CAIRO (WTXL) - For Cairo High alum Cliff Hammonds, coming back to his alma mater is a no brainer. But for the seven year Euro League veteran, the hype around his return is still a little hard to grasp.
"I remember asking for autographs from certain NBA players or college players," said Hammonds, who returned to his hometown this week for his 4th Annual Skillz Camp. "I guess when you go through that and you're that person now that can give an autograph, it's like wow, this is kind of surreal."
Surreal, but that's kind of the mantra of Cliff's life these days. A stand-out at Clemson who's now played all over the world, capturing the German Cup last season.
"It's pretty neat, and he likes kids a lot," said 13 year old Deandre Masten. "He wants to see them do better then him, or just as good as he's doing."
"When I talk to my mom during the year or talk to some of the guys I grew up with during the year, everybody's talking about the camp," said Hammonds. "Everybody is ready for the summer so they can come to the camp."
"He just love kids and he wants to help everybody that needs help on their game," said Kobe Hunter, a 14 year old who's attending his 3rd Skillz Camp.
But it's not just on their game the kids are stepping up, Cliff's goal? To help them in life as well.
"If I can reach one kid, five kids, whatever it is and they say hey, after this camp, I'm going to give everything to become a basketball player or I'm going to give everything to become what I want to be in life. That's what we're trying to get through to these kids," he said. "I want to teach them that you have to work hard in everything you do and you have to put your all in to it if you want to be what you want to be in life. It's very humbling and I'm very proud of what we're doing here."
Cairo is too.
