Celtics
Brown scored 30 points Friday night and met the TV star who helped inspire his thirst for learning.
WASHINGTON — A couple of weeks ago, Celtics forward Jaylen Brown put out a tweet asking how he could meet Bill Nye, the host of the popular educational TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy.”
The show ran from 1993-1998, and the final episode aired before Brown turned two years old. But, teachers continued to show tapes of the show years after it went off the air. Brown was fascinated by it, and he wanted to find a way to meet the man behind it.
On Friday night, Brown got his opportunity to meet Nye after the Celtics beat the Wizards in Washington. The 68-year-old former engineer turned TV star shook hands with the 28-year-old NBA All-Star in a hallway at Capitol One Arena.
During his postgame press conference, Brown smiled and adjusted his hat when asked how the visit was arranged.
“I don’t know what made me even tweet that. I think I was just up thinking about just your educational experience and it just crossed my mind. I was like ‘man I’ve got to meet this guy.’ His contributions to S.T.E.M. and S.T.E.A.M. have been amazing.”
“He made learning fun,” Brown said. “Growing up, I used to be excited when the teacher used to say ‘we’re watching Bill Nye today’. Looking back on it, to be able to shake his hand, for him helping me on my educational journey, it was pretty cool tonight.”
Nye appeared on the jumbotron with 9:41 remaining in the second quarter. The Celtics were down by seven, and Brown had four points. Boston ended up winning by 12, led by 30 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists from Brown.
Nye held up a customized Wizards jersey with his name on the back as the theme song from his TV show played. He dropped the jersey and had to bend down to pick it up before ultimately giving the crowd a thumbs up.
Brown said he did not know in advance that Nye would attend the game.
“I think we were trying to see what was going to work. Maybe we were going to do something in L.A. or not, but I think he just happened to be here so it kind of fell in place. What an honor. I definitely was excited to meet him and it was pretty cool to just shake his hand.”
Nye began his television show after lengthy career as an engineer at Boeing. He quit his job to become a standup comic and ended up venturing into television. “Bill Nye the Science Guy” won 19 Emmy awards during its run, inspiring a generation of youth along the way.
Brown is the founder of the 7uice Foundation whose mission is to bridge the opportunity gap for youth in underserved communities in hopes of creating a more equitable, just, and sustainable society.
The foundation’s signature initiative is it’s “Bridge Program” which provides educational and leadership guidance for black and brown 8th-12th graders from underserved communities.
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