On Knickerblogger, Jim Cavan catches up with Charlie Ward, the former Knick point guard and Heisman trophy winner who turned down far more glamorous opportunities and has become a role player in coaching basketball and football at a small school in Houston:
Russell Carr, now the Athletic Director at Westbury Christian, remembers Ward’s 2007 arrival fondly. Carr had just been named Boys Varsity Basketball Coach, when he first got word that Charlie Ward -- yes, that Charlie Ward -- had agreed to join Westbury’s program. Needless to say, the young Carr had to do a double-take.
“I still remember when our School Head, Greg Glenn, told me about it,” recalls Carr. “He said ‘I want you to meet with Charlie Ward. He’s thinking about coaching here.’ And the whole time I’m thinking, ‘I need to be working for that guy! Not the other way around!’ But I remember meeting with Charlie and him saying ‘I just want to learn how to be a coach.’ Which is unbelievably telling as to what kind of guy he is.”
Carr continues: “Some of us would make jokes that, if I’d won the Heisman, I’d have been wearing it around my neck. But that’s what made Charlie so fun to be around — to be so accomplished and yet so humble at the same time. Especially in this day and age, when everything is so sensationalized, it was refreshing to see.”
