Source: Icon Sports Wire / Getty
Maurice Creek never imagined that his love for basketball would one day place him smack-dab in the middle of a war halfway across the world.
Creek, an Oxon Hill, Maryland native, has been playing basketball professionally in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague since 2019.
Now the former Indian Hoosier is stuck in Ukraine amid a Russian invasion that is escalating by the day. During an interview with 7News, Creek told a reporter that he was terrified and so is his family.
“My mother is crying every day, my father is worried sick, my brothers are calling me nonstop every day,” said Creek in the interview.
According to Creek, he is stranded in his apartment in the city of Mykolaiv. His only place of refuge is an adjacent bomb shelter that he frequents when explosions intensify outside of his apartment. Creek also told 7News that the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is closed and he’s been trying to figure out an exit strategy with his parents and his agent. Creek also says his team is trying to find him a car so he can drive to the border of Moldova, which is about 4 hours away.
Creek has been communicating with this family mostly via text. But, it has been a real struggle for his family.
“He texted me just the other day and the text just said, ‘Mom, I love you,’ and I lost it,” his mother said to 7News. “I’ve been trying to hold it together for him, for his siblings, for my husband, just for everybody. I look at pictures around the house or things that remind me of him and I just find myself breaking down, crying.”
Creek expressed to his basketball team MBC MYKOLAIV that he wanted to leave before the Russian invasion, but they downplayed the conflict. They also threatened to not pay him if he left, so he stayed.
A GoFundMe page has been started by Maurice’s family. They hope to raise enough money to help get him evacuated so they can see him return home safely.
If you would like to donate click here.
The civilian death toll in Ukraine continues to rise every day. According to Reuters, at least 102 people have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. Over 300 people have been injured. Many fear both the death and injury toll will be “considerably higher,” as the conflict escalates.
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Source: Harry How / Getty UPDATED: 7:30 a.m. ET, Jan. 26, 2022 Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant‘s tragic death in a helicopter crash in California. But even in death, the basketball legend is fondly remembered by his Black Mamba nickname that likened the combination of his unique skills and killer instinct on the court to the deadly venomous African snake of the same name. It was a nickname that was legitimately earned from Kobe ruling the hardwood for two decades leading one of the NBA’s flagship franchises to basketball glory. To be sure, “Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive,” according to National Geographic. https://twitter.com/Mamba_Insider/status/1353927503082119170?s=20 The same was said for Bryant, metaphorically, of course, as his play on the court was always exemplified by the aforementioned qualities that made him a legend in life and now, two years after he, his daughter and seven others perished in a helicopter crash in southern California on Jan. 26, 2020. He was just 41 years old. The helicopter’s passengers were flying to a basketball game in which he was coaching his daughter, Gigi, at his eponymous sports complex, Mamba Academy. Out of respect for Bryant and his family, the Mamba Sports Academy in May retired its “Mamba” name, since there can only be one Black Mamba. https://twitter.com/Mamba_Insider/status/1353792685786755072?s=20 But Bryant’s “Mamba mentality” lives on, thanks in no small part to the history the suburban Philadelphia native made by exceeding expectations after going straight from high school to the NBA, excelling for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 to 2016 and leading his teams to five NBA championships. Bryant was also a two-time Olympic gold medalist and an Oscar winner. Let’s be clear: Kobe Bryant is not only sports history but he is also American history and world history. https://twitter.com/NewCuIture/status/1353930729906954240?s=20 Despite not going to college, Bryant proved to be an extremely erudite professional basketball player, regularly interlacing his words with flawless Italian that he learned as a youth while living in Italy, where his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant played professional basketball. It’s where he developed both his love for the game and his worldly outlook that helped expedite his basketball greatness and dominance on the court — his Mamba Mentality. It was because of that mentality that he may not have always been the most liked person on the court — after all, does anybody really like Black Mambas, among the top deadliest snakes in the world? — but he was always among the most respected, a truth reflected by the outpouring of support and grief shown by his NBA colleagues in the aftermath of his untimely death last year. https://twitter.com/TheHoopTracker/status/1353931427788845056?s=20 The grief persists, underscoring what a loss Kobe was not only to the basketball community but also to society at large, as he was on the precipice of showing how much more he was than just a professional athlete. The world may have been robbed of the chance to see what Kobe was going to do next, but the knowledge he dropped during more than 20 years of public life is timeless. https://twitter.com/Jammer2233/status/1353839943827779584?s=20 Check out these powerful quotes from Kobe Bryant that prove he is and will always be thee Black Mamba.
GoFundMe Started For Black American Basketball Player Stuck In Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion was originally published on newsone.com
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