Enter Allan Guei. He's an 18-year-old graduate of Compton High School. Guei is an extremely talented basketball player who will attend Cal State-Northridge this fall. He entered a free-throw contest organized by Compton-area businessman Court Crandall. Any Compton senior with a 3.0 GPA or higher was eligible. Eighty young men and women qualified and eight were chosen at random to compete. Incidentally, Crandall was asked why Guei was allowed to compete. His basketball prowess gave him a huge advantage over most of the other students. Crandall emphasized that this contest was among kids with good grades. To tell Guei he couldn't compete would be telling him that his grades didn't matter.
The contest was closer than you might think. Guei won - hitting 5 of 10 shots. However, the runner-up made 4 of 10 free-throws. She shot them underhanded. Guei received a $40,000 scholarship to use toward his educational expenses. His family was ecstatic. Although Guei had a full scholarship to Northridge, NCAA rules would allow him to keep at least 80% of the contest money. But Allan Guei is a point guard and his first instinct is to pass. He gave his entire $40,000 scholarship to the other seven contestants. Guei told the Los Angeles Times, "I felt it was the right move to help the others, especially when everything else was taking off for me."
It was the right move. This young man teaches us a good lesson in sports and life. When you can help someone, you should. Seven more young people will have a better chance at a quality education and a better life thanks to a young man from Compton. Not bad for a city called "The CPT" - not bad at all. Until next time...
Be a Good Sport!
-Sol
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