Devean George played the first seven seasons of his 11-year NBA career for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is now back home in the Twin Cities and the founder of Building Blocks, a nonprofit attempting to bring improved housing to north Minneapolis.
George also does volunteer work with a youth group in Inglewood, Calif. He appeared there at a charity 5K over the weekend, and arrived at LAX for a flight home around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.
"All of a sudden people were frantic, running all over, showing one another phones," George said. "I thought maybe it was a terrorist attack, or we had started a war. Then, my phone started blowing up."
The messages were informing George that his friend and former teammate Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash. "First, you don't believe it," George said. "And then you feel empty. It's just heartache. The loss is tremendous."
George beat outrageous odds to be drafted out of Division III Augsburg — by way of Benilde St. Margaret's High — by the Lakers with the 23rd selection in 1999 draft. He was actually a year older than Bryant, but Kobe came to the NBA out of high school and already had played four pro seasons when George arrived in L.A.
"Kobe knew I had some grit, making it from D-III to the first round of the NBA," George said. "And he took me under his wing; he was determined to toughen me up for what was in front of me.
"Every scrimmage, we guarded each other. Every one-and-one, he made sure it was me and him.
"And when the veterans got on me with the rookie hazing — 'You don't belong here from something called Augsburg' — and I looked at him for help, Kobe would shake his head and say, 'Deal with it. This is the NBA.' "
