May 29, 2002 10:28 AM EST
In 1991, Robinson promised Darden and 92 other fifth-graders at Gates Elementary School $2,000 scholarships if they graduated from high school.
"A lot of people didn't make it past middle school," Darden said. "As the years went by, the numbers got smaller and smaller. Some people got killed. Some went to jail. Some dropped out."
Darden estimates that one-third of the original fifth-grade class graduated with him in 1998. He made it through not because of football (he was a wide receiver) or track (he was a sprinter). He made it through because teachers, neighbors and relatives reminded him of Robinson's pledge week after week, month after month for seven years. Because once his mother heard of the promise, she refused to let her son fail.
"She told me she could make zero contribution toward college," Darden said. "She always worked at least two jobs, sometimes three.
Via San Antonio Express-News
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When the Spurs' David Robinson retires after the 2002-03 season, the diminishing club of athletes who have spent their entire careers with the same teams will grow even smaller.
Combined with last year's retirements of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. in baseball, the era of the one-team career appears to be about over.
"When you look back at the people who came into the league at the same time as David, probably under 2 percent of all those guys stayed with their franchises," said Keith Kreiter, a player agent with Edge Sports International in Chicago. "He's such an exception."
Of players in pro basketball, baseball, football and hockey, 14 who have retired in the past 10 years with Hall of Fame credentials spent their entire careers with the same teams. Just three are from the NBA — Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Isiah Thomas.
"These guys are not a dying breed, but a dead breed of athlete," said Howard Bloom, publisher of the online journal Sports Business News.
Via Houston Chronicle
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The admiration and respect that former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has for Spurs center David Robinson dates back to the first time he met him.
Robinson received the John Wooden Award from the Los Angeles Athletic Club as college basketball's player of the year in 1987, when he was a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy.
"I got to know him a little bit then and I thought he was a remarkable person," Wooden said Friday in a telephone interview from his home in Encino, Calif. "He has a stately appearance, but it's not only the way he looks.
"There's something inside him that stands out. He's at peace with himself."
Via San Antonio Express-News
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Spurs May 2002 Archive
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San Antonio Express-News | May 28, 2002
Yet Robinson had to be reminded by a Spurs staffer at the press conference to talk about Carver.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 28, 2002
Fifteen years later, the team still is afloat.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 24, 2002
Next season will be Robinson's last
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Star Telegram | May 20, 2002
Yet for all the Spurs' venue and fashion-inspired changes, their roster makeover likely won't be nearly as dramatic.
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Philadelphia Inquirer | May 19, 2002
Stephen A.
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| May 19, 2002
One of the oldest ongoing rumors around the NBA continues to involve both the Orlando Magic and Tim Duncan.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 17, 2002
The Spurs cleaned out their lockers yesterday after being eliminated by the Lakers, writes Johnny Ludden of the San Antonio Express News.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 16, 2002
After giving the two-time defending champions their biggest postseason challenge in the past two seasons, after leading in the fourth quarter of all five games of the Western Conference series, the Spurs were forced to digest the simple fact that they had lost to a better team.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 15, 2002
Get used to it.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 15, 2002
"I need to be more aggressive down the stretch," Duncan said.
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Houston Chronicle | May 15, 2002
The Lakers were the hot breath on the San Antonio Spurs' necks, the big, looming shadow they never could outrun.
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| May 15, 2002
Despite having a stellar season with the New Jersey Nets from both an individual and team perspective, Jason Kidd is no closer to committing to the organization.
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| May 15, 2002
When it all boils down the San Antonio Spurs caught too much of Kobe Bryant when the game mattered most down the stretch in this series, and now as the sun rises today on a new day the Spurs season is over.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 14, 2002
Florida Panthers and Spurs officials confirmed Monday that they have entered into a five-year partnership agreement to bring an American Hockey League team to the Alamo City.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 14, 2002
In reality, the Lakers attributed their stirring comeback in Sunday's 87-85 victory over the Spurs — their third similar rally in a playoff series they now lead 3-1 — to the unglamorous art of defense.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 14, 2002
Five days after Kobe Bryant boasted, "The party just got started," he and the Lakers again pulled the plug on the Spurs' festivities.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 14, 2002
So on Monday, less than 24 hours after his Lakers had taken a commanding 3-1 lead over the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, Bryant was asked if he preferred late-game theatrics to easy victories.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 14, 2002
Less than a year after being whisked out of the Western Conference finals at the Staples Center, the Spurs return here once again having to listen to the Lakers' taunts, again forced to answer questions about their own confidence and composure.
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| May 13, 2002
It all happened so quickly.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 10, 2002
Fueled by Tuesday's victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, several hundred Spurs fans gathered for a Thursday afternoon pep rally, eager to support the team they believe can crown the Alamo City with a championship.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 10, 2002
Dressed in his typical understated fashion — red Nike T-shirt, jean shorts and sandals — Duncan accepted the Maurice Podoloff Trophy from NBA commissioner David Stern to officially join Robinson as the only Spurs players to be named league MVP.
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Houston Chronicle | May 10, 2002
Rose stood next to the dome's court Thursday and imagined the emotions that could rise again when Tim Duncan is presented the Most Valuable Player before tonight's Game 3 against the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
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| May 10, 2002
Tim Duncan was officially named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player yesterday, receiving 954 total points in the fifth closest MVP count in NBA history.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 9, 2002
Yet for as close as Robinson believes he is to returning, he can offer no guarantees that he will be back for Game 3 Friday night at the Alamodome.
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Houston Chronicle | May 9, 2002
Parker seemed neither boastful nor excited amid the rising volume of celebration in the Spurs' locker room.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 8, 2002
Robinson update: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he remains hopeful David Robinson will be able to play Friday in Game 3.
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Houston Chronicle | May 8, 2002
So when word leaked out that San Antonio's Tim Duncan had been voted the Most Valuable Player for the season, it wasn't much of a reach for Shaq to play judge and jury.
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| May 8, 2002
They might have blew Game 1 but the San Antonio Spurs showed they are still a team to be reckoned with in Game 2.
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| May 7, 2002
Even though his San Antonio Spurs have now lost eight of their past nine games to the Los Angeles Lakers, MVP Tim Duncan maintains his belief that they are certainly beatable.
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| May 7, 2002
Tim Duncan will be named the 2002 MVP on Thursday
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Houston Chronicle | May 7, 2002
It is clearly time for concern.
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ESPN | May 6, 2002
Duncan beat out Kidd and Shaq
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San Antonio Express-News | May 6, 2002
LOS ANGELES — For two whole seasons in San Antonio, Samaki Walker spent his mornings pushing and perspiring, trying to do behind closed doors what virtually no one else in the NBA could do out in the open.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 6, 2002
Though he looked resplendent, dressed in a sharp tan suit, while perched at the end of the Spurs' bench for the second half of Sunday's game, it wasn't hard to notice the frustration on Robinson's face as he watched Tim Duncan rim out one shot after another.
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Houston Chronicle | May 6, 2002
The embarrassing Fran Blinebury writes for the Houston Chronicle, on a day when the two-time champions did everything but serve up the series opener on a silver spoon, all the Spurs could do was dribble down their chins.
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| May 6, 2002
Is there anything Shaquille O’Neal cannot do? Freshly stitched Shaq returned from the Lakers locker room to score 13 of his 23 points to carry L.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 4, 2002
Two years ago Tim Duncan's knee broke.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 4, 2002
Robertas Javtokas, a second-round draft pick of the Spurs last summer, suffered potential career-ending injuries in a motorcycle accident in Lithuania on Wednesday.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 4, 2002
In the end, Seattle didn't stand a chance.
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Houston Chronicle | May 4, 2002
ANTONIO -- The dime-store analysts were out with enough opinions to fill every vacant shelf in the Institute of Pop Psychology.
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| May 4, 2002
This series was over by the first timeout, San Antonio up 11-2 with Tim Duncan scoring the opening eight points for the Spurs after missing Game 4 due to the death of his father.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 3, 2002
"I'd love to see Tim out there on the floor," James said.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 3, 2002
Tim Duncan is the one with the psychology degree.
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ESPN | May 3, 2002
ESPN is reporting that both Tim Duncan and David Robinson will be available tonight in the do-or-die Game 5 against the Sonics in San Antonio.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 2, 2002
On a night when the Spurs knew only a flawless performance would let them close out their first-round playoff series against Seattle, their execution failed to match their effort.
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| May 2, 2002
There was no Tim Duncan and there was no David Robinson, which probably explains why the Seattle Supersonics were able to dominate the Spurs to earn a Game 5 berth and a chance to advance to the second round of the finals.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 1, 2002
Now, with Robinson out indefinitely and Duncan mourning the death of his father, the question has been shortened to one word.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 1, 2002
SEATTLE — Tim Duncan flew to St.
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San Antonio Express-News | May 1, 2002
For the first time in six years, the Spurs will have to compete in a playoff game with neither Tim Duncan nor David Robinson when they face Seattle tonight in KeyArena for Game 4, writes Johnny Ludden of the San Antonio Express News.
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| May 1, 2002
Jason Kidd’s successful debut season in New Jersey continues to be a happy one for the All-Star guard, Kidd yesterday being named to the All-NBA Defensive first team.
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