BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s basketball freshman Glen Davis visited Polk Elementary School on Friday afternoon to visit with the fourth graders as part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program.
Davis, nicknamed “Big Baby”, dropped by every fourth grade classroom to speak briefly about the importance of staying in school. He also took questions from the students. In one fourth grade math class, Davis even tutored several students on their math class work during his visit.
A Baton Rouge native and University High School graduate, the 6-9 forward led U-High to two state championships while earning Parade and McDonald’s All-America honors. In addition, he was the Gatorade Player of the Year from Louisiana, the Athlete of the Year as chose by the Advocate and Mr. Basketball as selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association as a senior last year.
This season, Davis has started three of the Tigers’ first four games and leads LSU in rebounds and rebounds per game. He posted a double-double in his first collegiate game with 16 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Tulane.
The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program honored one of LSU’s most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.