Edrice Femi “Bam” Adebayo is a 26-year-old professional basketball player who plays for the Miami Heat. Since he was signed by the Heat, he has helped take it to the 2020 and 2023 NBA Finals. Adebayo was first drafted into the NBA in 2017, blossoming into an All-Star. The two-time NBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist played for the U.S. Olympic basketball team in 2020, according to Forbes.
Beyond the basketball court, Adebayo is a philanthropist. He is behind the Bam, Books & Brotherhood (BBB) foundation, which he established in 2017 to change the lives of single mothers like his own. The organization hosts toy and food drives and youth clinics and has helped more than 7,500 families to date, according to Forbes.
The BBB foundation is a reminder to the NBA star to never forget where he came from and never lose sight of where he is going. His upbringing and passion for helping people are bound together, beginning with his single mother’s love.
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Adebayo’s journey in the NBA started in a single-parent home in Newark, New Jersey. He earned his nickname, Bam, from his mother when he picked up a coffee table at the age of 1 during an episode of The Flinstones, according to his profile on BBB Foundation. Adebayo and his family moved to a trailer home in the North Carolina floodplain when he was seven years old. At the time, his mother, Marilyn, worked as a cashier at a meat farm while Bam found a love for basketball.
Following his transfer to High Point Christian Academy as a high school senior, Adebayo was named 2016 North Carolina Mr. Basketball and later committed to the University of Kentucky before being drafted in 2017. He was selected 14th overall by the Miami Heat.
Indeed, Adebayo overcame adversities to make it to the NBA and has since upheld his mother as his greatest role model, in both her principles and her sacrifices, he says on his foundation’s website.
The foundation aims to support and enrich the communities that have poured so richly into his life. His programs, events, and innovative approaches to fundraising will enable other ‘at-promise’ youth to excel while strengthening the values and bonds within and between families, the website adds.
