Coach Mike started to reach out to his mentor who is his former junior college coach Ernie Carr. Coach Carr and Mike’s relationship started in 2004 when Mike attended West Los Angeles College. They always stayed in touch throughout his career. Coach Mike would reach out to Coach Carr and they would go have breakfast, discuss life, basketball and the future. Mike understood how important it was early on to have a mentor, so he implemented this into the Pro-Club Experience program.
For our inaugural event to close out Pro-Club Experience, Aaron, owner of LA Cigar Lounge located in Inglewood, California and our gracious host, provided a relaxed sports ambiance where everyone enjoyed a hearty breakfast catered by Dlo’s Kitchen. Players had the opportunity to listen and ask questions from our guest speaker, Jeff Trepagnier, engage in discussion topics about life, basketball and mental health, reflect back on their experience in the program and shared memorable moments with teammates and family in attendance.
Our guest speaker for the event was retired NBA vet and USC great Jeff Trepagnier. Coach Mike met Jeff in his playing years on the Los Angeles basketball scene. Jeff has always been an active mentor in the Los Angeles basketball Community. It was great pleasure to have him give some positive words and advice about his experience being teammates with future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony in his rookie year with the Denver Nuggets. We definitely appreciate Jeff taking the time out of his busy schedule to have breakfast with the GGA pro club members this summer.
