TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Even after stepping away as the university’s head men’s basketball coach, Coach Leonard Hamilton is still working to ensure that class stays in session.
Throughout his storied career, “Coach Ham” has always been about his team making the grade. As a first-generation college student, Hamilton has always believed in the power of higher education. So, as his two-plus-decade run in charge of FSU men’s hoops came to a close, former FSU assistant and US Congressman Al Lawson said it’s no surprise what he wanted as a sendoff.
“Most coaches just want to go on cruises and do different things, but all he wanted to do was help students,” he said.
Thursday night at The Moon, hundreds of people from the FSU and Tallahassee communities celebrated the creation of the Leonard and Claudette Hamilton Scholarship to be given to first-generation college students heading to Florida State.
“I was a dreamer trying to figure out how I was going to get out of the dire situations we were in, and sometimes I was just fortunate to have help and guidance, somebody in my life to help get me to the right situation,” Hamilton said.
“We want to be that for other people.”
Perhaps most fitting for the man who made his reputation in outperforming the traditional expectations of where he coached? An overwhelming response. The $75,000 target for the scholarship endowment was smashed to the tune of around $200,000 and counting, to continue opening doors and making better paths forward.
“You can see by the crowd tonight of over 300, most of them contributors, they have accepted his dream of helping needy kids at FSU,” Lawson said.
And to continue a legacy of turning students into adults of character and class.
“It points to who he is,” said Terrance Mann of the Atlanta Hawks, who played more games in garnet than any other in Hamilton’s tenure. “He’s always trying to help people, he’s always trying to change lives and for a first generation college student this is going to bless generations for times to come for years on years.”
Hamilton said this is “just the beginning” of their effort to raise money for the scholarship.
“We’re going to continue until we develop an opportunity to help as many kids as we can.”
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