Showed his character while in high school … While Chris Paul was a senior at West Forsyth High School in 2002, his maternal grandfather Nathaniel Jones was murdered — the day after Paul had signed a letter of intent to go to Wake Forest University. In the game following that tragedy, Paul honored his grandfather by scoring 61 points (Jones was 61 at the time) and, as Paul’s bio notes, after the 61st point, Paul “intentionally missed a free throw, then took himself out of the game,” as a tribute. Broke into the NBA and immediately established himself … Following two years as an All-American point guard for Wake Forest, Paul made himself eligible for the NBA Draft and was selected fourth overall by the New Orleans Hornets. Beating out higher picks such as Andrew Bogut and Deron Williams, Paul was a near-unanimous pick as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in the 2005-06 season and has since become a perennial All-Star and was a member of the gold medal winning US team at the 2008 Olympics. Began his own foundation early on … In 2005, Paul established the CP3 Foundation, partnering with the Winston-Salem Foundation to “highlight his dedication to both his grandfather’s spirit and to the Winston-Salem community that nurtured him from his days as a stand-out high school student-athlete to a national star at Wake Forest.” In addition, he’s made contributions to the New Orleans area that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina right before his rookie season.
By the Numbers:
- In September 2006, he won the NBA’s Community Assist Award, which meant $5,000 for his foundation.
- He lead the league in both assists and steals two consecutive years.
- His annual Chris Paul Winston-Salem Weekend has raised more than $325,000 in its first three years.
- Paul managed to raise his scoring average each of his first four seasons.
- Earlier this year, he donated $61,616.61 for Haiti relief fund efforts, again honoring his late grandfather with the dollar amount.
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Photo by Tulane Public Relations via Flickr.
