MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The friendly smile that Memphis Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph flashes as he hands out Christmas turkey dinners, along with hugs, handshakes and encouraging words, masks fresh pain. He sees his mother, Mae, in the eyes of many of the women who come through the line in the Hamilton High School gym on the city's rough south side.
"Man, I swear I do. I do, man," Randolph tells ESPN, sitting in the gym bleachers after the line dies down. "Seeing these older women like that, seeing how they appreciate it, you can tell. It means a lot, man. It makes me think of my mother. She's here with me in spirit, and I know she's smiling because this is what she wants me doing."
Mae probably would have been right next to her son during his annual food drive had she not passed away on Thanksgiving. Randolph's extensive charity work to help the poor communities in Memphis and his hometown of Marion, Ind., made his mother more proud than all of his points and rebounds.
All NBA players do some charity work, at least the team-mandated appearances. Few, if any, do as much as Randolph, who frequently pitches the Grizzlies' community relations staff with ideas. For example, Randolph heard about people freezing to death during a particularly harsh winter seven years ago and pledged $20,000 to Memphis Light, Gas and Water to cover unpaid utility payments. He's done the same every winter since.
Why? Because Randolph knew how it felt to shiver in a home without heat.
"Hell, yeah!" said Randolph, chuckling. "But when I think about my mama, though, if my mama had to borrow some money to make sure them lights didn't go off before she got her check on the first of the month, she borrowed money. My mama never let us go without. She did what she had to do to make sure we was good in whatever hood we stayed in, whatever block, whatever small house.
"She kept food on the table and kept a roof over our head. It might not have been the best of it, the best house or whatever, but she did the best she could. If the lights was off, they'd only be off for a day because my mama was gonna find a way to get the lights back on for her kids."
His mama, a single mother raising two boys in a rough neighborhood, was never shy about seeking help. Randolph remembers waking up every Sunday morning with his younger brother, Roger, and running down to the Salvation Army to get in the soup kitchen line. He remembers getting holiday dinners from the church mission, and receiving jeans and shoes and underwear as gifts after having his name picked off a Christmas tree.
"Damn right! You don't think we did?" Randolph said. "Every Christmas tree, every basket, we was trying to get it. We came up in the struggle. That's what goes on when you come up from poverty, come up from nothing.
"I'm used to that. I know about that. I come from that. I can relate to it."
That's why Randolph takes so much pride in helping the poor, such as teaming up with Grizzlies shooting guard Tony Allen to take 200 kids on a Toys R Us shopping spree to working with the Memphis Police Department to donate coats to an entire economically disadvantaged elementary school. Randolph hopes to make charity work his primary focus when he retires, preferably in a position with the Grizzlies.
Randolph treasures the personal connections he makes in the community, some of which have turned into long-lasting relationships. He keeps in touch with a few dozen "young boys," as he calls them, exchanging occasional texts and calls, encouraging them to focus on academics as their path out of poverty.
Several of those kids, Hamilton High basketball players, assisted in last week's food drive, carrying baskets for some of the women who were too frail to haul away their turkey dinners. They were joined by Randolph's 18-year-old son, Zachariah, who was visiting from Indiana for the holidays.
"This is what it's all about," said Randolph, turning to his son after getting a big hug and heartfelt thanks from one woman and her young son. "This is where you receive your blessings from."