MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Trey Draper knows a little bit about the hardwood. He played for the Memphis Tigers until 2014. Since then he has been making his own way and helping kids follow in his footsteps.
The proud Mitchell High School alum returned to the school Wednesday to hand out $3,000 in scholarships. Each selected recipient has plans to pursue trade school and vocational options after graduating.
“You may start off as a mechanic, barber, massage school, ya’ know. Whatever it is we tend to forget about those kids. We tend to forget about those students and just being an alumni of here and working here, I totally understand what these young kids are going through. And myself and my best friends, it’s just something we wanted to do to give back,” said Draper.
Draper and Valencia Jennings - of HomeT3amHoops, LLC - and Trey Ford of Bae Size LLC partnered together to distribute the scholarships.
Draper also partnered with Gatorade to give out more than $4,000 worth of products for each senior, including bottles, juices, towels, and protein snack bars. Bare Size and Draper’s clothing brand “Welcome to the Dark” also donated apparel.
“I’ve been blessed with opportunities to coach at one of the top ranking high schools, IMG Academy, which led to my current role as a NBA Trainer,” said Draper in a news release. “It’s now time to help serve the community that helped mold me.”