Battle | Shoeless Ron: IUPUI coach to go barefoot to raise awareness

By: Kevin Ware

Posted: 1/15/08

Ron Hunter wants to do something that has never been done before.

So on Jan. 24 Hunter, head coach at IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis), will coach against Oakland (Mich.) in his bare feet.

No socks, no shoes, just his bare feet.

Hunter wants to collect 40,000 pairs of shoes, the number in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., to bring to Africa to give to people who are not fortunate enough to have shoes. And for one game he will coach without shoes on himself.

Working with an organization called Samaritan's Feet, Hunter, who is in his 14th season with the Jaguars, wants to raise awareness of the people around the world without shoes.

"There should be no one in this world walking around barefoot," Hunter said. "I just can't even imagine that. I can't imagine my children doing it."

In essence, the message Hunter is trying to get across by coaching in his bare feet is there are more important things in life than sports.

"It's important, not only for coaches or players," Hunter said, "but I think that you have to give something back. And it's important for me to be able to not only win basketball games, but I coach young men, and I want them to see that there are more important things than money and more important things than winning basketball games."

Samaritan's Feet was founded four years ago by Emmanuel "Manny" Ohonme. Ohonme grew up exceedingly poor in Nigeria and never had a pair of shoes until he was nine years old when a stranger gave him his first pair. That moment in his life, according to him, inspired him to try to make a difference in other people's lives.

"This is awesome (what Hunter is doing)," Ohonme said. "This is an opportunity for people to realize in life that giving back is one of the most powerful things."

Ohonme, who will be walking barefoot from Charlotte to Atlanta in October to continue to raise awareness for the cause, said the best way to get involved and to donate is to go online at www.samaritansfeet.org. For $29.99, you can either get a pair of shoes and donate a pair of shoes or donate two pairs of shoes.

"We want to challenge people to have hope," Ohonme said. "And that's the message that we want to continue to share with people because hope is the one thing that none of us can live without."

Hunter plans on going to Africa in July to be able to distribute the shoes to people who have no choice but to walk on the rough ground of the earth barefoot.

"I have been to Lagos, Nigeria," Hunter said. "I have seen kids struggle with this and not have shoes. I have an African young man on my team (freshman Christian Siakam), half his family doesn't have shoes. I just took for granted that everyone in this country had shoes and everyone in the world had shoes, and that's not the case."

The timing of the trip will cut into the crucial July recruiting period for college basketball coaches, but Hunter said he isn't even thinking about that.

"When it's all said and done with, am I going to worry about recruiting in July or am I going to worry about being able to help someone in this world and put shoes on them so that they can have a better life?" Hunter said. "I think that's a lot bigger, a lot more important, than July recruiting for me. How could I live with myself if I'm worried about going to see a kid in Orlando or (Las) Vegas, and there's a kid out there who needs a pair of shoes. I think that's more important for me right now."

The idea for Hunter to coach in his bare feet came about when Ohonme was in New York City with the organization's marketing director, Todd Melloh, at an event for Maya Angelou, the renowned black poet.

After the event, Melloh and Ohonme came up with the idea of a college basketball coach coaching a game in his bare feet and Hunter immediately came to Melloh's mind as Melloh, based in Indianapolis, is friends with Hunter.

Melloh called Hunter on the spot and the coach was committed to the cause from the moment of that first call.

"I thought what a great awareness it'd be to do this - to coach with no shoes on," Hunter said. "It's something that's never been done."

Hunter chose the Jan. 24 date because it is the closest game to Martin Luther King Day, and he is calling for the entire IUPUI student body to come the game without shoes on as well.

Hunter plans on asking Greg Kampe, Oakland's head coach and one of his best friends in the business, to coach barefoot as well.

When reached by phone, Kampe said he'd have to think about it.

"I think it's a good thing to do and a good cause," Kampe said. "It's a little extreme, but sometimes extreme things are what get people to pay attention."

Even Todd Howard, one of Hunter's assistant coaches, may get in on the act. He laughs acknowledging he probably will do it to "go along with the protocol."

"Sometimes we lose perspective on the things beyond the basketball court that are going on in the world," Howard said.

When Hunter brought Ohonme to practice on Jan. 9 and explained to his team what he was doing, Siakam, who is originally from Cameroon, came up to Hunter afterward.

"He came to me with his eyes all watered and said, 'coach, I truly appreciate you doing this because I have family members that are home that have never had shoes,'" Hunter said. "He said, 'people in this country, even people on our team, take these things for granted, but I truly appreciate you being able to do this for the people in my country.'"

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