Baltimore native Bub Carrington hosts basketball, mental health clinic at Saint Frances Academy

Carlton “Bub” Carrington turned Saint Frances Academy into more than a gym Friday, bringing middle schoolers to 501 East Chase Street for a basketball clinic that also put mental health at the center of the lesson. The Baltimore native paired drills with a wellness session, using his return to the Johnston Square campus to show that athletic development and emotional support can go hand in hand.

The stop carried extra meaning because Saint Frances is not just any school in Carrington’s past. The academy says it was founded in 1828 to educate African American children and describes itself as the first and oldest continually operating Black Catholic school in the United States. Its current campus has sat in inner East Baltimore since 1974, and Carrington’s own history there as a basketball, football and baseball player made the clinic feel personal rather than ceremonial.

The message Carrington brought to the students went beyond shooting form or ball-handling. The clinic’s mental health and wellness session emphasized confidence, focus and emotional control, traits that matter as much in a classroom or on a court as they do later in life. That focus lined up with Breaking Chains, the family nonprofit tied to his Baltimore community work, which says it provides mental and behavioral health services for children and adults in Baltimore City and is accredited by CARF and licensed by the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration.

Carrington’s return also fit a broader pattern of giving that has become part of his public profile in Baltimore. In February, he helped fill more than 100 backpacks with personal care items for children in foster care. In August 2024, he handed out backpacks, books and school supplies at a Southwest Baltimore basketball camp through Breaking Chains. A 2025 report said about 100 students took part in his youth-development camp, where basketball drills were paired with workshops on mental health awareness, nutrition and teamwork, and attendees received school supplies from the Washington Wizards and a free book from Mahogany Books.

The support around Carrington has also grown beyond a single afternoon at Saint Frances. The Washington Wizards said April 8 that he received the fifth annual Dr. E.B. Henderson Award, and the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation said it would donate $10,000 to Saint Frances Academy in connection with his community work. For a school with deep Baltimore roots and a hometown player who keeps returning to serve younger kids, the clinic pointed to a model of youth support that treats mental wellness as part of the game, not separate from it.