ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Former NBA player Charles Oakley was in town Tuesday but not to hoop over at Cobbs Hill Park. 21 years after hanging it up, the former New York Knicks big man now takes his talents to the kitchen.

“This meal is lamb chops, salmon with a sauce, macaroni and cheese, we gonna have green beans with cranberry, vegetable fried rice, banana pudding, and peach cobbler for dessert,” Oakley said.

That dinner was possible because a local man won a raffle through an event held by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

“It was one of those days that kind of just kind of came together. I was not planning to go to the event, but just before the event happened somebody called me and said I have an extra seat at the table, so come to the event,” Phil Davis said. “I bought a raffle ticket and the next thing I knew, before very long, they were calling my name saying you’ve won the grand prize.”

And in it for him? A home cooked meal from the former NBA All-Star who played 19 seasons in the Association.

“I talked to a couple of people that would be here and I said what would you like, what would you like? ‘Cuz I’m a guy, as you can see from my girth, I’m not too picky about food. So I asked some friends what do you think we should have on the menu,” Davis said.

But for Oakley, this all came about because of not being a fan of menus and being a picky eater.

“I’m real picky number one, number two is I only eat certain things at certain places. When you started picking at I can’t eat macaroni and cheese, I can’t eat this here, I can’t eat this there, you better learn how to cook. Lot of people picky but they don’t know how to cook. At least I’m picky and I can cook and I cook pretty well,” Oakley said.

And that proved useful because when he was playing away from the Garden, he learned to cook from the garden.

“Once I got into the league and then couldn’t go home on the Holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes you can’t be home. That’s when I’m like wow, let me find out how to do this stuff. Yams, turkey, make some pies and stuff. It started early in my career,” Oakley said.

So long after Oakley got done dishing out elbows in the paint, he’s found a new hobby dishing out warm meals – whether it’s for his teammates, family, or an event like this – the gentle giant wants to make sure no one goes home hungry.

“I can go out here on the streets and give someone a hot meal that haven’t had one in a long time, that’s most important to me,” Oakley said.

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