Lindsey Harding

I've known Lindsey since she was a freshman at Duke. I was introduced to her during one of my "Family Weekend" visits to see my Goddaughter who was attending the University and was also the manager of the women's basketball team. She was outstanding from the first practice game I observed and she just continued to mature and get better each year. I watched as she went from a very young rather arrogant "player" to a talented and gifted All-American who epitomized the concept of being a team player...her subsequent playing record gives testimony to that fact. Each time we met after she graduated from Duke, she never left me without first reminding me to call her if there was ever anything she could do for the Foundation. No wonder she didn't skip a beat in agreeing to join our Athlete Advisory Panel...she was just waiting for that opportunity!

Thinking back there was an incident or two that I believe might have led to Lindsey becoming such a staunch supporter of the Foundation. I had the chance to spend some quality time with her at the 2007 Final Four. I attended the press conference where she was given yet another award and her mom and dad were in the audience. After the conference, Lindsey introduced us and we chatted a bit. Her dad mentioned that he was getting approached by a number of agents wanting to represent Lindsey and he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Since I knew most of the ones he mentioned, I was able to give him a critique on each one. He was instantly relieved and grateful for the information. That same afternoon, Lindsey called me, in a bit of a panic, to ask if I knew where she could get tickets for the game for her parents. Since Duke did not make it to the semifinals, she hadn't bothered to get tickets because she didn't think her parents were going to make the trip to Cleveland, but they came to see her accept her award. I happened to have had two sets of tickets that I was able to give to her for her folks...her gratitude was palpable over the phone! To this day, Lindsey has always responded when I've called upon her, starting with her first attendance at our Annual Awards dinner last year. She was so impressed by the athletes who were there to lend support to the Foundation that she wanted to join them, so joining the advisory panel was a natural next. She is there when we need her, always ready and willing to do whatever we ask of her. My, how she's grown up! Don't worry...Mama Yo has earned the right to say that!