A former Harlem Globetrotter whose basketball-handling skills are world renowned is coming to Emporium for a community presentation, a basketball clinic and a program for youth.
Seth Franco will visit for three days starting on Monday, April 14, sponsored by the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.
Franco travels the globe demonstrating basketball skills to inspiring listeners with his messages of perseverance and faith, drawn largely from his own life experiences.
A community presentation will be held at 7 pm April 14 at Cameron County High School.
On Tuesday, April 15, Franco will present a free youth basketball clinic at Memorial Hall from 4 pm to 6 pm.
He'll conclude his local appearance with a youth program at 6:30 pm Wednesday, April 16, at the CMA Church. Additional information is available from Holly Melott at 486- 5523.
Although he was rail thin and short, Franco was impressing people with his ballhandling skills as a teenager. Later, as a player at Nyack Christian College in Manhattan, N.Y., he dreamed of an NBA career before a degenerative hip condition sidelined him.
Franco pressed on, developing a basketball program for inner-city kids in Richmond, Va., but grew depressed as his dreams appeared to be passing him by.
A three-month visit to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City turned his life around.
"I basically did nothing but pray, study, read and listen, trying to find direction for my life," Franco recalled.
His hopes were raised when Universal Studios tapped him for a lead role in a projected movie, "Rucker Park," about a white kid entering an all-black basketball hangout in Harlem.
Just as suddenly, Universal dropped it plans and the movie remains on the drawing board.
Later, the Harlem Globetrotters, a legendary basketball entertainment group, invited Franco to a tryout.
"Soon, I was at the Globetrotters training camp, guarding people I used to play against on my Nintendo," he said.
Tryouts were rigorous and his hip was aching, but Franco stayed with it and made the team. He participated in a U.S. tour and accompanied the Globetrotters on a subsequent European tour before his leg gave out.
"Wherever God places you, you can find the grace and strength to be effective right there," Seth said. "The Globetrotters were not an end, but a stepping stone to what God has in mind for me."
In Emporium Franco will show off his basketball skills and then share a message that is simple, yet profound.
"True success comes not from what you do with the talents you have, but with the choices you make every day to do the right thing," he said. "God will take your talents and throw you into places you could never go on your own."
