8 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 12, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Rosedale native gives back through local organization
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
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, aft er 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 fi ght the battle of human
rights, we all know what’s
right and wrong.”
Th rough Ballin’
4 Peace, Hargrave
has organized
celebrity basketball
games, fl ag football
games, a “Back 2 School”
supplies drive with the NYPD,
and a “Battle of the Boroughs” bowling
party benefi ting 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 student-athlete at Campus Magnet High
School in Cambria Heights.
Hargrave earned
a scholarship to
Sacramento
St ate
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” aft er scoring points in a
Hoops in Th e 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 one-day 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 fi rst 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.”
Photos by Brian Johnson
In 2014, Hargrave launched H2O
Basketball, a youth basketball training
program benefi ting 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.
Th ough 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 certifi ed referee at high
school and college games, while also working
on Ballin’ 4 Peace events, which he says
is much needed in the community.
“Th is 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.
“Th ere’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.”
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