Money matters: Former Buckeye advising finance
By Robert Gartrell
[email protected]
Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Growing up in Columbus? housing projects, former Ohio State and NBA star Lawrence Funderburke knows what it?s like to live in poverty. Now he helps others escape poverty and avoid the same financial hardships that made his early life difficult.
Since retiring from the NBA, Funderburke has become even more heavily involved with charity and guidance through the Lawrence Funderburke Youth Organization, which he started with his wife Monya in 2000. The organization offers children and young adults programs that teach them about managing finances and developing personal goals.
?There?s a need for kids in the inner city to know about financial planning,? Funderburke said. ?We also have several young adults who don?t know much about financial planning, so we teach them about that whole process as well.?
For Funderburke, he can relate to the hardships of those he helps.
Raised in a single-parent home in the Sullivant Gardens housing projects and living on welfare, Funderburke was abandoned by his father at young age. Living in an environment full of distractions, he used academics and basketball to guide him to a better life.
An All-American at Wehrle High School with a 3.7 grade point average, he committed to play basketball for Indiana University, but transferred to OSU during his freshman season after a highly publicized conflict with then-Indiana coach Bob Knight.
At OSU, Funderburke excelled as a scholar athlete. He was named to the All-Big Ten team three times and graduated magna cum laude in business finance in 1994. That summer, he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings.
After a three-year detour playing in Europe, Funderburke joined the Kings and developed into one of their more solid role players as a power forward. He remained in Sacramento for six seasons before retiring with the Chicago Bulls in 2005.
During his time with Sacramento, Funderburke demonstrated his financial savvy while serving as the Kings? union representative, helping teammates understand their investments and supplemental benefits.
Much of Funderburke?s focus has been on helping NBA players avoid the financial pitfalls that have plagued some of the best in the game. As many as 60 percent of NBA players file for bankruptcy within five years after retirement, and frivolous spending, as Funderburke explains, is the biggest cause.
?Athletes get caught in a cycle trying to show the world they made it,? Funderburke said. ?The mindset is to just buy things. They live for the moment without thinking about that inevitable day when they can?t play anymore.?