Myrtle Beach’s Sessions building legacy off the court through giving
Ramon Sessions’ master plan is taking shape.
Growing up equipped with supreme basketball skills that allowed him to make it out of the Racepath community and live his dream of playing in the NBA, the Myrtle Beach native has now put fulfilling his legacy off the court into fast forward.
After donating $250,000 toward the construction of a new facility for the Boys & Girls Club of the Grand Strand and pledging $1 million toward a new basketball practice facility at his alma mater, University of Nevada, Sessions was back home in Myrtle Beach on Sunday for his sixth annual turkey drive, providing Thanksgiving Day meals for many in Myrtle Beach.
“It’s a blessing to the community for him to be able to come home and have this turkey drive for the residents. Not many make it out, per se; he did, but he hasn’t forgotten about his roots,” said Elisabeth Favorite, a mother of three boys who used to live in Racepath and now resides in the Booker T. Washington community. “For Ramon to come back and have this turkey drive for the community around Thanksgiving where it’s a time for thankfulness, for him to come back to his community is amazing. It’s a really big blessing.”
Year in and year out, Sessions holds the turkey drive, a toy drive, a charity golf tournament and a youth basketball camp in the area. However, his contributions to the Boys & Girls Club and Nevada took his giving to a whole new level.
“It brings chills because, you know, growing up as a kid, just to be able to do this type of thing after envisioning [it]” and then putting those visions into motion is unfathomable, said Sessions, 30, who plays for the Charlotte Hornets. “You know, it’s my 10th year in the NBA and my goal by 30 was kind of to have all this stuff going and I didn’t think I was going to be on pace, but it all worked out.”
He ramped it up a notch with his turkey drive this year as well.
“It’s been six years now and it’s going good. The first year we started with 150 turkeys, then we did 200 and now we’re feeding 300 families,” said Sessions, who was able to make it home for a brief trip between Saturday night’s game at New Orleans and Monday’s game at home against Memphis. “It’s a blessing. To come back home and do this and put smiles on people’s faces means the world to me.”
Charlotte’s close to home. It’s one of those things that anytime I can put it on the schedule to get back here no matter what.
NBA player Ramon Sessions
The same can be said for the recipients.
“I think it’s wonderful he’s giving back to the community because he made it and now he’s giving back,” said Debra Chestnut, a Racepath resident.
The Myrtle Beach girls and boys basketball teams have been assisting Sessions with the event in recent years, and he’s been a constant supporter of his high school alma mater since getting to the NBA.
“Ramon’s like a big leader,” said Seahawks senior Jaquan Chestnut, who lives across the street from Racepath. “We all look up to him and want to try to do as he did, not follow exactly in his footsteps but on a similar path.”
It’s kind of like he gives everyone around here hope and opportunity.
Myrtle Beach High basketball player Jaquan Chestnut
Sessions is also a role model for the younger kids. Favorite said her three boys – ages 9, 13 and 15 – all look up to him.
Most importantly grades. He tells us about how important grades are and staying out of trouble, the wrong crowd, the right crowd.
Myrtle Beach High basketball player Jaquan Chestnut
“They were able to understand and learn who Ramon is and what he did from high school to college to the pros. Seeing him come home giving, being a part of the community, they’re like ‘Wow, I can do this too.’ ” she said. “I tell them, I said ‘it’s not where you may not be the LeBron Jameses, Dwyane Wades or whatever. He’s Ramon because one, he has the talent but he also has the character as well.’ And we can visibly see him giving back to the community, and that’s important. They go to his camp every year. They see him when he comes home for the different community events and it’s like they can relate.
“You just see LeBron James on TV. You just see Dwyane Wade on TV,” Favorite said. “But you see all these superstars and they do great, but whenever you can look someone in their face and shake their hand and get direct instruction from them at a camp, that (is) enormous. It’s almost priceless.”
In a time in a community where we need role models, he’s been that, an exceptional role model for our youth. I have three boys and for them to be able to witness what he’s doing outside his family, you know, the community, it’s something they can look up to.
Booker T. Washington community resident Elisabeth Favorite
Debra Chestnut has known Sessions a long time and says he grew into the man she always envisioned. And now he is helping others follow a positive path.
He became the man that I knew he would be. Ramon was always respectful and was a go-getter. His mom always kept him in line. He stayed focused. Regardless of where he came from, he stayed focused.
Racepath resident Debra Chestnut
“It’s good for the kids because a lot of kids don’t think that where they’re living at that they can make it,” she said. “But him making it and coming back to the neighborhood gives them hope that they can make it. It encourages them.”
It’s a role Sessions embraces, and soon his namesake will be etched in Myrtle Beach and Reno, Nevada. The Boys & Girls Club facility will include a gymnasium with a full basketball court named “The Ramon Sessions Basketball Center,” and the Wolf Pack’s practice facility will be named after the alumnus.
“It’s all worked out and it’s perfect timing,” he said. “I still love to do these events for the community. I mean, I feel like my legacy is being set.”
David Wetzel: 843-626-0295, @MYBSports
This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach’s Sessions building legacy off the court through giving."