NBA’s Rob Covington to donate funds towards basketball practice facility at alma mater Tennessee State
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BVM) — Before he was making splash plays in the NBA as a member of the Houston Rockets, Rob Covington was a standout player for the Tennessee State University men’s basketball team. Now the NBA star is looking to give back to his alma mater where his career truly began to take off.
On Nov. 12, Covington announced that he would donate funds towards a new basketball practice facility for both the Tigers’ men’s and women’s basketball programs. The gift, which will be called the “Covington Pavilion,” was described by TSU as “the largest of this magnitude to an HBCU by a former athlete that was a product of its program.”
“I love my alma mater, I’m not donating a new practice facility for the recognition or because I NEED to – I am doing it because I truly WANT to,” Covington said in a Nov. 12 press conference. “I know what the school didn’t have when I was here as a student and I want future generations of kids to have the best resources available to them, to build their futures both on and off the court. I want them to step on this campus and feel like their dreams can come true here, because mine really did.”
The facility will have two basketball courts, locker rooms and offices for the men’s and women’s programs with construction scheduled to begin in the spring of 2021.
“To have a practice facility for our men’s and women’s basketball programs will be a game changer,” Tigers men’s basketball coach Brian “Penny” Collins said during the press conference. “It also shows how serious we are on taking the next step in being an extremely competitive program in the OVC. Our players will be committed to making Rob proud. He has definitely set the bar for them to follow. Rob was already a legend and with this commitment he becomes iconic. His name and legacy will live on forever in the land of golden sunshine.”
Covington is one of the best players to ever grace the TSU basketball court and his legacy is still far reaching on the campus. During his four years with the Tigers from the 2009-10 season to the 2012-13 season, Covington helped lead the Tigers to 61 wins and two appearances in the collegeinsider.com postseason tournament. Covington would end his career playing in 118 games, starting 111, with an average of 14.8 points which included averaging 17.8 and 17.0 points per game during his junior and senior seasons, respectively. During his career with the Tigers, Covington would earn first team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors once and second team All-OVC twice while also being named to the All-OVC newcomer team as a freshmen. When he left the program, his 1,749 points ranked No. 8 in program history while his 876 rebounds were good for No. 7.
Although he went undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft, Covington quickly became one of the best young players in the game, dominating for the Houston Rockets D-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. During his first year and only year with the team, Covington was named the NBA D-League All-Star Game MVP after scoring a record 33 points during the contest. He would later be named the NBA D-League Rookie of the Year in 2014. As a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Rockets over the past seven seasons, Covington has established himself as a strong “3-and-D” wing player earning NBA all-defensive first team honors in 2018 as a member of the 76ers.
Recently, Covington was traded to the Portland Trailblazers as part of a deal that brought veteran forward Trevor Ariza, a 2020 first-round pick and a 2021 protected first-round pick to Houston.
Although he now makes waves throughout the NBA, Covington does not forget where it all began and all the possibilities TSU has provided him.
“I made some of the best memories of my life at TSU,” Covington said. “Go to a bigger school? Nope. I wouldn’t change it for the world because the people who’ve had the most significant impact on my life, they wouldn’t be next to me today. It’s special to be at the forefront of something that can spark a major change as far as kids going to an HBCU and learning about black history, their culture and where they came from. Learning about your ancestors – you can’t always get that in the classroom. That’s a big thing, it’s very important.”
TSU Director of Athletics Mikki Allen spoke on Covington’s dedication to his old program and how the donation will help the Tigers basketball teams long into the future.
“Rob and I have a shared vision for TSU Basketball becoming a nationally recognized program,” Allen said. “The fact that Rob has decided to make an investment of this magnitude accelerates this process and helps bring us closer to this vision becoming a reality. … I’m extremely gracious and thankful for Rob becoming a stakeholder in helping to change the national trajectory of our basketball programs. The narrative is shifting in the landscape of college basketball recruiting in respect to HBCUs landing 5 star talent. Through this historic gift, the Covington Pavilion will now undoubtedly put Tennessee State University in the mix.”
While he may be continuing to make his own legacy in the NBA, Covington’s legacy will live on for a long time at Tennessee State. With his new facility providing a place for future Tigers to create their own legacies, Covington will long be remembered at his alma mater.
