Gortat picking up US award
PR dla Zagranicy
Jo Harper
02.07.2015 11:45
NBA basketball star Marcin Gortat is set to pick up a Jan Nowak-Jeziorański award in Warsaw from the US Embassy in Warsaw.
Gortat (R). Photo: PAP/Piotr Wittman
The award is given to people who have made a special contribution to public service.
Gortat will pick up the award at a party celebrating the Fourth of July at the US Ambassador’s residence.
Gortat, from Łódź, is Poland’s best known basketball star.
He has run his own foundation for the last six years, MG13, which helps finance young people’s sporting careers. Gortat also helps the families of Polish soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański award has been handed out by the US Embassy in Poland since 2007. Previous winners include former president Lech Wałęsa, former finance minister and author of the Shock Therapy programme in Poland after 1990 Leszek Balcerowicz as well as the late professor Władysław Bartoszewski.
Gortat is a professional basketball player playing for the Washington Wizards. He started his career with ŁKS Łódź, then played three seasons for RheinEnergie Cologne in Germany's Basketball Bundesliga. (jh)