LOS ANGELES – St. Louis native and Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal was honored with the Community Assist Award at the 2019 NBA Awards on Monday.
Beal partners with a Washington D.C. high school, Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, which is an all-boys public school – which is similar to the all-boys private school Beal attended in Creve Coeur – Chaminade College Preparatory School.
John Wall presented the award to Beal. Wall was the recipient of the 2015-16 NBA Community Assist Award. Since its inception following the 2014-15 season, the Wizards are the first team to have two winners of the award.
In September of 2018, Beal served as principal for the day at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School and participated in a variety of school activities. In November, Beal held a private advanced screening of CREED II for community groups and students from Ron Brown College Preparatory High School.
And it doesn’t stop there. The Wizards said in December, Beal surprised the RBHS basketball teams after a practice and gave each player and coach two pairs of schools.
In February, he took 10 students from RBHS on a private tour of the National African-American History and Culture Museum, one of the signature events of his partnership. He challenged the students to embrace their culture and reflect on their intimate experience at the museum, the Wizards said.
In May, he held a mentoring discussion with the students with an end of the school year bowling party.
The Wizards said along with Beal’s relationship with the high school, he’s donated game tickets to various community groups and provided toys to the Salvation Army during the holiday season.
Beal brought RBHS Principal Benjamin Williams, assistant basketball coach Gary Payne and two students with him to the NBA Awards in California on Monday.
The two students joined him on stage he accepted his award – Taj Davis and Makhi. Beal said he wished the whole student body could have been there.
“We all have a platform… If there’s one message I can encourage everybody - Please, please let’s give back to the youth. They need us, they’re the future,” Beal said while accepting his award, “It’s way bigger than basketball.”
Even though Beal won the award for his dedication to the community in Washington D.C., he’s still very much dedicated to the community in his hometown of St. Louis. Beal dedicates his time to travel to games for the Bradley Beal Elite AAU program to coach players from St. Louis.
