KFAL The Big 900 Classic Country
(Audio is courtesy of former 939 the Eagle reporter Mathew Pilger, who’s now the news director at Mexico radio station KXEO)
A $10-million donation is being made to the city of Mexico, Missouri by several familiar names.
46-year-old Tyronn Lue was born in Mexico and now coaches the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. He tells former 939 the Eagle reporter Mathew Pilger that he, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and a few others are donating the money.
“We’re going to donate $10-million to the city of Mexico. And like I said it’s for our youth but also it’s for our community as well. And supply jobs, get our parents on board to you know just take initiative to be better and want to do things and help our kids and our community get better,” Lue says.
Coach Lue says some of the money will also be used for transportation, saying a lot of the kids in Mexico can’t get to and from. He predicts it will help the youth in the Mexico area and the community.
“It couldn’t be my vision because I’m not here enough so we wanted to meet with the community leaders. We wanted to meet with the wisdom group, not older group, the wisdom group. We wanted to meet with the younger kids and just brainstorm and just kind of see what they want and what they need and what they wanted to see,” says Lue.
Coach Lue also indicates some of the money will help kids in other mid-Missouri communities.
“And it’s for the surrounding areas as well. The neighboring towns. You know, Columbia, which has been great. Fulton, Moberly. You know, everyone. We want to include everyone,” says Lue.
Coach Lue was back in his hometown of Mexico in May for a ceremony to rename a park after him. He was also back for the Fourth of July weekend, where he announced the $10-million donation. Lue also paid for more than 350 children to swim at the Mexico pool last week. He also paid for their food and drink at the pool.
