A SEASON UNDER THE GUN

OAKLEY DELIVERS ON PROMISE TO ORR PLAYERS

Last winter, former Bull Charles Oakley and a buddy — Chicago businessman John Kelly — promised to buy Air Jordans for the Orr boys basketball team if it won the state championship.

Orr went on to beat Mount Carmel for the 2A title in March.

On Wednesday, Oakley and Kelly paid up — with an assist from His Airness.

Oakley and Kelly unofficially adopted the team after reading a Sun- Times series about Orr sitting at the center of violence in the city. They’ve hung out with the boys, talked to them, watched them play and even took them to Bulls games.

“These are kids who love basketball who had never seen the Bulls play live; that’s a tragedy,” said Kelly, owner and president of AllCirco, Inc., a lobbying firm.

Kelly and Oakley planned to bring the players together at a River North high- rise in which Oakley has a condo for a pep talk before the start of the school year. Then they’d surprise them with the Air Jordans.

Oakley shared the plan with his friend Michael Jordan, who, in turn, donated the black Air Jordan 5 Premium shoes and threw in some jerseys, too.

But getting high schoolers together at 10 a. m. for a meeting on a summer day proved difficult. Only coach Lou Adams showed up. Oakley smiled and shook his head. It doesn’t matter what neighborhood they’re from, he said, “They’re still teenagers.”

Undaunted, the men loaded up their car and drove to the school at 730 N. Pulaski. Adams had issued a stern warning for the players to show up ASAP.

They beamed when they saw Oakley — and the shoes.

Oakley feels a kinship with the students, having grown up in a struggling neighborhood in Cleveland. He’s also familiar with the crime- ridden neighborhood that Orr calls home. A favorite barbershop is Ellis Price Barber Shop on Madison Street, not far from the school.

“I know what they’re going through,” Oakley said of the teens who’ve seen violence firsthand.

Adams praised Kelly, Oakley and Jordan for their generosity. After the Sun- Times stories ran, he said, “A lot of people said, ‘ What can we do? What can we do?’ But these guys said they’d do it, and they did. It means a lot.”

Follow me on Twitter @ ShiaKapos.

| MAX HERMAN/ FOR THE SUN- TIMES Orr basketball players ( top) check out the Air Jordan sneakers that Michael Jordan donated and that Charles Oakley and his friend John Kelly delivered. Oakley ( right) and Kelly promised them Air Jordans if they won the state championship.