After taking part in a charity flag football game last weekend in Atlanta, rubbing elbows with rapper Quavo and multiple NFL stars, Redskins cornerback Josh Norman had his own celebrity event to host this past Saturday.
Back in Greenwood, S.C., Norman's hometown, he celebrated his annual Starz24 basketball game with a variety of NFL players in front of hundreds of local kids that filled the Finis Horne Arena at Lander University.
The game, which featured legendary streetballer Larry Williams, known as the "Bone Collector," along with Falcons defensive end Vic Beasley, Panthers defensive lineman Kawann Short (Panthers) and Bills safety Jordan Poyer, was superhero-themed.
"The 2018 Starz celebrity basketball game encourages all attendees to come as their favorite superhero in hopes that this event challenges the community to channel their inner crusader and to dream the unimaginable," read the event’s release, as covered by the Index-Journal.
Norman, who has been hosting the celebrity event in Greenwood since 2013, seemed to have a great time despite his team losing 91-90. He offered some parting messages to those in attendance, encouraging everyone to stay safe after the community has gone through a few occasions of gun violence over the last several months.
"On your way out, remember, love somebody and let them know how much you care about them, because there are a lot of things that have been going on around here lately," Norman said.
As an active member of his community, even hosting a forum last year, Norman has made it a mission to establish a recreational center for children in Greenwood that would be free and safe. Entering his seventh year in the league, the cornerback hopes to partner with the Boys and Girls Club, he said in a recent Index-Journal interview, and create his vision a reality.
The celebrity game is a temporary way to provide some enjoyment and entertainment to a city that has few productive options to find it on a daily basis.
"There's no safe haven for them to actually go out to and express the nature of being free and being a kid and going out there and doing sports," Norman said. "You look at what gyms are open to them, or what ball fields or what rec centers are open to them to where they don't have to really pay to go and do that. YMCA is great and they do everything in, I think, the right way in how they're doing their business, but you've still got to pay, and the kids that need it are on the south side, not on the north."
In what's continued to be an exciting offseason for Norman, he followed up the basketball game by flying to Los Angeles and spending some time with Jay Leno, filming his television show "Jay Leno's Garage."
