INDIANAPOLIS — When Jair Bolden started college basketball, his goal was to make it to the NBA. To win matches. To play in the NCAA Tournament.
Almost six years later, his passion for the sport is the same. His priorities have changed.
“The reason I’m here is to help others,” he said. “It’s something I’ve learned since I was 18, when it was the world. It’s always the world.
“Basketball is a sport that I love a lot. It’s not who I am. It’s what I do.
Bolden is one of six fifth- and sixth-year Butler players who will take part in a senior day ceremony on Saturday following the Big East game against No. 11 Villanova at Hinkle Fieldhouse (noon, Fox). The others: Aaron Thompson, Bryce Nze, Bo Hodges, Ty Groce, Christian David.
Bryce Golden, also a senior, announced he would use the pandemic waiver to return in 2022-23.
Butler (13-17, 6-13) has lost four in a row. Villanova (22-7, 15-4) has lost four of its last five to Butler.
Bolden, in conjunction with GroundUp Sports & Entertainment, has a non-profit organization, Gray Rose Inc. The name comes from Bolden’s brother, Gray, and sister, Kaya Rose. The immediate project is to raise funds to renovate basketball courts in a community in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare.
The “Rita D’Almeida Courts” are named after Bolden’s great-grandmother. His mother, Lesley, emigrated to the United States at age 16 from Zimbabwe.
“It’s very historic and meaningful, not just to my family, but to the community there,” Bolden said of the courts.
Bolden, a Brooklyn native, said he was the first from his mother’s side to be born in the United States. He will turn 25 later this month.
He would be eligible to represent the Zimbabwe national team and has considered it. He considered professional leagues overseas. He has completed a master’s degree in management and is preparing a certificate in strategic communication.
“I love basketball and I want to be around basketball for a long time,” Bolden said. “That’s why I think the foundation is something good for me. So that if my professional basketball career isn’t going the way I want it to, or as a coach, whatever it is, I can always helping young people through basketball.
He originally signed up at George Washington, where he played two seasons. He transferred to South Carolina, sat out one season and played one. He was supposed to spend his senior year at Butler, and it became two because of the pandemic waiver.
Prior to college, Bolden served as student body president at Westtown School in Norristown, Pennsylvania. When he was sidelined with a shoulder injury, the ultra-talented team – whose roster included NBA players Mo Bamba and Cam Reddish – lost four games without him.
When Bolden returned, Westtown won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools title. It was the first state championship in any sport for Westtown, a Quaker boarding school founded in 1799.
In college, Bolden has 223 career 3-pointers, near the top 100 active players. Including the totals of the three schools, he scored 1,205 points. But after starting 24 of 25 games last season and 12 this season, he has almost disappeared from Butler’s rotation.
Since Jan. 13, when he scored 23 points at Georgetown (his most as a Butler player), he’s totaled nine in nine subsequent games. He missed the last three with back spasms but said he expected to return for Villanova.
He said his most memorable moment at Butler was against the times. 6 Villanova on the senior day last year. Bolden scored 15 points in the Bulldogs’ 73-61 victory.
“Twenty years of my life I tried to be the best at something. The best I could be at something,” Bolden said. So it’s hard not to have the season we wanted to have. But the season is not over.
“With my minutes, it’s not something I would particularly like. But if it’s best for the team, it’s best for everyone. Winning is the most important thing for me. »
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
