Back in his native Bay Area, All-Star Damian Lillard seeks to make college more attainable for kids

Damian Lillard pulled into Oakland High School and all the memories began flooding back. There was the pool, where he took swimming for his final period of the day as a senior. The theater, where he’d go whenever an event was happening just to get out of class. The path he’d take to go to lunch.

He was just a normal student back when he was a member of the Class of 2008. And he has never forgotten where he came from.

“I was a regular kid,” Lillard said, leaning against one of the walls inside Oakland High, one of the trophy cases a few feet off to his right. “They knew I was good at basketball, but none of this was expected. So, when I kind of think back on it, I always remind myself of how important the journey is. Everybody will look at where I am now but when I think about the moments in the journey, that’s what gives me chills sometimes about how it all happened.”

Lillard is home this weekend, the standout guard for the Milwaukee Bucks returning to the Bay Area as an NBA All-Star with events in both his native Oakland and in San Francisco. He’ll look to win a third straight 3-point contest Saturday, then play in the All-Star Game — his ninth time getting picked for the league’s midseason showcase — on Sunday.

He was a two-star recruit coming out of high school and had to earn everything that came his way, first in college at Weber State (where he became an All-American) and then in the NBA (getting drafted No. 6 overall by Portland in 2012). He’s an All-NBA player and an Olympic gold medalist.

The path wasn’t easy. And he went back to Oakland High on Thursday to help make the path for some current students there a little easier.

Lillard started his All-Star weekend with a stop at his alma mater to unveil The Damian Lillard Scholars program. He’s helping provide $25,000 scholarships to students at nine East Bay high schools that will help with out-of-state tuition if they choose to attend Portland State, a nod to where his NBA career began with the Trail Blazers.

“Him providing this opportunity … it means a lot,” said Oakland High senior Princess Momoh-Danga, who has applied to Portland State.

Lillard provided the lead gift for the project, which will also provide additional financial support to cover such expenses as food, housing, clothing, textbooks and transportation to scholarship recipients. And some of Lillard’s backers from Portland have contributed as well.

“We could not be more proud to offer this scholarship to East Bay students while linking arms with one of Portland’s most exciting and inspiring civic leaders,” Portland State President Ann Cudd said. “Damian Lillard has heaped so much love on the city of Portland that PSU counts him as one of our own. We are thrilled to partner with him to find pathways to a PSU education for students from his hometown.”

So far, 27 students — including six from Oakland High — who are eligible to become Damian Lillard scholars have applied to Portland State and 15 have been admitted. Portland State was a Big Sky Conference rival of Lillard’s when he played at Weber State, but he feels deep ties to the school because his sister is an alum and because of what Portland means to him.

Committing $25,000 scholarships is no small feat. Lillard said he wanted to make sure what he did had real impact.

“Being able to actually help and actually support instead of just doing something small and saying, ‘Oh, look, I did something,’ you know, if I’m going to do it I want to do it to where I know it’s going to make a real impact and lift people up and really inspire them,” Lillard said. “I think that’s what this is.”

It’s always a big deal for Lillard to be back in the Bay.

He’s averaged 25.9 points in his 18 NBA regular-season games at Golden State — both in Oakland and San Francisco; among visiting players with at least 18 games played in either the Warriors’ current home of Chase Center or its predecessor Oracle Arena, only Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James have averaged more. Lillard has 64 3-pointers in those games where he comes back to the Bay; only James Harden has more as a visitor.

“It means everything to be home,” Lillard said. “Making it to where I made it in my career and in my life and being able to come back home and see familiar faces and see all of the things that make me who I am … it’s always a great experience when I get to come back home.”

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