News
The Business Side of Basketball: Grand Valley State University, the Grand Rapids Drive and Ben Wallace
March 01, 2019
For the past several years, the Seidman College of Business has been bringing students, alumni, and friends of Grand Valley State University together at unique and noteworthy events called Seidman Socials. These Socials are set up like a “fire-side chat,” where a member of the Seidman Alumni Board interviews a leader in our community. Previous interviewees include Ralph Hauenstein, Mayor Rosalyn Bliss, Hank Meijer, Peter Secchia, President Emeritus Don Lubbers, and Rick DeVos - to name of few. These leaders have made impactful contributions to society, each with a distinctive story! Attendees were able to hear each speaker’s perspective, history and ideas, as well as participate in an interactive Q&A session.
On February 20th, the Seidman Alumni Association collaborated with the greater GVSU Alumni Association to host a University Day event at the Grand Rapids Drive, the NBA G League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons. As a part of this special event, attendees heard from four-time NBA All-Star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year, NBA Champion and 2019 Finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame, Detroit Pistons Legend, Ben Wallace! You may be thinking where does an NBA legend fit within the business world?
Ben is currently an investor and Chairman with the Grand Rapids Drive. He has a unique story about struggles of growing up in the south, in a low-income family, where he was 10th out of 11 children. He graduated from high school and went to a community college, where he spent two years. He later went to Virginia Union (Division II). After college, he was undrafted and spent time in Europe, before making his way back to the US to pursue his dream of playing in the NBA. He is quoted as saying “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. I wasn’t the biggest, the fastest or the best shooter, but I worked harder and put in more time than anyone.” His story on perseverance inspired the crowd. “Big Ben” has many accolades in the NBA, and the most unique title he holds is the record for number of games played by an undrafted player.
Approximately 120 supporters of Seidman and GVSU cheered for the Grand Rapids Drive at this event, and the team delivered with a big win, 142-112! For more information on how to get involved with Seidman, visit www.gvsu.edu/seidman. Follow the Seidman College of Business on Facebook and LinkedIn. Check out the Grand Rapids Drive at NBAGrandRapids.com and Ben Wallace on instagram @fear_da_fro.