President Perdomo 2025

Hello everyone, my name is Hector Perdomo. I'm the president of the Nate Smith International Basketball Foundation, and I have a story to tell. I don't know how I made it where I'm at, but I guess that's up to God. I was raised in Boston, raised in all the boroughs: Dorchester, Roxbury, Rosendale, Jamaica Plain, Chelsea, Lawrence, Bethel, and all them areas. And one day I was at a basketball park And if I was at the basketball park, I wouldn't be here today. As I seen this young lady walking up the street, I would say to myself, wow, what a beautiful, what a beautiful person, what a beautiful lady, what a beautiful young woman. And I couldn't finish saying that, a voice in my head popped in my head and said, hey, that's gonna be your wife. I was 13 years old when I heard this, and sure enough, it happened. But as the day went along, we finished playing basketball. My friends, who were her friends, asked me to take her to the bus stop because she had to get to the bus to go home because she lived in Lawrence. Well, when I looked at her, I was like pretty bedazzled because I had seen this during the morning. So the girl said, you can take her home. I said, I don't got no money. They gave me some money and off I went. Well, first they asked, what was her name? She said her name was Caroline. And then I asked her a question, was how old she was. She said, oh, she was 18. Well, growing up in the streets, you gotta think quick on your feet. That's what I was 16 going on 17. So we got to the bus stop, made her laugh, and before she got on the bus, I told her, just like I'm telling you guys, I'm gonna marry you. And she said, man, this guy's crazy. I said, yes. I said to myself, I'm crazy in love with you. And sure enough, 25 years later, 2 boys, 6 grandkids, and a decision that shaped and changed my life because I said yes when they asked me to take her to the bus stop. I could have said no and went about my business, and who knows where I'd be today. One thing is for certain, I wouldn't be the president of the Naismith International. Basketball Foundation. And, um, I just— I still can't believe I say this. It really chokes me up because I never expected my name to be attached to the fabric of this world. I was just a young kid growing up in the projects. Trying to outrun the cops or outrun the dogs that were chasing me. So we moved, we got married, got married at 16, told y'all, got married at 16. Um, moved to Florida, coached my kids. Uh, we were first team in the OAAU here in Kissimmee, Florida, Osceola County. And I was, I was a cook at the time, but I was working for this restaurant called NBA City. Well, I went to work that day. It was, uh, September. It was during Labor Day, September 2000. Yeah, September 2000. And I'm not thinking of it. I'm looking over my— as I exit the garage, if you know where that's at, Universal Studios in Orlando. I'm exiting the garage and I see this old Caucasian man, old white guy with a briefcase and a statue. I didn't think nothing of it, so I just looked at him, glanced at him, and I went stage left. At the time I was 32, line cook, and a Latino, so you know I'm already moving fast. Well, I didn't take 3 steps, over my shoulder all of a sudden I hear, "Excuse me, Sonny, you know where NBA City is?" I turned around and it was the guy I seen struggling with the trophy and the briefcase. I didn't think nothing of it. I was like, "Sure, follow me." That's where I was going. Well, the third time I came back, I told him, "Look, mister, you're gonna make me late." Here's my chef's coat, give me what you're carrying, and we'll get there. Well, when I went to grab the award, Mr. Naismith was carrying it like a light object, like this, this earbud case. He was carrying it like this. So when I went to grab the award, I grabbed it and I almost dropped it. That award weighs over 50 pounds. Mr. Naismith was carrying it the way he would carry himself. So I grabbed it, I took a couple steps, and I started walking. He gave me the gold briefcase, and I said, you hold the briefcase and I hold this so I won't drop this. So we started walking. I introduced myself and told him who I was, and again that little voice popped in my head and told me to tell him what I do with basketball. And like I'm sharing with you guys, uh, me and my buddy Leonard, may he rest in peace, we, uh, we met at the YMCA, man. This is when my boys were 5 years old. He had a team, I had a team, and if he didn't win the championship, I won the championship. We did it 3 times, and the 3rd time I was like, look, bro, this is getting boring. And just as that, as that's happening, there's a new league forming called the FBVA. Well, he took his best 5, I took my best 5, and we put them together. And we actually had 2 teams, one for Hector Perdomo Jr. and Ronaldo Bell, and one for Albert Perdomo and Rakim Bell. Hector was on the group. Albert was a young group, and, uh, we played, and, uh, we never lost a game for 4 seasons. So we played rec ball, so you know, it's more than once a year, and you know how that goes. Well, I shared that with him like I'm sharing with you, but the one thing we never did was we never disrespected the game the way the game's being disrespected now. And that's why I've I've finally been able to get myself together because I've gone through it myself with mental anguish and realizing that I need to help and understand why I'm here. Well, I shared that with Yaron and we still stopped 5 times because I found out later that he broke his knee trying to kick the cab to see if he left the briefcase in the, uh, in the cab. Well, when we finally get there, I take the award and put it on the podium. I go to shake his hand and I said, well, sir, it was nice to meet you. My name's Hector Perdomo. He goes, my name is Yawn Naismith. I said, what? He goes, yeah, Sonny, my name is Ian Yawn Naismith. My grandfather invented the game of basketball. I'm still scratching my head. I'm saying, what? He goes, would you like to see what you were carrying? I said to myself, well, I know I ain't got nothing else to lose. Well, he goes and opened up the gold briefcase, and the gold briefcase was the rules that he sold at South Beach for $4.3 million. I was carrying the Magna Carta of basketball, the Magna Carta of sportsmanship. I didn't even know it. I didn't even know who Mr. Naismith was. I didn't know Ian Naismith, but I knew who Dr. Naismith was because I was coaching basketball at the time. So we go and we exchange numbers and we click. We clicked immediately. Don't know why, but we did. And life goes on. Worked with him a couple times. 2008, 2009, I was not in the best positions, and I actually worked with him and I actually helped him. And if I would have stayed with him in 2008, 2009, who knows, he would have still been here. But even when I first met him, I had a major discrimination lawsuit against NBA City and Universal, but I just met Mr. Naismith and I thought Mr. Naismith loved the NBA. Boy, was that wrong. Well, as the years go by, 2007, unfortunately, Mr. Naismith's life changed. Mrs. Naismith, Mrs. Renee DeJude Naismith, who was the president at the time of the foundation, passed away from brain cancer. She had battled 3 cancers. First 2 of them were in the breast, and the last one was in the brain. Unfortunately, she couldn't beat that one. She beat the breast, but she couldn't beat the brain cancer. But to her last day, she was on her hospital bed, make sure this foundation keeps going. And that's what I'm here for, to make sure it keeps going and bring back what Yvonne was always fighting for. That's honor, dignity, and respect. That's the most important thing about basketball and any sport. And it's never about the sport, it's about the education. Education that comes with the games and the education of what is called life. Well, unfortunately, the same way I met Mr. Naismith is the same way I lost him. After him— after he sells the Bulls in 2010, he tells me that's the worst thing he ever did. And life goes on. He tries and tries to run to work the foundation, but it's just too much for him. And, uh, 2012, I find I get a call that I wish I never got. And this was in January 2012. And all of a sudden, that voice popped in my head again and said, hey, this is your last conversation with him. Make it a good one. Well, those were the first things I asked Mr. Naismith. Said, hey, John, I guess this is our last conversation, huh? He goes, yeah, Sonny, they're beating me up. I can't take it no more.

Whatever. Let me become an attorney. Let me become a doctor. I got an education because of basketball.

That's what it's— and, um, now it's become a business. We said our jokes. We had our laughs and we said our goodbyes.

You know, and so it's completely reversed. Family very much closed.

Mr. Naismith always told the people he knew that if he didn't want to live anymore, he stopped taking his medication and he'll have a heart attack in the middle of his sleep.

And this is what we're concerned about.

I hang up the phone. I finally got a job. I'm in the middle of my interview on March 20th. I'm in the middle of training, got an interview in the middle of my training where I was going to have a good job. I was going to be making $20 an hour salary, get paid every week. I get back on my feet. Well, in the middle of training, I got a phone call from his assistant, Miss Penny Sullivan. Once I heard her voice, I knew there was something wrong. I answered the phone and, um, I said, hey, hello. She says, hey Hector, it's Penny. And I said, what's going on? She said, it's John. They found him unresponsive on the train ride from Springfield to New York. Just like he said, stop taking his medicine, he'd have a heart attack in the middle of his sleep.

That's what happened.

He was done. He was done fighting. That day just happens to be my dad's birthday.

Which is March 20th.

I lost total focus for 6 months. I couldn't think, couldn't do nothing. Since day one I met Mr. Naismith, my life's never been the same. 6 months after I met Mr. Naismith in 2000, 2001, April 4th, I actually died. I got let go from NBA City. I went back to work at Logan's Roadhouse where I was working in Kissimmee, Florida. In Old Town. Well, April 3rd, that was a Saturday. I'm coming home and just laughing at NBA City because this is when Vince Carter was playing for the Raptors. And there was a club on CityWalk called Motown, and I heard over the radio that Vince Carter was going to Motown versus NBA City. And I started laughing. And as I'm coming up, I'm on the back stretch coming up to my house, not even 3 miles from my house, I had this accident. And next thing you know, uh, I lost track of time. Next thing I know, I'm upside down. Yelling for help. I yelled for help the third time, nobody came. I hit my seat belt, which I was grateful that I had it on. Instinct went right, did the protocol, called the— called the wife at the time. Once I hung up with her, called 911, went through the protocol. She basically said, when you see the whites of their eyes, you can hang up once you see the sirens and stuff like that. So once I did that, I hung the phone up. The instant I hung up the phone, it was dead silence. When my accident happened was on Neptune Road in Kissimmee, Florida, right before the overpass of the Florida Turnpike. And right before the canal. Well, as soon as I hung up the phone, over my shoulder in the middle of the darkness, I heard a voice say, "Hey Hector, how you doing?" Just like Mr. Nature's voice. I turned over my shoulder and I looked. There was a guy there and a girl there. But there was a beam of light coming down from heaven right there, right onto them. And they told me, I'm doing good, but who are you? He goes, oh, I'm David. Me and my girlfriend, we had the same accident 2 weeks ago, but we wasn't wearing our seatbelt. But as I'm hearing him, my peripheral She's the fireman, and David's the length of a basketball quarter and a half. And what happened to me is I got rear-ended by a Corvette who rear-ended me over doing over 120 miles an hour. And the trooper said that he catapulted me between 15 and 20 feet in the air, and I flipped 4 or 5 times. I said the length of— the length of at least of a basketball quarter and a half. So once I seen that and I seen David, you know, I look, as I'm looking outside and I felt somebody touch me. And as he's touching me, David's touching me, he sat me down and I see the fireman. And next thing you know, I'm looking up in the gurney and I'm back. I could hear the world again because once that happened I came back, my consciousness came back to this, this level. And I had asked Caroline, I said, Caroline, I need you to get David's phone number. And I, I described, um, guy looked just like Jesus. Sorry, look like Jesus. Goatee, curly hair, dark black, brown, black pair of Timbs, blue jeans, and a khaki polo shirt and a scarf. Was wearing the same thing. And I told her that, and she just told me not to dare, and I just stayed quiet. So, from that moment on, I knew God had something for me. And I guess this is it. This is a very short introduction. There's much more to this, but I don't want to take up too much time. Again, my name is Hector Perdomo. I'm the president of the Naismith International Basketball Foundation, and I'm here to help and protect and bring honor, dignity, and respect back to this game because nobody else cares about it. Mental anguish in youth has gone up 35%. We need to do something about this. We need to help these kids understand it's okay to make mistakes. And learn and ask. And don't be scared to cry. It's okay. You gotta let it out because if we keep it in, it builds up and then you blow up and then you don't make decisions that are bad. And that's why I'm going to leave you with: the decisions you make today will shape your future tomorrow. Again, my name is Hector Perdomo. I'm the president of the Naismith International Basketball Foundation. And we're getting ready to launch what is called the dollar campaign. $1 a month to be part of our campaign, to be part of our membership. It's called Naismith Nation. NaismithFoundation.org is our website. Any questions, please check us out. And my email is h.perdomo@naismithfoundation.org. And if you want to call me directly, my number is 321-444-7080. Hope I didn't take up too much of your time, and I hope you'd be blessed. Enjoy today, enjoy your present, because tomorrow is never promised. Bye.