Eric-Snow.com | The Official Website of the Cleveland Cavaliers Guard

A fatherly initiative for Snow

Bob Finnan

Morning Journal

10/17/06

CLEVELAND -- The statistics are staggering about troubled youth in America.

The numbers say children growing up without a father figure will likely face poverty and possibly a life a crime.

That's one of the reasons Cavaliers guard Eric Snow wants to do something about the father-son dynamic in Northeast Ohio.

Snow, in conjunction with the Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative, played host to 50 fathers and sons in the third annual Fatherhood Basketball Clinic at Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday.

''It's something I feel passionate about,'' he said. ''Fatherhood is really important to the families now days. If the fathers are involved, most of (the children) become educated, stay out of trouble and stay away from drugs. It's really major to the development of families.''

After the basketball portion of the clinic, Snow fielded questions and stressed the importance of fatherhood and spending quality time with one's children.

''It was about the bonding and spending time,'' Snow said. ''It happens to be basketball. We go through the Fatherhood Initiatives around the city.''

Snow said his father was involved in his upbringing in Canton. But he saw many wayward youths who grew up fatherless.

Snow, 33, is the father to three sons, E.J., 7, Darius, 4, and Jarren, 3.

''Once I became a father, this is something I felt was needed,'' he said. ''I wanted to bring attention to fathers that are doing a good job and help the ones who aren't. Ultimately, you're helping people.''

Programs like these are why Snow was presented the 2005 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award by the Professional Basketball Writers Association. He also received the 2005 National Basketball Players Association Community Contribution Award.

Julani Ghana, president and CEO of Pro Sports Community Consultants, represents Snow and helps him organize programs in the community.

He said Snow was able to get his points across to the fathers at The Q.

''I think he's able to accomplish that in two ways -- through inspiration for fathers to spend time with their sons or daughters,'' Ghana said. ''A lot of men are already doing a great job. The clinic is almost a reward. It says, 'You are important.' And then, it encourages and reminds those who can't be with their children, whether it's because of jobs or their relationship with the mother, to find a way to get involved.''

The families were rewarded with tickets to future Cavaliers games, including some at tonight's game against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

''He's a terrific young man and a great role model,'' Ghana said. ''Unfortunately there are not enough of those guys in this league. The Cavs benefit from having a quality guy like that.''

The proceeding story can be found at:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17337244&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46370&rfi=6

Snow, NBA bring reading room to Coleman Center

By JAN H. KENNEDY

Repository STAFF WRITER

Thursday, October 12, 2006

REPOSITORY BOB ROSSITER

HANDS ON DISPLAY Cavaliers guard Eric Snow, Justin Williams and Trevhon Spencer (right) look at one of the computer stations in the newly dedicated room inside the Edward “Peel” Coleman Center in Canton on Wednesday.

CANTON Children at the Edward L. “Peel” Coleman Center have a quiet place to go read, thanks to Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Eric Snow.

The Eric Snow Reading and Learning Center is a joint effort between Snow and the Cavalier’s Read to Achieve, an NBA-sponsored program since 2001. Snow is the eighth player to have a reading and learning center bearing his name, following teammate Drew Gooden, who sponsored the East End Neighborhood House in Cleveland last year.

Snow, his wife, DeShawn, and sons E.J., Darius and Jarron, and his mother, Suzie, joined other family members Wednesday to cut a ribbon to the room.

“I thank God for being here,” Snow said. “I’m a perfect example ... . I’ve been blessed.

“I hope you kids will all enjoy it,” he said. “I’m glad I can be an inspiration to them. I hope one of them one day will come back and help others in their community.”

The new room previously was a trophy room, where kids could go to study or hold meetings, said Aaron Huber, a staff worker. The walls had posters of professional sports icons from the Stark County area.

Steve Coon of Coon Restoration & Sealants did most of the construction work, said Colleen Garrity, Cavs director of community relations. It included tearing down a wall and putting up another. Coon worked with the city to install electricity. Canton information systems people hooked up the six computers, which were sold to Snow at a discounted rate by Rent-A-Center.

All of the work was completed in a week and a half, said Lisa Gissendaner, director of the Coleman Center and the city’s Youth Development Department. The furniture arrived just in time Wednesday.

Gil Reis, who owns the company that paints the floor at the Quicken Loan Arena, donated his time to put murals on the walls. Wise Bros., who supplies paint to the Cavs, donated the paint. Wayside Furniture donated about $10,000 in furniture. The Cavs donated the carpet with Russell Flooring donating the labor. The Cavs chipped in two 30-inch flat screen TVs.

Five hundred books were donated, but the new shelves have room for about five times that many.

The cost was about $30,000, including in-kind donations, Garrity said.

Others professional basketball players who helped pay for the centers are Elton Brand, Los Angeles Clippers; Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace, Detroit Pistons; Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves; Corliss Williamson, the Sacramento Kings; and Amari Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns.

The full URL for the preceding story is:

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=312911&Category=9

Posted on Sat, Oct. 07, 2006

Cavs player Eric Snow a local hero

Akron Beacon Journal

By Jewell Cardwell

Beautiful wine-and-gold bouquets to Cleveland Cavs point guard Eric Snow, a Canton native, for being such a community champion.

Snow, who is a busy man on and off the court with his Shoot 4 the Moon Foundation and his Full Court Fathers program, will cut the ribbon Wednesday on the new Eric Snow Reading and Learning Center at the Edward L. ``Peel'' Coleman Community Center in Canton.

The reading center -- painted in Cavs wine, gold and navy and decorated with collages of Eric -- is not only outfitted with new furniture, televisions and computers, but it's also getting 500 new books.

Snow's message to children: You have to read to achieve.

LeBron's booster club

Some ladies 55 or older find great joy in the Red Hat Society, which celebrates getting older by wearing red hats with purple outfits, eating dessert first and participating in fun activities.

Now comes the LeBron James Grandmothers Fan Club -- the brainchild of Akron's Alder Chapman.

April Bragg of Akron (too young to join) provided me with the skinnyon this new movement, which has the blessings of the James Family Foundation. They'll be out in full force today and carrying a banner at the free Cavaliers Wine & Gold intra-squad scrimmage at 6 p.m. at Rhodes Arena at the University of Akron.

``LeBron doesn't just have a following among the young,'' Bragg said. ``He inspires both young and old.''

This fan club follows LeBron's career, games and travels. ``Some of these women never had a grandson,'' Bragg said, ``so they hold him in their heart because of his upstanding character and his love for his family and his community.''

The full URL for the preceding story is:

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15702416.htm

Reading center dedicated to Snow

Mike Popovich

October 7, 2006

Canton Repository

CLEVELAND - Cavaliers guard Eric Snow continues to give back to his hometown.

The Canton native will become the fifth NBA player to have a Read to Achieve Reading and Learning Center named after him when the new Eric Snow Reading and Learning Center opens at the Edward L. “Peel” Coleman Community Center on Wednesday.

Snow’s monetary contribution to the project helped furnish the center with new furniture and bookshelves, 500 new books, two new televisions and six new Compaq computers. The center is painted in the team’s wine, gold and navy colors and draped with photo collages of Snow. A new ceiling, light work and carpeting also has been added.

Snow will cut the ribbon for the official opening and will sit down for a reading timeout with students after they tour the center.

NEW VENTURE Camelot Ventures, a private investment group led by Cavaliers owners Dan Gilbert and David Katzman, has formed Fathead, LLC — a company that will license and sell 3-D looking life-size vinyl wall graphics of NFL or NBA players in action pose, NFL and college football team helmets and NASCAR racecars. For more information, visit: www.Fathead.com

ON THE AIR FSN Ohio will televise Tuesday’s preseason opener against Boston and the Oct. 17 preseason game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.

Reach Repository sports writer Mike Popovich at (330) 580-8341 or e-mail: mike.popovich@cantonrep.com

The full URL for the preceding story is:

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=17&ID=311904&r=17

Forecast for downtown calls for plenty of Snow
April 24, 2006
Rick Noland
Medina Gazette
Assistant Sports Editor

CLEVELAND — If Eric Snow keeps shooting like he did in Game 1, the Washington Wizards might have to change their defensive strategy.

Snow, who averaged a paltry 4.8 points in the regular season, made 5-of-7 shots and scored 14 points Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena as the Cavaliers opened the best-of-seven series with an impressive 97-86 victory.

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Snow likes being left out in cold
Veteran guard benefits from attention on James
April 23, 2006
Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal

CLEVELAND — Just because the Cavaliers haven't been to the playoffs in eight years doesn't mean some of their current parts haven't.

Eight Cavs had been in the playoffs before the start of the first-round series with the Washington Wizards, and seven had started playoff games. None were as long in the postseason tooth as Eric Snow, who played in his 72nd career playoff game and looked like it in the Cavs' 97-86 Game 1 win.

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Snow’s experience shows
April 23, 2006
Canton Repository
Mike Popovich

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers needed a big start in their playoff opener against Washington. Their postseason veteran helped them get it.

Eric Snow hit his first four shots and finished with 14 points in Saturday’s 7-86 win over the Wizards at The Q. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged just under 5 points during the regular season, but had 9 alone in the first quarter.

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Snow is at peace on worth
Lack of surprises pleases Cavs guard
December 09, 2005
Burt Graeff
Plain Dealer Reporter

One place Eric Snow will not be found is at the NBA All-Star Game's 3-point shooting contest. He is not a 3-point shooter. He knows it, and anyone watching him shoot them should know it.

Snow said Thursday the Cav aliers' em phasis on the 3-pointer last season con tributed to a career-low 38 percent (125-of-327) shooting from the field — including 29 percent (13-of-45) from 3-point range.

The 45 3-point attempts tied a career high.

"The 3-pointer was stressed last season," Snow said. "I spent too much time shooting them in practice and not enough time on the shots I normally take.

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Snow happy with his current role
Bob Finnan
Morning Journal Writer

CLEVELAND — Eric Snow knows Nike will never erect a giant bill board of him on downtown buildings.

He realizes the networks won't use his name to preview their next NBA telecast — "Eric Snow and the Cavaliers."

He also understands that he's never going to be a star — other than in his hometown of Canton.

But Snow fully comprehends that role players are paramount to success in the NBA. Sometimes, though, fans don't appreciate the things he does.

"It's been that way my whole career," he said. "The people in the locker room appreciate it. The league markets players, but it's teams that win championships."

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A Snow Advisory
Rick Noland
Medina Gazette
Assistant Sports Editor

CLEVELAND — Cavaliers Media Day is usually a friendly, low-key, great-to-see-you kind of afternoon.

Long-winded radio types who don't know a basketball from a volleyball show up and ask players to do promos for their stations, while photographers set up their big, fancy cameras and take headshots for their newspaper's season preview section.

Even the players, while trying to give off an aura of coolness and disinterest, are relaxed and friendly as they answer the same dull questions over and over.

So when veteran point guard Eric Snow, one of the genuine good guys in the NBA, showed up this year with an extremely feisty and combative attitude, everyone was caught off guard.

"If you want to say it's a competition, OK, but I don't see it like that," an angry Snow said that day when asked about the expected battle between him and Damon Jones for the starting point guard spot. "I see it as I'm a guy who does one thing and he does another. The way I play and the way he plays are totally different. I'm never going to outshoot him.

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Snow no longer the guy to leave open
His shooting touch has improved this season to become best in career
Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — There's a good chance that some day Eric Snow will be a head coach in the NBA, and he knows what he would have done if he were the one wearing the suit and scheming to beat the Cavaliers last season.

Leave himself wide open.

That was the strategy employed, often successfully, night in and night out a year ago. For all his redeeming qualities, Snow had the worst shooting year of his career in 2004-05, and it was exploited. The opposition, double-teaming LeBron James or Zydrunas Ilgauskas, often just left Snow by himself. Snow would get the ball and not take advantage.

"I know I would've done it if I was on the other team," Snow said. "Really, it is because LeBron is so good, they try to take him away, take the ball out of his hands."

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Cavs’ Snow works to strengthen family ties
November 3, 2005
Ed Balint
Repository Staff Writer

CANTON — Lawrence Roberson wishes his father would have spent more time with him while growing up.

A 29-year-old city sanitation worker, Roberson recalls searching for his father in the stands at his first football game for Souers Middle School. Dad wasn’t there, he said.

Roberson wants to be more involved with his children. His two sons, Trenton Roberson, 5, and Tyler Thatcher, 6, live with their mother in Canton. He said he spends time with them about four times a week.

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Iverson finds himself being Snow-ed under at finish
October 21, 2005
Mary Schmitt Boyer
Plain Dealer Reporter
Cleveland Plain Dealer

TRENTON, N.J. — Eric Snow could not begin to guess how many times he and Allen Iverson have gone one-on-one.

The two were teammates in Philadelphia for parts of seven seasons, with Snow running the show Iverson starred in. As starters, they would not have faced off in practice. However, they went at each other over and over before practice and after practice, during shoot-arounds and pregame warm-ups.

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Snow, Jones set for competition
Both want to be Cavaliers' starting point guard
Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal Sports Writer

CLEVELAND — Eric Snow prefers to be all business. Damon Jones prefers to be all show.

Once Cavaliers training camp launches today, it promises to be an intense and colorful battle for the starting point-guard job between them. Snow finished last season as the Cavaliers' starter after Jeff McInnis fell out of favor. But he struggled all year scoring, averaging 4.0 points and shooting just 38 percent from the field.

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Snow not fazed by offseason trade rumors
Trade rumors have followed Eric Snowaround like bad indigestion.
Bob Finnan
Morning Journal Writer

CLEVELAND — "Every year in the league there have been trade rumors," he said. "I don't worry about it. The only thing I worry about how it will inconvenience my family and if I have to move my kids out of school. That's my only concern."

Rumors out of New York said Knicks coach Larry Brown wanted to trade for Snow, who he coached in Philadelphia. However, nothing came of the rumors.

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Spartan coach sings Snow’s praises IZZO
September 20, 2005
Jim Thomas
Repository sports writer
Canton Repository

CANTON — Tom Izzo says he tries to sell budding Spartans on the program’s family atmosphere.

If the Michigan State men’s basketball coach had a picture to show recruits, or the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, there is no doubt the smiling face of Canton’s Eric Snow would be front and center.

Standing before a full house at Four Winds restaurant Monday, Izzo told the crowd that “to this day, Eric Snow might be my most valuable alum. Not ... for any other reason other than he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.”

Apparently, neither has Izzo. One of the best college basketball coaches in the land was in town, a town reminiscent of his own blue-collar upbringing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, to talk college basketball, Ohio high school basketball, coaching, his love of football and yes, Eric Snow.

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