Fan Male: Jacque Dominique Wilkins

Basketball legend scores points for kids.

by Vanessa Burke

December 1, 2005

" W here I grew up, basketball was everything," says Jacque Dominique Wilkins. Most know him as "Nique," or the "Human Highlight Film," because of his amazing basketball career, which concluded with Wilkins as the eighth all-time leading scorer in league history, racking up 26,668 points. Most of those points were during his 12 seasons with the Atlanta Hawks ('82-'94), a team he now has part ownership in through Atlanta Spirit, LLC.

Growing up in Baltimore, a city with one of the highest crime rates in the nation, Wilkins could have gotten in a lot of trouble, but thankfully, some older guys in the neighborhood took him under their wing. "They said, 'Look, you are a natural athlete,' and kind of taught me the game," says Wilkins. That helped him stay out of trouble.

Just as others lent a helping hand to point him in the right direction, Wilkins is lending a hand to today's youth. "I like working with kids," he says. As a spokesperson for GoGirlGo!, an initiative by the Women's Sports Foundation to combat physical and psychological health hazards affecting young girls, he enjoys encouraging young girls to stay active. "When we talk about getting girls active, we are talking about every sport, even walking," says Wilkins. "I think it's great that they have an organization that focuses on young women, because it's needed. I'm always looking to do things like that. It was a no-brainer." A father of four daughters, Wilkins makes sure they also stay active for the benefit of their health and their life.

Wilkins is more than happy to speak to young kids about fitness and health, and has even taken this a step further, speaking mainly to youth through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "Because I wasn't as active and ate everything I could, I found out at age 40 that I was a Type II diabetic," Wilkins says. "The most glaring thing about diabetes is that people don't realize they have it." Once Wilkins discovered he had diabetes, he began taking care of himself and has lost 32 pounds. He admonishes everyone to "get some kind of activity. Many times diabetes comes from obesity and what we eat, but a lot of people don't know that." Wilkins wants to help curtail the shocking statistic that kids as young as six- to eight-years-old are taking insulin.

Yet another cause has Wilkins rooting for it: the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Why this disease? "It's as important as any other disease out there. It needs funding and it needs to be recognized," he says. He encourages Atlantans to purchase a ticket to the second annual fundraiser Drive for a Cure basketball event at Philips Arena on December 16 to raise more funds for the organization. "It's fun to watch, fun to be a part of and in the process you can raise money for a cause," says Wilkins.

Outside of his mother, Wilkins says that his biggest motivating factor by far was his high school coach Dave Smith. States Wilkins, "He not only taught and inspired me about basketball, but about life." Must have been a good lesson.