Respect is what NBA star Isaiah Thomas teaches his children

NBA star and Tacoma native Isaiah Thomas knows the life he’s providing for his two sons differs greatly from those of the kids who turned out Saturday for his eighth annual back-to-school backpack giveaway at Al Davies Boys & Girls Club.

So, how does he keep his boys humble?

Respect.

“My parents taught me to be a respectful young man,” Thomas said as his sons played basketball behind him in a gym bearing the Denver Nuggets point guard’s likeness. “I’m showing them that way as well.”

He doesn’t automatically give them anything they ask for.

“They got to earn it, and they’ve got to be respectful young men,” he said. “Their life is a lot better than a lot of people, but at the same time, I’m raising them the same way I was raised.”

In a nearby gym, hundreds of kids lined up for the free backpacks. Barbers were providing free haircuts and lunch was being served in a nearby room.

“I see a lot of myself in a lot of these kids because I was a Boys and Girls kid growing up as well,” Thomas said. “So, I know the struggles and the things that they go though, and I’m just trying to put a smile on their face.”

The giveaway is a partnership between Thomas and World Vision. Donors provided the 500 backpacks and their contents, which included markers, crayons, notebooks, paper and other items.

“Pretty much everything the kids need to be successful on the first day of school,” said Reed Slattery of World Vision.

It was hard to tell what or who was more popular at the event — Thomas or the backpacks. Kids lined up to have their pictures taken with the player.

When Thomas was a youth, he said, there were no local professional sports stars giving back to the community. He set out to change that.

“I wanted to be able to give back to the community that raised me and that built me into the person that I am today,“ he said. “If you changed one kid’s life, you’ve done your job.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2018 at 2:57 PM.