Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Basketball may be Creighton alumnus Anthony Tolliver’s platform. But his passion? That’s making an impact, in whatever way he can.
Whether the former NBA veteran is joking with youngsters as they tease him about his on-the-court lowlights, or he’s investing in a new business venture, or he’s supporting a nonprofit that seeks to increase water access in communities in Africa, Tolliver’s trying to help uplift and inspire others.
And he’s been doing it a lot lately. Tolliver, BSBA'07, chatted recently on the latest From the Mall episode about how his perspective and faith have shaped him through the years, and what he's been up to since his NBA career ended in 2021.
Below is a snippet of the conversation. The questions and answers have been edited for space and clarity.
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What’s a day in your life like now, Anthony? You’re involved in so many different things. How many projects are you juggling and how do you figure out where to devote your time?
A day in my life is always unique. Every day is unique. I have an assistant that helps me with everything — I know that her job is very difficult because there really are no two days that are alike.
Just to give you the high-level view, I've invested in probably 60 companies, whether that’s starting the company or investing in it at some stage. I don't even know how many real estate projects I’ve invested in — and the majority of them have been deals that I've been (a general partner) or in on the management side of things. So, I’ve done a lot of deals over the years in a lot of different areas.
I guess if I had to say, there's one word that I try to focus on when it comes to when, how and why I do things, it's impact.
What type of impact do I get a chance to make by doing this? By saying yes to this? By investing in this? By putting my time, effort and energy into this? Is it going to make an impact on people? And if it does, there's actually a pretty decent chance that I'm going to really explore it. If it's just about making money, I’m probably not.
Did you ever think about that word — impact — growing up in high school or college? You probably were thinking, "How can I get to the NBA? How do I get better as a basketball player?" I mean, that's most college athletes' mindset, right? Did you ever think you could have impact?
Yeah, I did. And I've always been realistic about it because I think that some people look at impact and they think, if I can't affect the whole world, it's not worth doing. If I can't affect millions of people or hundreds of thousands of people, what's the point? If I'm only affecting one person, then what's the point of going through all that effort and energy?
I'm the complete opposite. When I go do a keynote speech or if I have the opportunity to be in front of people, I'm like, if I help one person in this room, it's worth the time. It's worth the effort and energy because it could be a seed that's planted in that person's mind that literally changes the trajectory of how they look at life. It’s well worth it.
I am not a Bible scholar by any means, but there is a story in the Bible about how the shepherd left the 99 to find the one. That’s a perfect example of how I look at things when it comes to impact. It's not about the numbers, it's not about impacting the 99. Of course, I want to impact the 99, but really I'm just looking for the one. I'm just looking for the one that I'm meant to be there for. And if it's one or 100 or 1,000 or 1 million, amazing. But if it's as long as it's one, then it's great.
At a young age, I wouldn't necessarily say it was like, "Yeah, this is No. 1 on my list." I was really focused on making it to the NBA, but I was focused on making it to the NBA because I knew that I wanted to make an impact. So, it wasn't primary, but it was secondary.
This just came to mind. A few years ago, there was this video of you visiting a school and the kids were kind of making fun of you for some reason. Did you get dunked on, maybe? The video was shared. The kids were joking at your expense, and you didn’t mind. You were a bright light in their day. It was cool. Do you remember it?
Well, it's happened more than once. That's definitely happened a couple times. [Here's one example]
I'm the guy who always jumps (at the rim). I don't care about getting crossed over. I don't care about getting dunked on. I don't care about any of that stuff. I'm on the court to help my team win. And if I have an opportunity to go up and block a dunk, even though I know my chances are very slim, I'm going to jump. Because that's what you're supposed to do. If you're helping your team win, if you're about your team over yourself, those are the things that you're going to do.
I've always just been that guy, and that's probably why I played 13 years in the NBA, for 11 different teams. It wasn't because I was the best shooter, best rebounder, the best shot blocker. I wasn't the best at anything. But I was consistent. I was really solid in a lot of areas. And also, I just didn't care about anything except the team's success.
The people who made decisions, they would be thinking, "Who could we get for this eighth or ninth man on the roster? Should we get Tolliver or should we go get this other kid? The other kid's a little bit better, maybe a little taller, maybe a little stronger, maybe a little bit more athletic. But I know Tolliver, whenever he is getting out there, he is going to bust his tail every single play. He's going to dive on loose balls, he's going to take charges, he's going to do all the tough stuff. Yeah, let's get Tolliver, right."
Every team wants and needs players like myself. And I'm not bragging about it. I know that and I knew that. And so then, I became that. I was like, "That's me. That's what I'm going to be. I'm going to be that guy that every coach wants on his team because he knows he's not going to screw up. He's going to stay out of trouble off the court. He's going to play super hard. He can play multiple positions. He's going to do what you tell him to do."
For me, that was my calling card, and that allowed me to stick around in the NBA for a really long time.
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