Sports

Ex-St. John’s star helping keep kids on the right path

Former St. John’s star Tyrone Grant recently had a reunion with some old friends.

One he hadn’t seen in 17 years. The other he hadn’t seen in 21 years. Both had been incarcerated, which is slightly better than having been laid to rest.

“I was almost one of those kids,’’ said Grant. “I barely went to high school my first two years. I was gambling, hanging out, doing stuff that I shouldn’t have been doing. Why I didn’t end up dead or in jail, I don’t know.’’

Actually, Grant, now a retired European basketball pro with homes in Milan, New York and Miami, knows exactly why he didn’t end up as a cautionary tale. He made the most important decision of his life prior to his junior year at Brooklyn’s Grady High School. He found education — doubled his class load, went to summer school and took night classes.

The result was a full ride. Grant was a classic college power forward, too big to be guarded by centers and too strong to be handled by power forwards. If he was three inches taller, the 6-foot-6 beast probably would have enjoyed a solid NBA career.

No matter: Grant went overseas where he played in Israel and then Italy. He married an Italian beauty with whom he has a 4-year-old daughter, Tyra, who has already done some modeling (read: Mom’s genes here) and an 8-month-old son, Tyson, who already knows how to use his elbows.

Life is good. It could have been a disaster. Grant has never forgotten that. He and former Wagner star Frantz Pierre-Louis founded Team First, a non-profit whose mission is to encourage inner-city basketball players to focus on the books as much as the hoops. As it says on their website: “Let your jump shot drop, not your grades.’’

“We’re not an AAU program, we’re not here to funnel kids to colleges. We’re here to let kids know that it’s great to be a great player, but it’s even better to have an education behind you,’’ said Grant. “I go back to Brownsville all the time, I see 50, 60 kids that I played with walking around like zombies. They have no place to go, nothing to do because they don’t have a backbone of education.’’

We all know the numbers: You have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than making it to the NBA. And you have a better chance of getting bit by a shark than landing a Kobe Bryant contract. But almost every kid thinks he or she is the exception.

The choice seems so easy — Zombieland or a lifetime of opportunity. But we get it: It’s more fun, if not easier, to ball than to book. But what value does having scored 42 at Rucker Park hold on a resume?

Grant has decided to use his personal cachet, NBA and European contacts to try to make a difference. In mid-September he will take three teams of inner city kids — boys 17-and-under, boys 15-and-under and girls 17-and-under — to Milan for a basketball tournament. They’ll be exposed to another culture, another brand of basketball, another way of seeing the world.

Is there a catch? Sort of.

Grant and Pierre-Louis have enough sponsorship in place to foot the bill for the trip, but the players will have to pay a price. There will be mandatory study hall and tutors. Grant said he will meet with the principals and academic advisors of every player picked for the squad to explain the program and make sure no schoolwork is missed.

The tryouts begin next Wednesday (12-4:30 p.m.) at South Shore High School. It is open to any player of age. But don’t bother showing up if you’ve treated school like an option. Players with lousy academic and/or attendance records need not apply. This is for players who have an academic backbone.

“Look, I speak their language,’’ said Grant. “I’m from the projects. I haven’t heard every excuse and story because I used them. What I’m basically doing is what people should have been doing years ago.’’

Better late than never, Tyrone. Better late than never.

* Two of the greatest refs college basketball has known will enjoy a testimonial night of cocktails and dinner in their honor Tuesday night in Albany. Tim Huggins and Bob Donato, who are putting the whistles away, have been working games long before there was a March Madness. They were just insanely in love with the game and getting the calls correct. No truth to the rumor that Lenscrafters is sponsoring the event.