TERRE HAUTE — The bond between childhood friends Travis Smith and Greg Oden remains strong 18 months after Smith’s tragic death.
Oden, a former Terre Haute resident and No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 National Basketball Association draft, returned to town Thursday to attend a cookout promoting the second annual “Travis Smith Memorial Golf Classic Hosted by Greg Oden” today at the Country Club of Terre Haute.
Smith, a former standout golfer at Terre Haute South Vigo High School and a Ball State University freshman at the time, was killed in an auto accident in Muncie on Jan. 27, 2007. He was 19.
Jimmy Smith, Travis’ father and executive director of the Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club, said proceeds from today’s private event will go to the Boys & Girls Club, with a percentage of that going toward the Travis Smith Memorial Fund.
“It’s just a good thing that Jimmy puts on,” Oden told the Tribune-Star. “I’m glad I can be a part of it. I’ll help any way possible. I always come back here. I just love being around the Smiths and their family. Anything I can do to come back and help, I’m here for them.”
“Greg trusted Travis to talk to him about anything,” reflected Jimmy Smith, who said he and Oden talk on the phone about once a week. “If Travis were still alive, I think Greg would still come back and do a golf outing… But I think it’s more special to him doing it in Travis’ memory.”
Oden said he won’t be playing golf today — he was supposed to learn the sport last summer from Travis Smith — but he will hang out with several of the 72 participating foursomes.
The 7-foot Oden missed the entire 2007-08 NBA season with the Portland Trailblazers after he underwent microfracture surgery on his ailing right knee Sept. 14. He admits he felt disappointed when he learned that surgery would be necessary, but he took the news in stride.
“What can you do?” he said. “It was just a little bump in the road. I’m recovered now. All that’s behind me and I’m ready for this season to start.”
Oden acknowledged that he sought advice from other athletes who rehabilitated after the same surgery.
“I talked to a couple of people,” he said. “They just told me that you’ve got to keep on pushing. It’s going to be uncomfortable at times, but you’ve still got to push through it. It’s not going to be that bad.”
The Trail Blazers, who finished 41-41 and missed the playoffs in 2007-08, will begin their 2008 preseason schedule Oct. 7 at home against the Sacramento Kings. Their regular-season opener will be Oct. 28 at the Los Angeles Lakers and Oden plans to be in the starting lineup.
“Everything’s feeling good,” he insisted. “I started back to contact practice just this past week . . . real contact. So it’s been feeling really good.”
Jimmy Smith said he saw Oden repeatedly drain eight and 10 shots in a row from the 18-foot range during an informal shooting session in Portland about a month ago.
“He’s anxious,” Jimmy Smith said. “He’s ready to go.”
“I’ve been working a lot on my game, just different aspects of my game,” Oden mentioned, “and I think this year’s going to be looking pretty good for me.”
Oden, who again mingled with sports and entertainment celebrities when taping the ESPY Awards Show this summer, said he enjoyed performing in the singing segment with host Justin Timberlake.
Despite his continuing rise to national stardom, Oden doesn’t think he’s too big to sign autographs in his former hometown when time permits.
Before Thursday’s cookout, Terre Haute dentist John Roshel and his sons Rocco, 5, and Marcus, 3, brought a basketball with the hope that Oden would put his signature on it.
He did.
“We saw him on the ESPYs and I told the boys that we were going to see him in person in a couple weeks,” John Roshel said.
“To actually meet him [Thursday], it’s very exciting. He’s very nice and polite … and very tall. You don’t realize how tall he is until you stand next to him. He’s definitely a giant.”
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