THEY GOT GAME
Not since John F. Kennedy played touch football on the White House lawn has the presidency seen so avid a sportsman as Barack Obama. The former Hawaiian prep school basketball player famously loves the game, dribbles a ball for relaxation, and wants a full court at the White House. (According to Sports Illustrated, the outdoor half-court on the grounds isn’t up to his basketball ambitions.) Obama has been spotted shooting hoops at the Marie Reed Recreation Center in Washington, and other venues may beckon, including the Columbia Heights Washington Sports Club and the Sports Club/LA in Washington’s Ritz-Carlton.
There’s no shortage of basketball players among the president’s close pals and associates. Here are six hoopsters who could hit the hardwood with him. Arne Duncan Secretary of Education The former chief of the Chicago public school system co-captained the Harvard University basketball team and played professionally in Australia.
Reggie Love
The president’s personal aide
Love, known as Obama’s “body man,” played basketball and football at Duke University.
Martin Nesbitt
Chicago businessman
The president and CEO of the Parking Spot, an airport-parking company based in Chicago, played basketball in high school. Nesbitt was treasurer of the Obama presidential campaign, and his wife, obstetrician Anita Blanchard, delivered the Obamas’ two daughters.
Susan E. Rice
Ambassador to the United Nations
Rice was a basketball standout at National Cathedral School, a Washington prep school for girls. She served as an undersecretary of State under Bill Clinton and was Obama’s chief foreign-policy adviser during his presidential run.
John W. Rogers Jr.
Chicago businessman
The CEO of Ariel Investments in Chicago played basketball at Princeton University, where he was a teammate of Obama’s future brother-in-law Craig Robinson. Rogers raised funds for the presidential campaign and co-chaired the Obama inauguration committee.
Eric Whitaker
Longtime friend
While a graduate student at the Harvard School of Public Health, Whitaker shot hoops with Harvard Law School student Barack Obama, and the two have been close ever since. Whitaker, a doctor, is associate dean and executive vice president of the University of Chicago Medical Center, where the Obamas’ daughters were born.