John Smallwood | Mavs scouting director sowing good SEEDS

CLEVELAND - Amadou Gallo Fall didn't even have the cliché "cup of coffee" in the NBA as a player.

That was fine with him because becoming a professional basketball player was never his intent when a Peace Corps worker discovered him at a basketball clinic in Tunisia.

Gallo Fall was asked if he would be interested in continuing his education on a basketball scholarship in the United States.

"I had no idea of the different levels of basketball in the NCAA," Gallo Fall, a 6-9 native of Senegal, said of that life-changing day in 1989. "But when he called a week later suggesting that somebody wanted to sign me to an athletic scholarship and come to his school and everything was paid for, I signed right there on the third line.

"I figured if someone was fool enough to think that I was worthy of anything on the basketball court to take me over to the [United States] and give me an education, before they changed their mind I better get signed."

Gallo Fall ended up at the University of the District of Columbia - then a Division II school. The highlight of his playing career came as a freshman when he played against Georgetown University's "Twin Towers" of Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

He blocked a shot by Mutombo and won a tip against Mourning.

In the classroom, Gallo Fall graduated magna cum laude from UDC with a bachelor of science in biology.

So today, when Gallo Fall recruits kids for his SEEDS Academy in Senegal, it is not with the promise of a career as a player in the NBA or any other professional basketball league around the world.

Although SEEDS stands for Sports for Education and Economic Development in Senegal and Gallo Fall works as vice president of International Affairs and Director of Scouting for the Dallas Mavericks, the primary goal is not to tap in early to Africa as an emerging region for NBA talent. Yes, NBA players Pape Sow of the Toronto Raptors and Mouhamed Sene of Seattle are both SEEDS projects, but most use it as a jump-start to a better education.

Since it opened in 2003, the SEEDS Academy has sent more than 30 young men to the United States to continue their educations.

"The kids who have made it to the NBA are highlights," said Gallo Fall, who has received sponsorship for SEEDS from companies such as the NBA, Nike and a communications company in Senegal called peopleinput. "We have many more kids who have gone on to study to become doctors, engineers and businessmen. Some have come back [to Senegal] and are inspiring other kids.