But now, in private, he talked about more serious business, personal business ... a matter of family, backbone and heart.
“Let me show you something that’s pretty cool,” he said as he reached inside his sport coat, pulled out his smartphone and searched for a prized photo that made him smile when he found it.
It was a picture of President Barack Obama huddled intently with him in the Blue Room when the Bulls visited the White House earlier this year.
So what had the Hoopster-in-Chief — an avid Bulls fan — so engrossed? Was he asking Paxson about “The Shot,” that 3-pointer he’d hit just before the buzzer to give the Bulls the NBA title in 1993? Was he asking how, as the Bulls’ GM, Paxson had lifted the franchise from the depths after the departure of Michael Jordan?
Paxson shook his head: “I’d handed him a picture of my son. That’s what he’s looking at — a picture of Ryan in his Marine uniform.
“The President was really genuine. He said he thinks about the troops every day and prays for them. I got the sincere sense that he understands what these kids are sacrificing.”
And 23-year-old Ryan Paxson — though he hates it when anybody makes a fuss about it — has sacrificed a lot. He grew up in a comfortable lifestyle and was in his third year playing college basketball at Olivet Nazarene when — in February 2008 — he gave his mom, the former Carolyn Ziehler of Alter High, a four-page letter explaining why he wanted to enlist.
He kept it from his dad for a month — until after the NBA trade deadline — because, Paxson said, “he figured my plate was full. The point he wanted us to understand was that he felt very lucky because he’d been given everything in life, and now he wanted to go out and earn something on his own.”
Ryan went to boot camp in August 2008 and now is stationed in Quantico, Va., though he knows he eventually could head off to war.
That point was made in sobering fashion last weekend when a guy he’d gone through Military Police training with lost both his feet when the Humvee he was in was blown up in Afghanistan.
“When you hear the stories of these young people putting themselves in harm’s way for the rest of us — especially when your own child is involved — you feel a little pit in your stomach, but you also feel a sincere pride and admiration,” Paxson said.
That’s why he shared it with Obama and why — as he headed off to join the Agonis guys — he said he might bring it up with them.
More than basketball business, he wanted to talk personal business ... and a matter of family, backbone and heart.
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