Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball Jim Larranaga had to cut the celebration short.
He flew to New York to see two of his former players — Lonnie Walker IV and Bruce Brown — selected Thursday in the NBA draft. By 4 a.m. Friday, he was back in Coral Gables so he could attend another important event.
Larranaga was among the UM coaches and former and current professional athletes to participate in the ninth annual Student Leadership Day hosted by the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute.
“We got a couple hours sleep before coming to the event,” Larranaga said. “I’m a great believer in helping others. I think coaching is a job of service where you’re trying to help your players become better players but also better students and better citizens. In this environment, we’re talking to young, high school students, the leaders of our future generation and we need to help them be the best that they can be.”
About 200 high school students from Miami-Dade and Broward counties attended the event, which is aimed at providing leadership skills. It was started by University of Miami surgeon Lee Kaplan, who has a longstanding relationship with the athletic program.
“I had two patients nine or 10 years ago,” Kaplan said. “One got arrested for being in a car with a gun and one got arrested for cocaine distribution. Both were high-level Division I recruits of out of Miami. It just came to me that we needed to do something to show people, especially student-athletes, to really see that there are better decisions to be made.”
Kaplan pointed out one of the athletes continued down the wrong path while the other is playing in the NFL. He refused to disclose the names but said the program has mostly been successful. Former Heat player Jamal Mashburn, former Dolphin Twan Russell and UM women’s basketball coach Katie Meier were among the speakers.
NFL free agent Lorenzo Jerome, who spent last season playing safety with the San Francisco 49ers, also participated. Jerome played high school ball at Taravella.
“I came to see [Kaplan] and how my knee was doing, how my health was,” Jerome said. “He told me, `Since I’m doing you a favor, can you do me a favor? Can you come to my event?’ I said, ‘Yeah, for sure I’ll do it.’ I want to give back to the youth and spread my knowledge.”
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