Nolan Smith’s WRAL Interview Talks 2nd Annual Hoop-A-Thon
They call Nolan Smith ” the People’s Champion” for a reason.
He bridged the rivalry gap, bringing together fans of all walks of Triangle basketball together for last year’s inaugural Hoop-a-Thon.
It was a swishing success.
“I think the phone call I got from my director where he told me how much we had made,” Smith recalls of the moment he realized how rewarding last year was. “For the first event, you just don’t expect to blow your target number out of the water, and we did that.”
The talk immediately turned to year two.
“It was definitely something I knew we had to come back to, and it had to be bigger and better,” Smith said.
That would be the venue, as the event moves from the Emily K Center to Coach K Court – a chance to drop buckets in Duke’s house of the hoops holy.
No matter the site, it’s the message, the inspiration that remains paramount to Smith.
“When I open up on Sunday, that’s one thing I’m going to talk about,” Smith says.
“We’re all blessed, and we’re all blessed to be here right now in Cameron Indoor Stadium, getting to move our muscles, getting to shoot a hoop, getting to run around and exert energy. There’s someone less than five miles away that can’t do that.”
The premise of the Hoop-a-Thon is simple: four minutes to shoot, the more made buckets, the more bucks donated to Teen Cancer America.
The pressure is enough to make even a sharpshooter like Smith’s knees wobble.
“When I was shooting in Cameron versus Carolina I was doing that for my teammates, and at the end of the day it’s just a game,” Smith said. “You make shots, you miss shots, you win some, you lose some. But right here, all I’m trying to do is win for them, and if I miss I feel like I’m going to let them down.”
There’s still time for last-minute donations or to volunteer at the event.