Former Blue Devil and Gator DeVon Walker hosts back-to-school event for Winter Haven youths

LAKELAND — DeVon Walker dreamed of playing in the NBA, and although that particular dream didn’t come true, he does work in the NBA. The 2012 Winter Haven grad; is the director of advance scouring and senior video analyst for the Oklahoma Thunder. And although he doesn’t live in Winter Haven, he hasn’t forgotten his home community.

Walker was in town last week and hosted a back-to-school event at the Winter Haven’s Jack Deedrick Gymnasium, giving away school supplies and hygiene products to about 100 or so youths.

“It's just a start to something that I wanted to do in the community,” Walker said. “Ultimately, it's all about STEM and sports. That's the two things that I really thought was needed in our community. And it's just something that I wanted to continue doing, like establish as a presence to provide resources to our kids, all of those things. So, it was just initiative, push that agenda.”

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Walker raised the money for the event through his Ball Harbor Foundation that he started. He received donations from local sponsors, businesses and people in the community. He approached the ideal with Winter Haven athletic director LeDawn Gibson, his cousin, about doing a back-to-school event along with a one-day basketball camp. The camp couldn't be done because the gym floor was being refinished, but Gibson said that might be added next year.

"I think it's a wonderful thing for these kids, especially the standout athletes to come back and do something for the community," Gibson said. "He want to do it and he could have done it anywhere. He chose to do it at the high school because that's where he went to school, and he reached back to his roots to give back to the community."

Walker was the leading player of Winter Haven’s 2011-12 team when he averaged 23.8 points and 10.4 rebounds, the first Blue Devils squad that head coach Tyrone Woodside led to the state tournament. He played three years at Florida, missing his junior season with a torn ACL then wrapped up his collegiate career at Troy.

For the past four years, Walker has been with the Thunder organization.

“I thought I would actually be on the court,” Walker said. “I think obviously I intended to play in the NBA but still, it's a dream to even work around in there. So I still have been able to get there even though it may not necessarily have been like the path I thought it would be, but I'm still a happy man, I'm still grateful for it all the community.”

Walker said last week’s event won’t be the last as he hopes to build on it.

“This is my first time doing something of this scale,” Walker said. “I've done it like minor scales up to this point, but this is the first time we were able to do something that such a large scale for over 100 kids. And, we still have plans to do more after this. So it's not just a one-time thing.”

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Former Blue Devil and Gator DeVon Walker hosts back-to-school event for Winter Haven youths