Former Duke guard Andy Borman won a national championship with the Blue Devils in 2001 and currently serves as director of a New York City-based AAU team, the New York RENS. The RENS compete on a nationwide circuit, and this season will use their platform to raise awareness about gun violence.
The Chronicle's Ryan Hoerger spoke with Borman—a nephew of Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski—about the RENS' decision to wear orange patches on their jerseys this season to raise awareness about gun violence. Their conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
The Chronicle: How did you get involved in the anti-gun violence movement and deciding to wear the orange patches?
Andy Borman: It was obvious from a couple different instances that took place in and around New York City that gun violence was a problem. Our kids kind of made it pretty apparent that they wanted to do something to raise awareness on the gun violence issue. I called a couple organizations, one of them being Sandy Hook Promise—which is run by the Mothers of Sandy Hook up in Connecticut—and a program called Everytown, which is raising awareness about gun violence. We called them and said, ‘What can we do? What’s a good message to send?’ Very similar to how breast cancer awareness has the pink ribbon and Support Our Troops has the yellow ribbon, what those two organizations let us know is that the color for safety is orange. We are sewing orange patches on all of our game jerseys—from second grade up through high school—and that’s just our way of saying that we don’t like gun violence, our kids don’t like it and we’re going to raise awareness and try to make a change.
TC: Was there a specific catalyst around your program that led to the RENS deciding to take this stand?
AB: There were four instances this past season, and the season really runs from March to early August. Out of those four, two of the instances were players that were not a part of our program but that we do know because we play against the teams that they play for. One of them was a kid that used to play for us three years ago, and the fourth one, Tyrek Chambers, played on our freshman AAU team and in August was walking to the local convenience store with some friends and got shot in the stomach. He was the product of a drive-by that really had no rhyme or reason for why it took place. Fortunately, Tyrek’s alive, but unfortunately Tyrek still has a bullet lodged in his body, and has and is undergoing multiple surgeries to try to be fully healthy again.
TC: With all of these incidents occurring around them, how did your players respond?
AB: Were the kids affected? Of course they were. Did they feel loss and grief and frustration? Yes. But at the same time, the thing that was the most shocking to me was that there was almost an acceptance, a feeling from our kids that this was part of the culture that they lived in. That was the part that was really the most disturbing to me, because these are tragedies. This is not a part of everyday life, or if it is a part of everyday life, it certainly should not be. The first kid got shot in the head and he got killed. Another kid got shot in the hip, Tyrek got shot in the stomach. These are, to me, eyebrow-raising, eye-opening, shocking occurrences, that for our kids, there was almost like an immunization, an acceptance of it. That was the thing that drove the movement, that this should not be an everyday thing—there’s nothing common about these occurrences.
TC: Have you worn the patches during any AAU events yet? What's been the initial response?
AB: We played in two tournaments—for the first one we didn’t have the patches ready so our kids wore orange undershirts underneath their jerseys, so you could see the orange sleeves. And for the second one, we played with the patches on. It’s gone really well. There is a rallying effect. In less than a week, I have had 25 programs from across the country call and say ‘Hey, how can we get patches? How can we join the movement?’ What we’re doing is we’re telling any program, whether it’s a youth program, whether it’s a high school, whether it’s a college, whatever—if you want to wear patches, we will get them made, we will send them to you free of charge. We don’t want this to be a flash in the pan. We don’t want it to be something where everybody talks about it for three days and then moves on to the next issue. I think that’s part of the allure of the patches because they’re going to be there every time we put on the jersey.
TC: The NFL has a big campaign in October for breast cancer awareness. How do you see sports as a vehicle for pushing important social causes like this one?
AB: Sports are a large part of our country and they’re a large part of the social conscience of people. I think it’s big—it’s got the potential to be enormous. Obviously the platform that sports provide, I mean, look at Duke basketball. Duke basketball is not just a Duke influencer—it’s a national influencer of all ages, whether you’re a third-grader or an adult. Our hope is that we can make it so that gun violence is not only unacceptable, it’s uncool. When you’re a kid, being cool is pretty important, so if we can make it cool to be safe and to be healthy and to make good decisions, then I think we’ve done our job.
TC: You mentioned that after the tragedies that took place, there was almost a sense of acceptance from your kids. Since the orange patches have been sewn on, have you sensed a change?
AB: There’s an enormous sense of pride, and our kids really believe they’re making a difference. They’re kind of carrying the torch. A lot of [gun violence] is senseless, a lot of these things are not premeditated—they just occur. A big thing for us is making sure our kids are making good decisions, putting themselves in a safe environment, if they're in a place where they feel uncomfortable, that they’re prepared or equipped so that they can make a phone call or reach out for help. The first step in any change is self-awareness, and so that’s what our kids are undergoing right now. After self-awareness, it’s [having a] positive influence on others.
TC: How did going to Duke and playing basketball at Duke prepare you to lead your players through something like this?
AB: I think any person that has played for or had a relationship with the coaches, Coach K and every single member of the staff at Duke basketball, I think you learn several things right away. One is leadership, another is responsibility, and I think the third thing—Coach talks about it all the time—is being a part of something bigger than yourself. I played there in the early 2000s and a lot of my best friends are former teammates, and that’s something that we take a lot of pride in. This is my opportunity to be a part of something that’s bigger than myself. That’s something that’s ingrained in you, and it becomes a part of who you are. The effect that Duke has had on me is it has made me a better man, which has prepared me in life and also prepared me to take on this leadership role of supporting and guiding such a worthy cause.
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