LOS ANGELES — Robert Covington stood near a rack of bright Nike shorts inside Dick’s Sporting Goods on Tuesday when a preteen boy in sunglasses walked over wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Clippers wing’s personal motto and also the name of his foundation: Allergic to Failure.
More than an hour had passed since Covington had walked into the El Segundo store and surprised a group of 15 students from the After-School All-Stars program by handing each a gift card with $300 to be spent on whatever they chose. Covington explained they were initially going to receive $150 until his foundation matched the amount, but judging by the students’ reactions, it was unclear whether the students quite heard those details. At the sight of Covington, one boy exclaimed, “It’s Robert Covington!” At the mention of the gift cards, one girl covered her masked mouth with her hand while another boy’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
They scattered to scour the shoe racks and jerseys, and later the boy in the sunglasses approached Covington dribbling a miniature ball, saying confidently he could cross over the 6-foot-9 all-NBA defender with the nearly 7-2 wingspan. Covington smiled politely and without moving his feet, poked the ball away. The preteen quickly reconsidered his boast, smiling sheepishly.
