Jamas Jordan'? atlagad kilkar aaya ha didn't commit crima. B5 / ?: * ? - Got a suggestion? Call sports writer Michael Johnson at 722-8624 SPORTS ? CIAA AND ALL-SOUTH TEAM B4 ? DONNIE SHELL B4 r~ A Different Type iSof BalT^S^B <' ' Last week, I received a book in the mail from Tirjn Keown called "Skyline?One Season. *$8* One City.'' The book is about the impost? making it in the tough Oakland (Calif,) high sc&dpi basketball leagues. Not only does give tte rest of us an insight of basketball in the tough Oakland Athletic League, but the difficulties of the court as well. : While leading the book. I found myself walmp in the footsteps of many ^0^-, lltaMHi; but occasionally a few white, using the basketball court as a canvas on which to show their creating and the ball as a paint brush. For most of them, |K ketball is many thing*-** a vice, a means to getaway an expression of their manhood. .^^?"Without the game, I nuthin', nun " |jil HlBfe Binv a 5-7 guard who usually sits on the end COMMENTARY rnmmmmmmamimmm By MICHAEL JOHNSON Skyline! bench. Burns, like most of the baskeMW players in the OAL, is black. Like most of his peers, wptball is a way of life for him. But unlike C^p stars Darrnaryl Stamps, Anthony Byrd or Kareem Davis, tfie Skyline seiiior had no where to go and no gHtln -Oakland, dreams aren't logical. Dreams have p|pme because... we) I, they have to; Life is too tough lolive for anything alse_ ' Wilson's world took a turn for the worse when hi* mother was gravely ill. After staying at the hospi tal all night, Wilson went to school the next day to plfy against Fremont. It was the only way to get away, to become Calvin Wilson, basketball player instead of another face in the crowd. there was Darren Albert. His world was completely torn apart when his brother Eric was left paralyzed after a shooting incident in nearly San Ramon. Darren quit the football team to be with his brother because someone had to change Eiic's urine ba$. Basketball became his get-away, even though he wasn't good at it. \ i? Some of the players enjoyed the high road of athletics. Will Blackwell was a Parade All-American in football that needed basketball more than the sport needed him. Conversely. Eric Govan dreamed of get ting the Division I scholarship that would eventually k- elude him. v ?v.. Finally, there was David Strom, the white player f in the all-black OAL. Every game was to show that he belonged. Strom had to show the world that basketball counted through his veins as much as it did through ^^contemporaries. ?j 1 hope that many of the parents in the Winston ? Salem community will purchase the book when it hits > the stands this March. They should buy it not only for their children, but for themselves. Let your children se^iaw tough life can be if their only way of living is through sport*. That dreams of becoming a star is loaded with dreamers but few chances of catching O^Hpio iliai dream. , ^ISLet them look at the "glamorous" life in Oak . land. Show the How a group of McClymonds players locfeed the Skyline entrance after a game and sprayed tbe^udiencewith bullets. Then tell them to substitute of Compton, ilong Beach and any Wm? m I ckjf, including Winston-Salem. Then; ask yourselves if you understand tfce importance of sports in the lives of adolescents, tit] watch them grow and develop, become more mature.x Sports is a part of the African- American youth liHTl especially for males. Don't ignore it. ?m j Tiny Indians Hold Year-End Ceremony A Awards given by Organization stressing academic and athletic excellence By MICHAEL JOHNSON v . ? " ?????? ? . ^ ^ JK Chronicle Sports Wnter - ~ ' " ' v ' A ^ The Tiny Indians Football Club of Winston -Salem held an awards banquet Saturday night at Winston-Salem State to honor those students who achieved a milestone on and off the field. More than 200 players, cheerlead ers. coaches and boosters received a tro phy to commemorate another year of Pop Warner football. But Michael Shep herd and Emmanuel Werts were the biggest winners, each receiving the Robert L. Dunlap Trophy for the best academic performance on the Junior Varsity Pee Wee program. "There are a number of kids who wouldn't have been given the opportuni ty to accomplish the things they have," Tiny Indians Vice President Michael Stroud said. "These kids learned how tho overcome their anxieties in the classroom. ..and learned how to pay attention in the classroom." Shepherd and Werts headed the ? organization s 13-member All-Academ ic team. Included on the team are Shiqe ta Barr, Anisha Bowers, Christopher Cannon, Tamara Dobson, Candice Grif fin, Melvin Hill, Tiffany Lee. Chris Leggette, Gilbert McRae, Elyes Rice, S** TINY 'INDIANS page BS r Michael Shepherd (left) and Emmanuel Wefts each received the Robert L. Dunlap Award for having the highest grade point average for the Junior Pee Wee squad. Dunlap is a former program director at the Patterson Street YMCA. inaugural season as assistant coach ? | few wofro efccti ves to graduate. Instead of going to ^HMiP^lohool and earning her degree in December, Bobbitt decided to wait until this spring to finish. M ? In the meantime, Bobbin needed some I m, thing^M^pklime away with. wP '4 L* off,ce and asked about^Mi ' * T ing a volunteer assistant," Conley said. "At Fj already bad and I couldn't pay her. J|L But she wanted to be a part of the team and she came ml During the 1992-93 season, Bobbin IcmmA about the game as Conley s understudy. Watching I aware of the intimate details that what it takes to be a W J ^ I I head coach. What Bobbitt contributed is an under I fl I standing of the players and how to express them to ?MjBHBpt ?tWtT you would beimfaiqped to be Bobbin is an assistant basketball university. KiHS Wearing a gym suit with ? proudly displaying her sorority a] looks more like a student dun a < ?a c ! ?> juf ^ n m m m A pur ui Kissscs* snc careruiiy Blazes | At first it was little weird to have her as a coach ? ? ?Jpbecause she was one of us just a couple of yevS ^^jj^WSSU guard Kendra Home said. "But she's liw l lftf becn ablc to relate to us what s S?ing on and she 5 R <)' Imam what nn nrontu4 t/s Am " seriously, wondering abou aecistons 14th Street Boxing Program A Knockout Success By MICHAEL JOHNSON Chronic le Sports Writer When you teach a child something he wants to learn, you can never get rid of them. Ask William Kennedy. One day near his Bellview home last year. Kennedy helped a kid learn how shoot a basketball. Two days later, the gentleman was besieged a group of youngsters who wanted to learn the game. But upon enter his house, the youths saw the boxing trophies Kennedy won in his fighting days. "I told them if they want to be successful and get some of this, then they'll have to work for it," Kennedy said, the founder of the Wrinston-Salem amateur boxing team. "Being a boxer is nothing easy and I didn t want them to say I didn't warn them." Kennedy s hard work and effort is beginning to return some dividends. Last month, the 4-man team of three eight- to ten-year old youths and a twenty-year old man made its debut in the AAU boxing federation last month at High Point City Lake. Eight-year old Antoine Hairston won first place in his category while the adult ? Darran Smith ? was a runner-up in the 158-pound weight class. "1 didn't know about boxing when I was a kid, so I'm happy I won a trophy," Antoine said ? the aforementioned kid who was taught by Kennedy. "It was a big payback to win one." For the past year, Kennedy would pick up the youths at 5:30 p.m. and drive them to the 14th Street Recreational Center, where they practice for two hours a da> each Monday through Thursday. The boxers train in a secluded storage room, far away from the basketball games that are now prevalent among black youths. But the coach and trainer is not con cerned about developing a stable of stars. "We're teaching them how to be competitive and prepare them not only how to deal w ith boxing, but with life," Kennedy said. "Being out here in the streets for these kids is about the same as going against a boxer. If you can control your body, how can you not tell a pusher ,'No, I don't want any drugs' ? " Kennedy has seen the glori ous side of boxing and its darker side. A former cruiserweight boxer. Kennedy participated in the 1984 Olympic tryouts and has sparred against professional heavyweight champions Larry Holmes, Michael Spink*. Tim Witherspoon and Evander Holy field. But Kennedy has also seen Sec 14th STREET page B6 14th Street boxing instructor William Kennedy