Slam dunk: NBA dispatches its stars to be role models for literacy.

October is National Book Month, and October 22 is National Read Aloud Day, sponsored by the National Book Foundation. For tips on how you can get involved, log on to http://www.nationalbook.org/nbm.html. To mark National Book Month, Black Issues Book Review highlights efforts by African American athletes who encourage literacy and academic preparation through programs like the National Basketball Association's Read to Achieve program.

Because so many players have chosen in recent years to go straight from high school into the National Basketball Association (NBA), the organization has been criticized for luring young, black men away from opportunities in higher education. Remember the uproar when Kobe Bryant took the leap from high school straight to the Los Angeles Lakers or when LeBron James bounded to the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Conventional wisdom was that these players were not only providing a bad example to fans but also to other players, encouraging those of lesser talent to go for the gold at the end of the NBA rainbow. In short, they were making an oxymoron out of the term "student athlete."

Although the NBA has been working with programs like Reading Is Fundamental for about 15 years, in 2001 the league launched its own Read to Achieve program to combat some of the criticism that it was not doing enough to encourage literacy.

(In June, the NBA also made it more difficult for youngsters to enter its ranks straight out of high school. Under a new collective bargaining agreement, it raised the minimum age to 19, requiring most young hopefuls to attend a year of college or go to the minor league National Basketball Development League for a year to be eligible.)

Today, Read to Achieve is operating in all 30 NBA markets, including the 13 WNBA franchises, 10 of which are in cities with NBA franchises, as well as cities where the National Basketball Development League operates, and even overseas in its Basketball Without Borders program.

There's a roster of all-star, reading-team members like Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers), Juwan Howard and Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Rockets and WNBA Comets respectively, Ray Allen (Seattle SuperSonics), Sue Bird (WNBA Seattle Storm), as well as Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) and LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers). Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs), MVP for this past season's NBA championship, is also active in the Read to Achieve program.

The league has managed to involve everybody in the program: coaches, celebrity fans and even members of the officiating crew, regardless of race, nationality or gender.

What the league does through a variety of reading events is visit schools, boys' and girls' clubs, and book fairs. They read to students and listen to students read, develop essay contests and online programs. The NBA has pledged to build a learning center in each of the two cities in this year's championship, Detroit and San Antonio.

The athletes who are part of the program say they enjoy it. "It's always a joy to work with kids," says Alana Beard, starting point guard for the Washington Mystics in her second year of play in the WNBA. "They see us as idols and look up to us. We are professional athletes."

Last Book Read: Green Eggs and Ham

Along with its partners, Reading Is Fundamental, Dell Computers, Scholastic Publishers and DisneyHand, and in conjunction with the NBA Players Association and National Basketball Coaches Association, the NBA opened 23 new Reading and Learning Centers in 2004. More than one million books, literacy magazines, educational CD-ROMs and more than 100 computers have been provided for youth-serving organizations around the country.

Beard was right in the middle of WNBA league play, which runs through September 22, including the play-offs, but was hoping to participate in the library and book fair sponsored by First Lady Laura Bush in the nation's capital in September 2005. [National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, Saturday, September 24, 2005, National Mall, Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th Streets, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Free admission. http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/.]

"I started getting interested in reading in kindergarten and first grade," says Beard, 23, who was born and reared in Shreveport, Louisiana, and played at Duke University before turning pro.

"When the kids first start out, they like to read the books with the most pictures, then they usually like to read things like Green Eggs and Ham," says Beard, whose personal adult reading preferences are autobiographies, and "people telling about how to get rich, like Donald Trump."

Book Reports for Mom and Dad

Jerome Williams, a six-foot-nine reserve power forward out of Georgetown, came to the New York Knicks in August of 2004 in a six-player deal. In his eight years as a pro, he has played in Detroit, Toronto and Chicago and has been enthusiastically involved in the league's reading program in all of those cities. A native of Rockville, Maryland, he, too, got involved in reading at an early age.

"My room and dad used to take us to the library once a week in the summer, and we had to do book reports," says the 27-year-old Williams.

Williams has been to events, schools and venues in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Yonkers so far, and knows most of the Dr. Seuss books by heart by now. He cowrote a book, Triple Threat (Orca Book Publishers, March 2005), with veteran author Eric Waiters, telling kids how to deal with bullying and other challenges in school. He was also executive producer on a rap song with Steve Coleman "QTMC," or Quest to Make a Change. He's currently working on another project called Mission Possible about building self-confidence and giving back.

Through its Jr.NBA and Jr.WNBA programs and its Basketball Without Borders, in cooperation with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the NBA reaches beyond the United States. Basketball Without Borders operates in Africa, the Americas, as well as in Europe, with an emphasis on programs for education, youth sports and HIV/AIDS awareness. The program is creating Reading mad Learning Centers and Basketball and Books Clinics.

In addition to cooperating with the league's efforts to give back to the community, several other NBA players sponsor foundations and/or programs.

* Adonal Foyle (Golden State Warriors) started Democracy Matters, an organization that engages college students and communities in an effort to strengthen democracy.

* Allan Houston (NY Knicks) sponsors the "My Teacher Is My Hero" program to complement the Knicks' literacy program, along with that of his teammate who runs the Kurt Thomas Investment Challenge in the New York City Public Schools.

* Shaquille O'Neal (Miami Heat) created the Real Model Foundation with his wife, Shaunie, to motivate and empower neglected and disadvantaged boys and girls through social and academic opportunities.

* Gary Payton (Boston Celtics) has donated more than $1.5 million to date in grants and supports events that focus on education, recreation and wellness through his foundation.

* Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics), via a foundation called The Truth Fund, provides educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

* Damon Stoudamire (Portland Trail Blazers) has donated more than $2 million, including $200,000 to the Portland Interscholastic League and $250,000 to the Albina Head Start program.

* Charlie Ward (Houston Rockets), through his aWARD Foundation supports mentoring and educational programs.

IT'S BASIC

For more information on the Read to Achieve programs, log on to: http://aol.nba.com/features/rta_index.html, or contact the NBA affiliate team nearest you. For information on Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), go to www.rif.org. RIF, founded in 1966, aims to prepare and motivate children to read. It claims more than 310,000 volunteers nationwide who provide books and services to more than four million children annually.

Al Harvin, a former sportswriter for the New York Times and New York Post, is a freelance contributor to BIBR.