|  Kurt
Thomas Aims to Teach Students Financial Literacy
By Tom Kertes
Incredible,
but true: sometimes spending time with a lawyer can be a good
thing.
“One
day, about five years ago, I was just sitting around talking to
my attorney kind of randomly, about all kinds of things,” Knicks
center-forward Kurt Thomas said. “Then, suddenly, he stopped me
in my tracks by asking one simple question: ‘what are you doing
with your money?’”
The answer was “nothing.” “I was already in the NBA, so I had
something saved,” Thomas recalls. “But, frankly, it was just sitting
there.” However Thomas, who was an excellent student as a psychology
major at TCU, didn’t need much encouragement to change the status
quo. “I was galvanized,” he said. “Once my attorney mentioned
some avenues about how I could actually make my money work for
me, I was on my way.”
To the library, at first. Following many months of research—“I
read all the information available,” said Thomas—he gradually
became as knowledgeable a player in the stock market as he is
on the basketball floor. “This experience was opening up a brand
new world for me,” said Thomas. “And I realized that if I somehow
could have learned all this at a younger age, I would be so much
further ahead in my life.”
The next step was a natural for Thomas, a man who’s been profoundly
involved in helping others—especially young people—all of his
adult life. A power broker famous for his physical play and withering
glare on the basketball court, he was already the recipient of
the 2001 “Beyond the Game” Award by the Humanitarian Sport Hall
Of Fame for consistently “going beyond the boundaries of the court
into the community to lead by example and serve others.” Now he
saw an opportunity to impart his economic know-how to New York
City Public School students. “I thought it was important,” he
said. “This is knowledge that kids, especially in the inner city,
have no way of receiving. Financial literacy is not taught anywhere,
unfortunately. And, since outside of school this would not be
a part of these students’ lives, this would be something new and
exciting, not to mention very useful, to them.”
Thomas touched base with the team’s Community Relations Department;
it did its own research and discovered the “Stock Market Game”.
“Actually, ‘The Game’ has been around since 1977,” said Damon
McCord, Dean of Students at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High
School. “And it has been widely acknowledged as the best possible
way to experience, and learn about, the market. But it was never
known, or available to, public school students before. And it
probably never would have been—if it wasn’t for Kurt.”
Putting their heads together, Thomas and McCord created the “Kurt
Thomas Investment Challenge”, a fast-growing program about to
embark on its third year. “In 2001, we started out just in my
school, with about 30 students,” McCord smiled. “Then last year
we were already in five New York City schools with over 300 students
playing.”
The on-line game, which became part of the schools’ standards-based
economics high school curriculum, involves teams of 3-5 students
playing the market with an imaginary $100,000. “The main thing
is the reading, all the studying you do about the companies and
the markets, the hundreds of hours of research,” West Side student
Kerry Collymore said. “No exaggeration, this was an experience
that totally changed my life.” To say the least: Collymore, a
winner of one of the six paid summer internships with Merrill
Lynch the “Kurt Thomas Investment Challenge” provided, wanted
to be a mortician but now aims to earn a career in corporate finance.
And his friend, fellow-winner Hector Villalone who had “no idea
what he wanted to do” with his life, is currently in Monroe College
preparing for a future in investment and economics. “I would have
never gotten involved in this game if it wasn’t for Kurt Thomas,”
he said. “I was a big Knick fan—and, frankly, there’s nothing
like the power of celebrity to draw you into something that otherwise
would be so alien to all your previous experiences in life.”
As the students were milling around thanking Thomas at the Game’s
year-end banquet, the 6’9”, 235-pound big guy with the ornery
on-court demeanor couldn’t get a huge grin off his face. “I averaged
a 20 [points]-10 [rebounds] in college and a double-double in
the NBA last year,” he said. “Those accomplishments were sweet.
But this is sweeter.”
In grateful acknowledgement of his crucial role in creating the
“Investment Challenge”, and “for helping our young people in so
many ways”, Thomas received the “Wealth Creation” Award from Bedford
Stuyvesant’s Bridge Street Development Corporation in a touching,
yet often mirthful, ceremony. “Kurt, thank you for everything
you’ve done,” Chairperson Monique Greenwood said. “And thank for
your gorgeous, handsome presence as well.”
“It
is my parents who deserve the thanks,” said Thomas. “My father
is an engineer and mom works for the post office. And, growing
up in Dallas, Texas, all I heard about at home was how important
it was to help out friends, neighbors, and people in need. So
I learned at an early age that that is what makes you the person
that you really are.”
“And
you don’t do it for publicity,” Thomas added. “These kids are
sharp. They’ll tap you for a phony in a New York second. So the
credit must go to my mom and dad; they instilled in me that the
single most important thing in the world is doing the right thing.”
Thomas is such a gentleman’s gentleman off the basketball court
that it’s almost impossible to believe that the same guy is the
Knicks’ wild-eyed enforcer on it. “That stuff—the look, the glare,
all the bumping—is just part of the game,” he says with a smile.
“But working with these kids to make their lives better, that
is what it’s all about. That is real.”#
Education
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