Leading High Performers

When it comes to NBA players (or professional athletes in general) and their outside activities, few can be labeled with the term "community ambassador" better than current Cleveland Cavaliers co-captain and NBA veteran Eric Snow. Now officially retired after his 14th NBA season (the 4th with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers) , Eric is serving as an analyst for Turner Sports’ NBATV.  He has been one of the league's models of consistency both on and off the court.
 
With a career that has included three trips to the NBA Finals (1996, 2001, & 2007) the former Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and second round pick from Michigan State University has seen it all and done it all. Recognized as a winner on nearly every team he has ever played on, Eric Snow is one of the few players in the league who can be called a true team leader.
 
While he has never possessed the gaudy statistics needed to be regularly mentioned among the league’s elite point guards by television commentators, Eric Snow has played with and has had incredible success against many of the best NBA players. And when a few of those who were his teammates or opponents are eventually inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame (like Gary Payton, Allen Iverson, and LeBron James), each of them will say without hesitation that it was the assists from Eric Snow on and off the court that helped make their success possible.

 Of course, long before Eric became an NBA star and public figure, he was receiving special attention for his leadership. As a senior at Michigan State University, he was presented with the Chester Brewer Leadership Award, which noted both his athletic as well as his academic achievements along his strong record of exemplary character and leadership. He was one of only four Spartan basketball players ever recognized with this honor in the university’s long and distinguished history.  

However, it was through his stunning display of courage as co-captain of the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2000–01 NBA Finals that the league and communities throughout the nation began to associate the name “Eric Snow” with toughness, determination, and leadership. The next season, Snow was asked by the NBA to join then-Philadelphia mayor John Street as host and spokesperson during the 2002 All-Star game hosted in that city.  Later, Eric was elected vice president of the NBA Players Association (NBPA), a post he has held for the past five seasons.

In addition to receiving the NBA Sportsmanship Award and Joe Dumars Trophy (he was previously runner-up two times in the voting), Eric was joined in San Antonio, Texas by other notable public figures including Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs, and multi-platinum country recording group "Lone Star" to accept a National Fatherhood Award issued by the National Fatherhood Initiative. He was also recognized with major grassroots Fatherhood Awards by two high-profile Philadelphia area organizations (the Father's Day Rally Committee and Fathers Go Get Your Sons & Daughters, Inc.), each of which has an impressive history of providing positive programs for fathers in the Philadelphia, Camden, Atlantic City, and southern New Jersey communities.

In his first season in Cleveland (2004–05), Eric was recognized with the Alfred J. Lerner Community Award, the city’s top honor for a public figure or athlete who demonstrates an outstanding commitment to community service. He won the honor again in 2006–07, along with his second NBA Community Assist Award (the David Robinson Plaque) for his continued work in Cleveland supporting local fathers and children as well as openi