High school basketball player wins 40K at free throw contest, gives money to runners-up
Jul 9, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT
For most people who have seen him play, Compton High School’s Allan Guei is a fantastic athlete on the basketball court but he recently did something that will make a difference off of it.
Guei and seven other participants competed in a free throw contest to help cover college expenses. Guei eventually won the event and pocketed a cool $40,000. However, Guei decided instead of keeping the money, he gave it to the other seven participants:
“They were all smart and wanted to pursue their dreams, but were having financial difficulties,” Guei told The Los Angeles Times. “I felt it was the right move to help the others.”
I’m in shock,” said Omar Guzman, 17, who is headed to San Diego State University. “I’m really grateful there are people like that out there. It was generous.”
Allan Guei, Compton HS basketball star, donates $40,000 from free throw contest to runners-up [NY Daily News]
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- aclassyguyfromaclassytown - Jul 9, 2011 at 12:22 PM
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Thumbs up to the kid on this one.
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- goforthanddie - Jul 9, 2011 at 2:14 PM
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Somebody should point this out to the NBA owners/players, then bitch-slap each and every one of them. Props to him.
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- juggadore - Jul 9, 2011 at 8:08 PM
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he’s probably gonna regret that later…
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- juggadore - Jul 9, 2011 at 11:10 PM
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what if he was your kid, you would let him give away that money? have you ever naively given away money when you were a kid, then when you’re about 25 you realize bills are hard to pay. come on dont be naive. if i was that kid’s friend i would have advised him not to give away $40,000. did he even keep any of it?
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- juggadore - Jul 10, 2011 at 2:27 AM
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sure keep thumbing it down. why dont you let your kid give away $40,000. why dont you give away $40,000?
it’s one thing if he gave it to good causes. that would be a donation. what this kid did wasnt a donation, it was giving away money. and he gave it to the losers. its called being a sucker. why do they deserve that money? they dont. i hope the kids who got that money gave it to a real charity, but i doubt they will. they should have never taken it in the first place.
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- goforthanddie - Jul 10, 2011 at 2:50 PM
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Ever consider that a kid with a free ride to college doesn’t need the cash as bad as others who don’t? Ever consider that keeping that 40k might cost him his free ride?
“if i was that kid’s friend i would have advised him not to give away $40,000.”–Yeah, you would’ve been first in line with your hand out for a handout.
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- sasquash20 - Jul 9, 2011 at 9:39 PM
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You get back what you put out. Good job young man.
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- bdeviled11 - Jul 9, 2011 at 10:19 PM
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ESPN says A. Guei has a basketball scholarship to Cal State Northridge. Can a scholarship athlete even keep 40,000 much less from a Free Throw shooting contest? I really can’t see how this would even be allowed.
It does look like he has the PR skills L. James can only dream of.
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- hboilers24 - Jul 10, 2011 at 3:37 PM
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some points according to the original article in the LA Times
- Under NCAA rules, Guei could have kept most of the winnings without giving up his athletic scholarship.
- Money received by student athletes is governed by strict NCAA guidelines, but Guei probably could have kept as much as 80% of his contest winnings, said Cal State Northridge basketball coach Bobby Braswell.
- The contest money will be distributed evenly to the runners-up over the next four years, unless Guei loses his scholarship. In that case, he would be able to use the remaining funds to continue his education, Crandall said.
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- projectshadow316 - Jul 11, 2011 at 3:52 PM
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Kudos to that kid. In this day and age, things like that are rarest of the rare.
