Teko Wynder’s ability to pivot from basketball stories to life lessons have made him a powerful mentor for young people in the area.

A prestigious honor recently provided a vivid reminder of the impact Wynder has made on the hardwood.

Wynder was honored by the Peninsula Former Athletes as the Basketball Player of the Decade for the 1970s.

“I played basketball back in the ‘70s, and they gave me the award because somebody thought I was maybe the best basketball player from the city and from the area,” Wynder said. “I was the first player to ever be drafted in the NBA from Hampton and Newport News.”

The award presentation came during halftime of a celebrity basketball game on March 5 at Bethel High School, where he played when he was in high school.

He said the accolade means a lot to him “because I put a lot of effort and time into playing basketball. I always wanted to play in the NBA, and I did — for just a short time, but I did achieve.”

Wynder’s hoops success at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma helped propel him to the professional level. He was drafted in 1977 by the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that included Julius Erving and Doug Collins.

After a year with the 76ers, he played professionally in Stockholm, Sweden, for two years.

These days, Wynder is active in his community as opposed to on the basketball court. But his past achievements in basketball have helped him to be effective working with at-risk teens and young men, lately as a prevention specialist with the Western Tidewater Community Services Board for the past seven years.

Wynder also teaches a life skills class each Wednesday at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail.

In the course of speaking to inmates and to the others he mentors, Wynder uses his history as a professional basketball player to grab their attention.

“It gives me a chance to use a platform to talk to young men about doing what they need to do with their kids,” he said, promoting the importance of fatherhood.

Wynder said he challenges them to stand up and take on the responsibility of being good fathers to their children.

“If you don’t teach your kid anything different, they’re going to end up doing the same thing that you did, which means that further down the road, they’re going to end up in Western Tidewater Regional, and it doesn’t have to be that way,” he said he tells young men.

As he accepted the Basketball Player of the Decade award, Wynder also took that opportunity to pivot the subject from basketball to life.

“That award that I got: It was OK, but the real focus should be put on the community, and I always like to challenge the fathers to stand up and spend quality time with their kids,” he said.

In response, one man after another stood up and began to speak, turning halftime of the celebrity game into a forum for discussion on positive things that could and should be done in the community.