Bender the Philanthropist

After a few sad articles and news, I thought I would lighten it up a bit and talk about a player who lost his career to a knee injury …But, seriously, there is light at the end of this darkness. Jonathan Bender was selected 5th by the Toronto Raptors in the 1999 NBA draft. He was 18 years old and straight out of high school in Picayune, Mississippi. On draft night, he was traded from the Raptors to the Indiana Pacers for veteran big man Antonio Davis. Bender was dubbed to be the next Tracy McGrady , but he never lived up to expectations due to persistent right knee problems. In 2006, he decided to stop rehabbing and battling the damaging right knee and called it quits on his short-lived professional basketball life, but his career was far from over .   Conrad Brunner of Pacers.com writes about Bender’s life after basketball and the philanthropic work he has done. Bender’s hometown of Picayune was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and he knew he had to do ... (link)