Kevin Grow, Honorary Philadelphia 76er With Down Syndrome, To Play One Quarter As Harlem Globetrotter
Kevin Grow, the senior manager of his high school basketball team in Bensalem, Pa., signed a ceremonial two-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers last week that earned him a spot at a players’ dinner and a team jersey. Now the three-point-shooting whiz that dominated the last two minutes of his team’s final game of the season will be suiting up with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Grow will join an exclusive club with his Globetrotter appearance as one of only two people ever to play for both the Globetrotters and the 76ers. The only other person to accomplish the feat? Wilt Chamberlain. Grow will attempt to carry over his outside-the-arc prowess as the team’s three-point specialist during the fourth quarter of their March 9 game in Philadelphia.
The 76ers first noticed Grow after a highlight reel circulated around the Internet beginning in early February. The senior rode the bench as manager for most of the season, before his coach at Bensalem High School gave Grow a spot on the court for the final two minutes. He sunk four of the five three-pointers he attempted, netting 14 total points. “It’s tough to describe. It really is,” coach John Mullin told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s one of those things that doesn’t happen often.”
As a result of his sub-two minute display, Grow received the “Globetrotter Spirit” award from his school. On March 9, he and his father will sit on the Globetrotter’s bench during the second game of the team’s doubleheader, until Grow’s name is called to join his teammates on the court, where his Globetrotter spirit belongs.