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Charles Clark:        How are you, sir?

Allan Houston:      I’m doing great.  

CC:      First of all, thank you so much for the interview.  I really appreciate it!  

AH:      Sure, sure . . .

CC:    And my sister is still mad that you retired . . . Just so you know . . .

AH:    [Laughing]  Well, sometimes things happen the way we don’t expect, so . . .  Ask your sister to forgive me!

CC:    I sure will!  Now I want to start by talking about [the fact] that you are one of the few men in sports that actively talk about being a child of God and being a man of faith.  Was that difficult, while you were in basketball – to be a man of faith, a man of integrity – or it just came second nature to you?

AH:    Well, I’ve always viewed the platform that God has given me as a tool to speak about that.  I think that what happens is there are a lot of people in the eye of the media or entertainment that have a relationship with God -  and maybe even through Jesus Christ – but I think that what happens is you feel pressure to live up to it.    And so, if you go out and have a drink, or you go out and something happens, you get a ticket or you’re out at a club, all of a sudden you look like a hypocrite.  I think there has to be some type of training in discipleship and that’s what I received, so I was never afraid of it . . .  [B]ecause I realized I made mistakes – and I felt guilty about them – but at the same time, I never wanted that to keep me from using my platform to tell people about God’s grace and the benefits that we have in living a lifestyle for him.  So I feel that my testimony is that God brought me to New York because that was it was that He had for me to do.

CC:    Yes, sir.  Now how have you transferred that drive and that discipline that you had on the basketball court into the private citizen and working and forming the Allan Houston Foundation?

AH:    That’s actually a very good question . . .  It takes a lot of time.  I don’t think any professional athlete or singer or actor – it’s hard to treat something with that kind of drive because it’s a different kind of reward when you’re on the stage or basketball court.  But the one thing that I tell my kids is that whatever you do, do it with excellence.  And don’t do anything halfway . . .  And that mean relationships or that could be anything.  So now, the thing that drives me is if the Knicks now have me in an executive role instead of playing, then I want to be the best executive that I can be.  I don’t want to just rely on Allan Houston is a good person or used to be a good basketball player . . .  Now I want to be able to say he’s a great executive in sports.  Or I want people to say that his foundation is run efficiently and his programs are having maximum impact because that’s your legacy.  So, whatever preparation or training I did to help my basketball, I want to do that in other areas.  No matter what it is, you’re gonna learn and make mistakes but I think as long as you try to do things with excellence, that should try to be our standard.   

CC:    Yes, sir.  Now, you could have done anything after basketball, after you retired.  Why did you specifically want to start the Allan Houston Foundation?  

AH:    Well, actually, the Allan Houston Foundation was started well before I retired.  My foundation and the programs was again, using the platform that basketball gave us to – as I like to call it – extend [my] legacy.  The Bible tells us that we are prepared in advance [for] the works that He calls us to do, so we have many gifts.  I don’t think that because someone is good at one thing, that’s the only thing they are good at or the only thing they are called to do, so I think that what I felt led to do it is because I felt it was near t my heart and [because] my father was a great example of a man . . .  I think that family and marriage are getting watered down . . .  In our society, the role of a man – whether it’s as a father or a husband – is being treated too lightly.  And I think the training needed in disadvantaged communities – and not just in disadvantaged communities, but it’s more prevalent there –to be [less about] capitalism instead of just the job force has not been focused on enough.  So those are two things that I kind of grew up seeing, so I felt like those are things that are important to me.  

CC:    Is that part of the reason why you have the Father Knows Best program as part of your foundation?  And can you tell me a little more about that program?

AH:    Well, yeah, that is the reason . . .   Because of my experience and the example that my father displayed.  When I see in our sports and our culture that when someone has a good father and a man of praise is leading the home, that shouldn’t be an anomaly . . .  That should be the standard.  It shouldn’t be something that people just don’t see.  It shouldn’t be rare.  So that’s what we’re trying to turn around.  We’re also look in certain communities as [the] options for careers as entertainment, but we don’t really look at ownership from a young age as an option.  That’s why we initiated these programs.   

CC:    Okay.  Can you tell me the goals of your Father Knows Best program and your business education program?

AH:    Well, the goal of both of the programs is to provide training.  Again, when you look at a strong example of a man or a father in a home, a man of faith and integrity – no matter what color or economic level – we see that as rare.  We see that as an anomaly.  So one of the goals of our program is to reverse that, to turn that around as being the standard by which, first of all, we know [things are] possible.  We do that through training and fun activities – specifically, basketball – but we also do workshops where we try to train not only the men but the young men because they’re gonna grow up to be men and fathers and coaches themselves.  Our strategy is through relationship building through basketball, certain activities and workshops we train men to be effective fathers and father-figures.  And to be Godly examples . . .  That’s a scary thing for some people but that’s what we’re called to do.   Our financial education and business program is simple to train young entrepreneurs to be effective owners and business people.  And to understand the dynamics of the economy to where they can sustain wealth for them[selves] and their families and provide jobs instead of trying to figure out where they’re gonna work.  

CC:    Now you’ve talked a lot about your father.  And I feel the same way about my father . . .  Is there a lesson that he taught you when you were growing up that you still hold onto even though you are now a father yourself?

AH:    I can’t think of one.   But I think the biggest theme from him is the example.  I think what happens is in our culture and society – especially for young males – they don’t have enough manly examples or the examples that are presented before us are not the examples that I got.  So that allowed me to see what is supposed to be.  As far as specific lessons, I can’t think of specific lessons except understanding consequences . . .  Understanding the value of out-working people, not out-playing people, but out-working people . . .   The example of a [strong] work ethic and integrity . . .  The way you treat and respect people and treat your gift, it’ll come back to you. . .   or it can come back on you.  There were all those types of lessons so I can’t just think of one specific one that stood out.  

CC:    What do you want your legacy to be?  

AH:    I want my legacy to be that everything – every drop – of what God gave me to use, I’ve maximized it.  That I’ve used it.  That I didn’t waste anything.  You know, like we say in sports, that [I] left it all out on the court.  And that I tried, as much as possible to do things with excellence.  And that starts with my relationship with the Lord.  Hopefully, I treated that as seriously as possible because I think that everything else kinda falls from there.  That I loved my family, you know, my wife, my children . . .  And that everything I did, I did the best.  That’s really what I [hope to leave for] my legacy.

CC:    Yes, sir.  What is the one lesson that you want your children to remember that their father taught them?  

AH:     I don’t know if I can think of just one.  Well, we’re here for a reason and don’t treat it lightly and don’t neglect it.  And I think that that’s the biggest thing.  If we have a true understanding of our duty, our call, and our relationship with God to the degree that we know what He’s asking us to do – calling us to do – why settle for less than that?  Why settle for less when we are supposed to experience the best?  And don’t let anyone convince you otherwise . . .

CC:    Yes, sir.  Well, I thank you for the interview.  I really, really do appreciate it.  

AH:      Thanks you and I really look forward to seeing the things that you guys are doing.

CC:    I really appreciate that.  Thank you.  And on a personal note, whenever I watched you do an interview after a Knicks game, you always talked about being a man of integrity and a man of faith.  And I really, really appreciate you [providing] that example for us.  So, thank you, sir.

AH:    Thank you. I really appreciate it and to God be the glory.

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