When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.

It's hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.

Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.

Pride was his life force; for us it was a live nerve that he could teach us to brush. One stroke, a good practice, and we could tingle for days ... First, he found the pride in each of us, then he taught us how good it could feel. What he was ultimately after was for every one of us to learn to light our own fires and glow our brightest.

I think people that are, you know, voting in the blind are doing a disservice to America by not being better informed.

Cancer is a scary thing and you have to deal with it seriously.

Initially when I stopped playing, I had accumulated some burnout.