Pro basketball player back home in NJ to 'give kids the opportunity I didn't have'
Whether on a basketball court in Europe or the streets of New Jersey, Eugene Campbell III stays focused on his goal "to start a movement to inspire people."
It all began with a bagful of old sneakers. On a freezing February night in 2019, Campbell and a friend gave used shoes to people sleeping at Penn Station in Newark.
The nonprofit Walk a Mile N Our Shoes was born.
At the time, Campbell was in graduate school at New Jersey City University, a member of the men's basketball coaching staff, and pledging the Psi Sigma Phi multicultural fraternity. He put a donation bin in the lobby of his dorm, and started reaching out on Instagram.
Campbell gathered clothes, sneakers, hand warmers − anything he could hand out. He also gathered people, like his mom Kim Campbell and older sister Alisha McLean.
New volunteers are welcome at Walk A Mile's next service project, which starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Newark Penn Station.
Gene Campbell, the CEO of Walk A Mile, will be there to lead the way. A 6-foot-3 guard from Carteret, he spends most of the year overseas playing basketball.
The 28-year-old spent last season with Brcko District in Bosnia's A-1 Liga. It's the fifth country on his resume, which also includes stints with pro teams in Tunisia, Portugal twice, Moldova and Armenia.
"When I'm home, I'm on the ground," said Campbell, who returned to Carteret in late March and expects to stay until September. "I don't even wear regular clothes when I'm home, just Walk A Mile apparel: Walk A Mile T-shirt, Walk A Mile sweatpants."
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Started at the bottom, now we're here
Campbell was cut from the East Brunswick Tech basketball team as a freshman. He made the JV as a sophomore, then played two seasons on varsity.
Campbell was born in Jersey City, but the family moved to Carteret when he was in middle school. He followed his father, Eugene Campbell Jr., and McLean, a former Rutgers-Newark guard/forward who is 10 years older, onto the basketball court.
In 2014, Campbell walked on at Middlesex County College in Edison, and wound up making the team. He averaged 15.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
Planning to extend both his basketball and academic careers, Campbell emailed NJCU coach Marc Brown Sr., who invited him to an open gym.
Campbell made enough of an impression to walk onto the team again. He earned his undergraduate degree at NJCU in 2018. Brown helped him get a graduate assistant position that paid for the first year of his master's in educational psychology.
"I've been at the bottom so many times," Campbell said. "I'm always making sure I'm on top of my game, always giving 120%."
More than just basketball: Giving back on the block
It was only natural to add a basketball component to the nonprofit, which has been adopted as Psi Sigma Phi's national philanthropy.
Campbell, McLean and other volunteers give summer hoops clinics for kids. Walk A Mile has also partnered with Court Kingz, a faith-based basketball nonprofit, on a youth tournament this July in Venezuela. Campbell hopes to distribute 500 pairs of shoes.
Closer to home, Walk A Mile partners with the Pride Center of Newark. A volunteer team is slated to participate in the annual New Jersey AIDS Walk in Newark and the Lupus Research Alliance's walk at MetLife Stadium on the same May weekend.
"We're spread pretty thin," said Walk A Mile chief technical officer Christopher Lugo, who was born and raised in Jersey City and met Campbell through their fraternity. "When we give somebody something they need, and they literally cry, all the stress goes away and it's just worth it. That's when I know I helped somebody, and I made a difference. That's why I do what I do."
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McLean and Kim Campbell help to keep Walk A Mile going even when Eugene is far away. Kim Campbell buys and packages personal hygiene products, and also handles a lot of the food distribution.
"They didn't do that initially. It was shoes and sneakers," said Kim Campbell, an HR manager who lives in Carteret. "But from volunteering on the ground, we saw people are hungry. People don't just want sneakers. They want to eat."
After a few more seasons overseas, Gene Campbell's long-term plan is to become a high school psychologist and basketball coach. He also wants to open a New Jersey basketball facility "to help bridge the gap for kids who don't get to showcase their talent at a higher level."
"I don't want to feel like that again, that low point where I was on the bench, where I got cut, where I felt like nobody was helping me," Campbell said. "That's why I like helping other people. If I can give back to them, that makes me feel good. I'm not going to repeat the cycle. I'm going to give kids the opportunity I didn't have."
Jane Havsy is a storyteller for the Daily Record and DailyRecord.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis, subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: European pro basketball player is NJ charity all-star at home
