Felipe lopez where is he now

Lopez's career at St. Johns was underwhelming. The arrival of Fran Fraschilla his junior year righted a wayward ship, and St. John's finally made the NCAA tournament in his senior season. The team lost to Detroit in the first round. Lopez's potential game-winner clanged off the front rim in the final seconds. He left St. John's as its third-leading scorer but hardly a savior. Bronx Spanish Evangelical Church sits behind black metal gates next to the Adams projects in a blighted neighborhood not too far from where Lopez grew up.

And you hear a lot of sneakers squeaking and a gruff, accented voice barking instructions. When I got in, I saw the court, and it was like I saw heaven," says Lopez, in gym shorts, sitting on the sideline overseeing his kids which includes his son, Felipe Jr.

On this day there are about 30 kids—mostly Dominican—who throughout the day do everything from learn the game from a former pro to get help with their schoolwork upstairs, via Marija Kero, a schoolteacher and Lopez's girlfriend of four years. Lopez, it seems, has found his second calling as a teacher and mentor.

The kids think the world of him, even when he's scolding them, because his love for them is apparent. I don't care about none of that. I wanna see buckets. So I try to be that role model. I visit their schools, talk to their teachers. Make sure they're eating. They're like my sons," he says. John's, the knee injury that ended his career—it didn't embitter him," says Konchalski, who thought enough of Lopez to attend his college graduation. So, no, he didn't end up being Michael Jordan.

But look at the man he's become. You can have Michael Jordan. I'll take Felipe. On his old college campus, some of the great St. John's players—Walter Berry, Chris Mullin, etc. Two students, not even born when Lopez was at his apex, are trying to help a reporter find Lopez's case.

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Taste 10 great cinnamon and caramel rolls from Twin Cities area bakeries November Olympics Suni Lee says she was pepper sprayed in racist attack in Los Angeles am. More From Star Tribune. It was like a dream to see a kid who come like this, at 14 years old. Lopez dealt with depression during his worst times at St. The burden was a hell of a lot more than just not being the best.

He was all their dreams. After retirement from playing, Lopez embarks on a mission to build organizations, including The Felipe Lopez Foundation , based out of his church in the South Bronx providing help and guidance to local children, and his work as an ambassador with NBA Cares, where he takes constant trips to the Dominican Republic for major causes, including the aim to reduce and eventually eliminate Malaria and basketball related programs around the island.

The Dominican Dream is an immigrant tale, a personal victory camouflaged as a failed basketball career where, thanks to the unconditional love and nurturing of his family, the hero finds true happiness while also realizing that throughout the good times and the bad, his community was always there, ready to welcome him home. Georgia is a prohibitive favorite to win the College Football Championship, but do any other teams offer value for bettors?

Two former teammates are battling it out for the league's top individual honor. John's and forsaking the opportunity to go to the NBA. He got there eventually as a late first-round pick in and played five seasons, averaging 5. His pro career was largely unsuccessful but his life certainly hasn't been. Lopez is active in the community through his nonprofit foundation and NBA Cares, president of a community center basketball team in the Dominican Republic, and has returned to St.

John's at times in the two decades since he became his family's first college graduate to talk to players about how to be a professional.