Queens native gives back with charity sporting events
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 13-NOV. 19, 2020 17
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
A Queens native is making
a positive impact both locally
and nationally through
sporting events that help
bring communities together.
Haron Hargrave of
Rosedale is a professional
basketball player, community
activist, philanthropist
and hip-hop advocate who
founded Ballin’ 4 Peace, after
the death of a close friend
from gun violence in Hollis.
Ballin’ 4 Peace is a series
of celebrity charity sporting
events created to help bridge
the gap between sports and
establish peace throughout
New York City and beyond,
Hargrave said.
“It was an idea that was
put to paper that was actually
executed. I didn’t know
I was going to be this peace
leader/entrepreneur putting
these events together,” Hargrave
said. “Ballin’ 4 Peace
is us coming together as one
to fight the battle of human
rights, we all know what’s
right and wrong.”
Through Ballin’ 4 Peace,
Hargrave has organized celebrity
basketball games,
flag football games, a “Back
2 School” supplies drive with
the NYPD, and a “Battle of
the Boroughs” bowling party
benefiting local charities.
Hargrave started playing
basketball at the age of 3 and
credits the sport for keeping
him on a straight path in
life.
He played for P.S. 30, JHS
72 and starred as a studentathlete
at Campus Magnet
High School in Cambria
Heights.
Hargrave earned a scholarship
to Sacramento State
University where he led the
Hornets in scoring with 13.8
points per game during his
senior season and became
known as a premiere guard
in the Big Sky Conference.
He then went on to play professional
basketball overseas
in Romania, Hungary, Dominican
Republic, Mexico
and Puerto Rico.
It was in New York City
he earned the nickname
“H2O” after scoring points
in a Hoops in The Sun Tournament
game, where the announcer
said his jump shot
was “pure like water.”
“I trademarked my streetball
nickname ‘H2O’ and
made it into a company and
business,” Hargrave said.
Wanting to give back to
the community, Hargrave
established Queens Day in
2008. It had started as a oneday
basketball tournament
and became a week of festivities.
“I did it because of all the
senseless acts of violence in
Queens,” Hargrave said. “I
had lost my best friend, my
mom, and it was a lot to come
home feeling empty because
every time you come back,
you’re losing people and that
sucks.”
Queens Day festivities
include bouncy houses for
kids, face painting, clowns, a
men’s basketball tournament
and a $1,000 prize. It was
Hargrave’s first taste of giving
back to the community,
he said.
“When the deaths of Mike
Brown and Eric Garner
happened, it was at a point
where people would do peace
marches, and peace through
sports is something I live by,”
Hargrave said. With basketball
you’re trying to hit one
goal, we’re all in it together.
It doesn’t matter what color
you are, you’re on a team and
trying to win.”
In 2014, Hargrave
launched H2O Basketball,
a youth basketball training
program benefiting upcoming
players in Jamaica and
surrounding communities.
H2O Basketball provides students
and adolescents with
the opportunity to learn versatile
techniques through
weekly training sessions
specializing in strength and
conditioning drills and professional
“Let it Fly” shooting
clinics.
Though Hargrave currently
works as a substitute
teacher in the city Department
of Education, serves as
director of marketing with
PEAK USA Sports, and is
a trainer at an NYPD community
center in Brooklyn,
he has aspirations of becoming
a referee in the NBA one
day.
For now, he’s a certified
referee at high school and
college games, while also
working on Ballin’ 4 Peace
events, which he says is much
needed in the community.
“This is the work you
can’t wait on someone else
to do, and it tends to be the
work that most people overlook
and has the most impact,”
Hargrave said. “Not
everyone is down to do it and
not everyone wants to do it.”
According to Hargrave,
there’s a need for more people
to push others doing the
right thing and sending a
good message.
“There’s a lot of good people
doing things, but they’re
overlooked,” Hargrave said.
“I didn’t get too many people
reaching out to me and my
organization, and there are
people who popped up. All
these years we’ve been trying
to push a narrative for peace
and we just need a better rapport
with people in positions
to make it happen.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com
or by phone at (718) 260–4526.
Haron Hargrave, professional basketball player and founder of Ballin’ 4 Peace. Photos by Brian Johnson
/QNS.COM
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