HOT SAUCE TALKS ABOUT TIME SPENT WITH MICHAEL JACKSON
Dretam PR client and famed street ball player Hot Sauce reminisces
about his time spent with Michael Jackson
On his birthday in 2007, Michael Jackson flew legendary street ball player Hot Sauce to Neverland Ranch to meet his nephews and two of his children, Prince and Paris. Following is Hot Sauce’s memory of what he described as the most inspirational moment of his life.
“His nephews requested to see me. That was a shock in itself because they could have gotten any celebrity they wanted and they chose me. He flew me in on his birthday. When we pulled up he was waiting at the door. I was in awe, at first I thought he was a statue. Once I went inside the house, I could hear tourists telling me to open the door so they could see inside. I met his children and nephews and we went to the zoo on the premises in golf carts.
Once we returned to the house we had dinner. We sang happy birthday and ate so much food. He kept asking me did I get enough and did I want more. I could barely eat because I was still in shock that I was even there. He made sure everyone was full. After dinner we sat at the table and talked. He acted like the average dad and uncle with the children. I was playing around with the basketball with his nephews when he asked me to show him some moves. So I did my boomerang and hurricane handles. Then I asked him to show me some of his moves. He did the air walk/moon walk move and said ‘that’s all I’ma give you.”
The most inspirational moment with him for me was towards the end of the day when he pulled me to the side and said ‘you are an inspiration to the kids. If I flew you out you know you’re special. Don’t let nobody bring you down ,do it the way you want to do it and do it right.’”
About Hot Sauce
Phillip Champion, also known as Hot Sauce, is an American basketball player who has played on the Streetball AND1 Mixtape Tour from its creation in 2000 until 2006. Known, worldwide, Champion is widely regarded as the best streetball player in the world.
Originally from Orlando, Champion spent the majority of his youth in Columbus, Georgia. During High School he played his freshman year but was cut from the basketball team his sophomore and junior year because of his style of basketball. After high school he found himself in Atlanta at the basketball gym Run N’ Shoot (not Metro Fitness), spending long hours in pick-up games and solitary practices, developing his ball-handling skills.
Those long hours in the gym paid off when Champion was contracted to play on the AND1 Mixtape Tour team. He was the number 1 attraction during his six year tenure. Champion stepped down from the AND1 team to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations by starting the Killa Crossover Basketball Tour to follow up to his motion picture debut in the movie, “Crossover” opposite Wayne Brady, Anthony Mackie (She Hate Me) and Wesley Jonathan (Roll Bounce, What I Like About You).
He currently dedicates his time to touring with former AND1 teammates, starting a nonprofit organization, writing his autobiography, developing promotional products and an athletics clothing line as well as preparing to shoot the first season of his reality series.
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