A bond far exceeding basketball

http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2015/04/treasure_far_beyond_basketball_in_cortland_why_betty_finney_finds_treasure_in_th.html

I loved the Washington reflection on why the bond endures beyond basketball that there is a place within us that appreciates joy and beauty, and once you go there, you don't forget whether it's art or nature or sports. And that is a bond shared by athlete and spectator. Betty Finney, 88, is a retired nurse in Cortland. Walk into the house where she's lived for 65 years, and the first photos you encounter even before those of her children  are two autographed images of  Dwayne Washington. Betty loved him. She cut out articles and kept scrapbooks about Washington when he played at Syracuse, and she followed his career when he left to play for a few years in the National Basketball Association. She kept up with his life after basketball, including the frightening period in the 1990s when Washington had surgery for a tumor in his brain. What Betty did not expect, however, was that Washington would become a family friend who sometimes shows up spontaneously when he's driving along Interstate 81, through Cortland, a guy who surprised her by giving her one of his old high school uniforms. I really love this story.