I was sensitive to some things as a kid, but oblivious for the most part. Especially when you’re young, you’re probably a lot more self- centred; you don’t really see much farther than the reach of your arms and legs. I really just started to learn in college more about the diversity and dependence that there is in the world and the inequality, and it got me thinking. It was probably influenced a little being a sociology major. Everyone always talks about a sociology major being a short tunnel to nowhere, but it was a great study in life for me. Although I forget most of what I read, I was impacted by some sort of themes or ideas I studied."

Nash continues to be inspired by what he learned during his days at Santa Clara University in the mid-1990s. And as his charity game here last weekend demonstrates, he does more than most to help where he can. But Nash was quick to defend the contributions of his fellow basketballers, and professional athletes as a whole, from assertions that they don’t do enough to assist their communities.

"I don’t think athletes are that much different than everyday people. I think when you take a cross-section, there are probably the same amount of people in the NBA that are helping as there are in the regular sector of our community. I think it’s unfair sometimes to say, ‘What about this guy? What’s he doing?’ because I bet there are thousands of CEOs out there who aren’t helping the community," he said. "On the other hand, there’s a ton of NBA players who are doing some incredible stuff with their own foundations, with private donations, with private involvement that doesn’t get attention—or through their teams. You can’t discredit the fact that teams get guys out in the community and that guys show up with a smile and help. I think that NBA players are extremely well represented in the community, and I think it would be unfair to judge them if you took a cross-section of some other profession or average sector of the community. I think they’d be proud of what they’ve done."

Steve Nash is certainly proud of what he’s done. And so he should be. And while no one knows if he’ll be able to win a third straight NBA MVP award, it’s a safe bet that Nash’s finest off-court work is still ahead of him.