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Pistons' Andre Drummond plays with names of 26 Sandy Hook shooting victims on his shoes (Photos)

While he was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Andre Drummond spent a large part of his youth in Connecticut, playing high school basketball at Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford and St. Thomas More School in Oakdale before enrolling at the University of Connecticut for his lone year of college. With Saturday marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown — the second-deadliest school shooting ever on U.S. soil and one of the darkest days in Connecticut's history — Drummond felt compelled to commemorate the lives of the 26 victims of that senseless tragedy with a sign of respect and a small gesture of support.

The Detroit Pistons center announced via Instagram on Sunday that he would take the court for his team's home game against the Portland Trail Blazers with the names of the 20 small children and six educators slain in the Sandy Hook shooting written on his Air Jordan 10 Old Royal sneakers:

"I will be playing in [these shoes]," Drummond wrote in the caption of his Instagram post. "I decided to write all 26 names that died today in the Sandy Hook shooting! #CtTogetherWeStand."

Drummond also said he planned to donate the "Motor City" alternate jersey he wore during Sunday's game to the elementary school:

Drummond scored 13 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked three shots and notched three steals in 43 1/2 minutes, but the Pistons fell to the visiting Blazers in overtime, 111-109, thanks to a game-winning jumper on the final play of the extra session by Portland guard Damian Lillard.

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Dan Devine

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