Knicks Fan Shares Special Moment with Karl-Anthony Towns

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Karl-Anthony Towns did not play in the New York Knicks' most recent game on Friday night but still dished out a vital, if not heartwarming, assist amidst the team's postseason chase.
Prior to the Knicks' final home game of the regular season against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Towns united with the Garden of Dreams Foundation to bestow a well-deserved $60,000 college tuition check to local teenager Calvin Mar, the latest recipient of the Knicks and MSG's charitable endeavors.
Mar, 18, is a lifelong Knicks fan that has dealt with multiple congenital anomalies since he was born prematurely. His father, likewise a Knicks supporter, passed away unexpectedly in 2016, four years before Towns lost his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The duo continues to make their families proud in the face of such hardships: Towns, averaging a 24.4-point, 12.8-rebound double-double in his maiden New York voyage, is at the end of an All-Star season with the Knicks while Mar harbors dreams of becoming an actor. The well-earned windfall will help him fulfill his dream of studying musical theater at SUNY Albany. Mar also received a game-worn jersey signed by Towns, who is set to embark on his first postseason excursion in a Knicks uniform.
Already well-regarded for his work on the MSG floor and beyond, Towns continues to gain recognition for his off-the-floor work as well. Towns is the most recent winner of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion title, which lauded his efforts to extend voting rights in his former NBA dwelling in Minnesota.

Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.
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