High school basketball players wear pink sneakers to honor teammate's mother ...
18.05.12
At 5 feet 6 inches tall, Grant Kajiwara Bantilan may be the shortest player on his high school varsity basketball team, but he whizzes past bigger opponents with speed and ferocity -- and the loudest pink sneakers to ever hit the hardwood.
"I didn't care what people thought about them," the tough-minded 17-year-old point guard said just before practice at Independence High School in East San Jose. "I wanted to honor my mom."
For two decades, pink has symbolized efforts on many fronts to eradicate breast cancer, which kills more American women younger than 50 than any other disease. Last year, after doctors discovered that Grant's mother had the disease, he quietly asked his parents for a pair of Kobe Bryant sneakers, approved by the NBA star for the breast cancer campaign in dazzling pink.
"You're going to wear pink basketball shoes on the court?" was Lisa Bantilan's surprised reaction when her son told her.
But instead of teasing him, all of his fellow 76ers supported the bold plan. Only three players don't have the shoes and that's because they couldn't find the color in their sizes.
Source: San Jose Mercury News