Boston Celtics players Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis stopped by the Marty Pino Community Center last Friday afternoon to shoot hoops with local kids, take photos and check out the community center’s recent renovation.
The event marked the completion of an extensive rehab of the Marty Pino Center, a Boston Center for Youth and Families facility, by the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and healthcare company Optum.
The Celtics and Optum teamed up to renovate the gym, which included new floors painted in the iconic “Celtic Green”, new backboards and baskets, a new Marty Pino Community Center sign and other amenities.
“I would like to thank the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation for choosing to renovate the Martin Pino Community Center Gym,” said Community Center Director Joe Weddleton. “They did an amazing job and the clinic they put on for the kids last Friday was outstanding. We would like to thank the Boston Celtics players Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis for volunteering their time and working with the kids in the clinic. The kids had a great and I got all kinds of complements from parents.”
In 2013 the City of Boston officially renamed the Orient Heights Community Center as the Marty Pino Community Center in honor of man that inspired thousands over the years to achieve greatness both on and off the basketball court.
A lifelong resident of Eastie who passed away in 2003, Pino influenced the lives of countless young people in many ways, but especially through the basketball league he helped start nearly 40 years ago at the Orient Heights Community Center.
“Thank you to BCYF and the Celtics for giving the Martin Pino Community Center an amazing new renovation,” said Pino’s son Anthony Pino. “This community center was an important place to me and my family long before it was ever named after my father. Seeing his name on the court with Enes Kanter and Daniel Theis from the current Celtics giving back to the community by coaching up a bunch of East Boston kids was something that would have made my dad very proud. Love seeing athletes and teams give back to the community like this.”