John Amaechi has frequented late-night television, spoken with num-erous radio personalities and still has his New York Times bestseller on bookshelves.

He has been so busy his former Penn State basketball teammate Nate Althouse wonders if his e-mail works. Dan Earl, Amaechi's point guard in the mid '90s, happened to bump into Amaechi at this year's Final Four -- a rare meeting between old friends.

But for the first time since announcing he is gay in his autobiography "Man in the Middle," Amaechi will return to Penn State as the last installment of this year's Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS) at 8 tonight in HUB Alumni Hall.

The event is free to the public and will consist of a 45-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute question and answer session.

Amaechi, who on Feb. 7 became the first NBA player to reveal his homosexuality, will speak to an audience that includes many old friends -- those who knew him before national celebrity. With a strong British accent, Amaechi's friends saw him as a natural speaker.

"We had some very interesting conversations," Earl recalled from his two years as Amaechi's teammate. "I'm pretty opinionated and stubborn, and so was he. I don't mean that in a bad way, but we went back and forth ... I hope I gave him a few good passes on the court, too."

Amaechi, the first British-raised player to start in the NBA, played eight professional seasons, including three years in Europe, until his official retirement in 2005. The former Nittany Lions team captain played here from 1992-95 and is the 10th leading scorer in school history.

He has not visited Penn State since receiving an alumni achievement award last summer. Howard Wu, DSS committee chair, said Amaechi's name was mentioned in February as a possible speaker for next year's DSS series.

It was only after the committee realized that Amaechi would be in town for his speaking commitment at the Nittany Lions Hoops Banquet tomorrow, and adequate funds were left unused by the Student Programming Association, that DSS advisor Darcy Rameker gave the go-ahead.

"It's important that we bring in a diverse range of people to our series," Rameker said, "and we would consider any person as soon as possible if we could pull it off."

And it's not easy to get into Amaechi's schedule. Althouse, Amaechi's Penn State "sidekick" during mentoring trips to area schools, said Amaechi couldn't refuse any philanthropy project. Between the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester, England, and other motivational speaking engagements, Amaechi is always busy.

Earl and Althouse plan on getting together with Amaechi this weekend, but both know he always has people to see.

"When you think about all the things he is involved in," Althouse said, "when he actually does come into town, when I get to spend some quality time with him, that's enough for me."

Althouse said he won't be able to see tonight's speech, though. A Penn State grad student working toward a Ph.D. in counselor education, he will be guest teaching at Bucknell.

"It's wrenching," Althouse said. "I know I'll be in class thinking, 'Man, I wish I could be at Penn State.' He knows I love him, and I'll track him down and we'll spend time."