NBA player Lawrence Funderburke establishes scholarship fund for disadvantaged youth at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State – Ohio State Buckeyes
7/31/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 31, 2001
Columbus, Ohio – Lawrence Funderburke, forward with the Sacramento Kings basketball team, established a $100,000 endowment today at The Ohio State University.
The endowment, coming from the Lawrence Funderburke Youth Organization, Inc., will provide $50,000 in undergraduate scholarship support for disadvantaged youth from Columbus to attend the Fisher College of Business and $50,000 for youth to attend other Ohio State academic programs. Funderburke, who was 51st overall pick by the Kings in the 1994 NBA Draft, received his undergraduate degree in financial management from Fisher College in 1994.
About 25 potential recipients of the scholarship were on hand to watch as Funderburke presented an oversized check to Fisher College Dean Joseph A. Alutto. Before the check presentation, the nine to 13 year olds had participated in a mini-college experience, including a computer lab simulation, a lesson on the stock market and a mini-taste test. There also were presentations about a Go to Work blown glass art piece that is part of the college’s art collection, and career opportunities in construction project management by personnel working on the 151-bed Blackwell Inn at Fisher College.
The campus experience reinforced the basic financial principles and personal career goals setting lessons that the youngsters have been learning at a summer program that Funderburke leads at the Boys Club and Girls Club on Columbus’s West Side.
Speaking about the camp, Funderburke said, “It’s not your usual summer program and it sometimes is hard for the kids to spend part of their days at something that is so much like school.” But he said he wants to help the youngsters understand that financial decisions have an important role in everybody’s life, and to make sound decisions, you have to understand the terminology. Drawing on the math and finance that came easily to him as a Fisher College undergraduate, he presents a youth-focused program that blends business and financial basics with career planning, plus a few fun field trips. Funderburke said he hoped their brief visit to Fisher College would encourage the pre-teens to set their sites on a college education.
“In an investment portfolio, you have to diversify to protect yourself against fluctuations in the market,” Funderburke said, using the vocabulary of his summer program. “In the same way, you have to line up a few options in case one career goal doesn’t work out.”
Understanding this is especially important because so many of the children see sports or music as their only career options. Funderburke said he wants them to see a college education is an investment that can open the door to other opportunities. He established the scholarship endowment to help make that college education more accessible for children who otherwise might consider it out of reach.
“We are very pleased that Lawrence has taken this step and look forward to welcoming the students who accept his challenge when they are ready to come to Fisher College or other colleges at Ohio State,” said Joseph A. Alutto, dean of the Fisher College of Business.
This isn’t the first time the Sacramento Kings player has stepped out on behalf of children. He received the NBA’s first Hometown Hero of the Month community service award in November 2000 in recognition of the outstanding work he has done through the Lawrence Funderburke Youth Organization, Inc. He established the organization in 2000 to provide activities that enhance the moral, educational and social development of at-risk youth. His commitment to at-risk youngsters is one reason Funderburke spends time during off-seasons in Columbus, his hometown, working with the Boys and Girls Club. During the playing season, he spends free time working with children in the Sacramento area.
