Evan Turner Fulfills Promise, Delivers 100 Pizzas To School Kids
BOSTON (CBS) -- Celtics forward Evan Turner is a pretty cool dude, and it has nothing to do with his play on the basketball court.
Before he left Boston for the summer, the Celtics forward had a promise to fulfill to some local school kids, and he delivered like a true champ.
Back in December, Turner went to JFK Elementary School in Jamaica Plain as part of the team's "Read To Achieve" program. JFK Elementary topped the 11 other schools around the city participating in the program, with 98 percent participation, which won them a visit from Turner.
During that visit, he read them a book and handed out some t-shirts. But not every student was able to get some Celtics swag that day, so Turner made a promise.
Impressed with what he saw out of the kids, he told the students if they continued to get good grades, respect their teachers and, of course, keep reading, he would be back for another visit. He kept checking in with the school throughout the season, and last week, he followed through on his promise.
Turner bought more than 100 pizzas and treated the students and teachers to lunch, according to The Boston Globe.
But the forward's visit went far beyond a few slices for everyone. Turner made his way through the cafeteria, stopping to chat with students about anything they wanted, and he even stuck around for some recess kickball.
"It's cool that they look up to you," Turner told the Globe, "but it wasn't so much that they looked up to me as much as they appreciated someone doing something nice for them."
"The thing that struck me was in the cafeteria, he was just going around and sitting down one-on-one with a bunch of the kids," Karen Scholz, a teacher at JFK Elementary told The Globe. "He kind of circulated around and talked to them. It was really nice, and the kids were all so enthusiastic and excited."
None of this should come as any surprise, as Turner was among the more active players on the team when it came to charity work throughout the season. Around Halloween, just a few weeks after being formally introduced by the Celtics, he and teammate Kelly Olynyk made their way to Boston Children's Hospital in full costumes -- Turner as a Ninji Turtle and Olynyk as Super Mario.
Not only was Turner an integral part of Boston's run to the playoffs this season, but he was an MVP off the floor as well.
