Heart of the game in the summer
Often times when we think about foot
ball, our minds immediately invoke
images of cool fall weather for tailgating,
huge swarms of screaming fans cheering
under the bright lights, and our favorite
team logos carefully stitched onto colorful
mesh jerseys.
The United States' passion for football
has exploded over the past 30 years and
now many American football fans patient
ly wait out the summer in anticipation of
the season's first kick-off.
Even in the sweltering heat of late
June, on a middle school football field in
rural Statesville, North Carolina, the col
lective passion for football was on full dis
play during a semi-pro game between the
Statesville Warriors and The Carolina
Jaguars.
Devoid of all the typical pomp and cir
cumstance of college and pro football, you
can see the pureness of the love for the
game that many of us share, physically
manifested through the intensity of players
on the field.
While this was a semi-pro football
contest, there was nothing semi-serious
about it. Dozens of former high-school and
collegiate standouts, as well as current and
former high school and college coaches
poured their hearts out during the hour
plus contest.
The Statesville Warriors, reigning
champions of the league, came out scoring
early touchdowns on offense side forcing
turnovers on the defensive side end of the
ball, frustrating the Jaguars from Winston
Salem. After a couple scores by the home
team, the Jags began to come undone and
turn their frustrations inward at them
selves. Teammates began to vocally chal
lenge one another leading to a brief spat
over some substitution confusion on one
particular defensive package.
To the casual onlooker this may have
seemed a bit
excessive for
Wali a semi-pro
pi{{ football game,
Chronicle played in
early summer.
Columnist at a middle
school field.
Rut tr* mp it
served as a
reminder of the importance of the game of
football to African-American males.
When you grow up with football suc
cess meaning a possible improvement of
you and your family's quality of life, the
game itself becomes a fight. Not just
against the opponent on the field but
against the tides of oppression that can
keep African-Americans in disadvantaged
situations.
What starts out as fun and games in
Pop Warner quickly turns into serious
business, with a chance to get a free col
lege education or in the rare circum
stances, the opportunity to accrue genera
tional wealth by playing in the NFL.
Most athletes land somewhere in the
middle, reliving their own personal glory
days through exaggerated stories or by
playing in annual Thanksgiving day pick
up games.
Sl\awn Moore, a 29-year-old Winston
Salem native and father of two, has
embodied this fighting spirit since he was
a teenager and he continues to live out his
dream at the snap of every play.
As a star high school running back at
Glenn High in Winston-Salem, Shawn
once rushed for 313 yards and six touch
downs in his first ever playoff game as a
sophomore. Shawn then "took his talents
to East Winston" where he went on tosStar
at Carver High School and parlayed his
skills into a full scholarship to play at the
collegiate level.
For Shawn, his love of the game
wouldn't allow his playing career to
become an antidote in a story about his
glory days.
"I'm 29,1 got two kids and 1 come out
here just because I love the game. I'm not
getting paid right now, I gotta go to work
on Monday morning, I'm just doing this
for the love of the game and to develop
some film from this and hopefully get paid
for my talents."'
I first met Shawn during his junior year
at Carver High, his first year at the school.
I can remember the hype behind the highly
rated D-l running back prospect changing
schools to bolster a Yellow Jacket team
that had just won the Class 3A State
Championship the previous year.
We at Carver Nation automatically
assumed that the addition of Shawn Moore
would equal back-to-back state titles. This
was not the case, as expectations did not
meet reality. This is a common theme in
the Black American Football experience,
as many athletes are burdened by expecta
tions that WE as fans saddle them with,
and when the reality that comes to fruition
doesn't match these lofty expectations, we
often see a downward spiral back into the
same negativity that the game of football
had once helped shield them from.
For Shawn, receiving his full ride to
play at North Carolina A&T was only the
first chapter in a college career that would
span almost 10 years.
"I had a full ride at A&T. 1 went down
there with two high school teammates and
1 actually just kinda fell off. First semester
[I was] just chasing girls and ended up get
ting put on academic probation. After that
I just left school and started working."
For most of our athletes, this is where
the glory days end and the infinite string of
regrets begin. We are trained to think that
there is only one path to football greatness
and once diverged from that path, that
there are no other options available, aside
from hanging up the cleats.
This is where the wisdom and leader
ship of those who have come before is
paramount. Positive reinforcement from
older and respected former athletes and
coaches can take the defeated mentality of
a late teen, early 20s athlete and reinvigo
rate their mindset into not only a focused
"never say die" athlete, but also into a ded
icated and driven adult, using the same
skills that helped them on the field of play,
in the game of life. A conversation with
one of his former coaches at Carver High
School seemingly had this same impact on
Shawn at a low point in his career.
"Coach McKoy came and paid me a
visit, and I'm so thankful for this. He
asked me if I still wanted to play and I said
yeah. He got me on at Shaw U and the rest
is history, [1] played at Shaw, graduated
with honors, went on to state [Winston
Salem State University] having one year of
eligibility left, graduating with honors
again and [I'm] still just chasing the
dream."
The unfinished story of Shawn
Moore's football career should serve as a
reminder that the heart of the game beats
not in between the lines or as a derivative
of stats, championships, or money earned,
but is the steady pulse of courage, dedica
tion and the never-give-up mentality that it
takes to make it in life as well as on fourth
and long.
Stay tuned to The Chronicle through
out the summer for coverage and high
lights of the Carolina Jaguars and contin
ued updates on Shawn Moore's inspiring
journey to professional football.
Summer program to
stem aggression
kicks off locally
SPECIAL TO
THE CHRONICLE
Gentleman's Quorum
Inc. recently launched its
PLAAY (Preventing Long
Term Anger & Aggression
in Youth) summer pro
gram. Participants in the
program are joining forces
with Union Baptist
Church's Youth Character
Football League (YCFL)
for a two-hour session each
Sunday at Winston-Salem
Prep Academy.
Participants in the pro
gram will go through a bat
tery of conditioning drills
designed to prepare them
for the upcoming football
season.
Gentleman's Quorum
Inc. has sponsored pro
grams featuring PLAAY at
Elementary Academy and
The Kings wood School.
The program uses sports
and group counseling as
the media of research and
intervention and highlights
the importance of parental
support.
The program is mod
eled after one run by Dr.
Howard Stevenson at the
University of
Pennsylvania,' who works
with inner city youth in
Philadelphia. In its five
years of operation, the
PLAAY Project yielded a
dramatic decline in aggres
sive behavior among its
"high-risk" participants ?
all of the boys in the pro
gram had committed disci
plinary infractions in
school, ranging from carry
ing a penknife to violent
assault on a fellow student.
Stevenson has used
sports ? which offers a
setting in which conflicts
arise naturally and can be
addressed in the moment.
Sam Davis and Elliot
Miley initially introduced
the program locally during
the 2014-15 school year,
while working as coun
selors in an afterschool
enrichment program at
Elementary School
Academy. The program
was successful. A DVD
was made of one of the
group's sessions and it
eventually made it all the
way to the office of
President Barack Obama.
Davis said he decided
to offer the program
through the YCFL this
summer and this coming
fall after he was named
head coach of the pro
gram's 12-and-under foot
ball team.
"I believe it will be a
great collaboration," he
said. "I have worked with
Rev. Dr. Sir Walter Mack
and the YCFL since its
inception. This year I
decided to take a more
active role in the program
and try to reach these kids
through tfie concept of
PLAAY. This is really
important in today's local
climate because of all the
violence that is happening.
I believe this can head off
some of these problems
before they begin to spiral
out of control.
"Gentleman's Qi^rum
Inc. understands the impor
tance of having an organi
zation of strong male men
tors to provide positive
reinforcement by building
self-esteem and confidence
in our young gentlemen,"
Davis added. "These traits
will transfer from the
Gentleman's Quorum to the
classroom to the real world
to the home. Through the
efforts of dedicated posi
tive male mentors,
family/community support,
and the commitment of our
young gentlemen, we will
help to take them to new
heights, academically,
socially, economically and
help them to succeed. We
will accomplish this
through teaching and expo
sure."
Gentleman's Quorum
Inc., formed in September
2013, was incorporated in
April 2014 and achieved its
nonprofit status 501(c)(3)
status in March 2015.
Submitted photo
Tyrone Campbell leads participation in PLAAY.
Livingstone names new head
women's basketball coach
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
SALISBURY, N.C. ? A woman who
said she scheduled games against CIAA
teams because of her respect for the con
ference is the new head women's basket
ball coach at Livingstone College.
Tiffany Silver, former head coach at
Wilmington University in Delaware, was
announced Friday, June 10, by Livingstone
Athletic Director Andre Springs during a
press conference. She becomes the ninth
head women's basketball coach for the
Blue Bears.
In her brief remarks, Silver thanked
Livingstone College President Dr. Jimmy
R. Jenkins Sr., Springs and Dr. State W.
Alexander HI, executive assistant to the
president and vice president for communi
cations & public relations, for their sup
port.
"I appreciate you for entrusting me
with the responsibility of fostering this
program of young women, as athletes and
more important as young women," Silver
said. Jenkins said after the press confer
ence that he's glad Silver accepted the
institution's offer to join the Livingstone
family.
? "I am excited about Coach Silver,"
Jenkins said. "I was very impressed with
her during the interview."
Silver replaces Anita Howard, who left
Livingstone after two seasons for another
coaching position. Howard resigned in
' C V
early June to take the head coaching posi
tion at Columbus State University in
Georgia. She lived in Winston-Salem
while she was coach at Livingstone.
Silver comes to
Livingstone after four
seasons at Wilmington
University, which
competes in the
Central Atlantic
Collegiate Conference.
Her overall record at
Wilmington was 32
76; however, to her
credit the team had
won onlv fhtnp. Oflmps in
the season before she became the head
coach. And last season, her Wildcats fin
ished 14-14 overall. Before assuming the
head job at Wilmington, Silver worked as
an assistant coach at NCAA Division III
Johns Hopkins University, where she
helped the Blue Jays to a stellar 24-5
record and a berth in the second round of
the NCAA Tournament.
From 2005 to 2011, Silver was the
head coach at Western High School in her
native Baltimore.
Silver boasted perfect graduation and
college-acceptance rates during her time at
Western. Silver is a graduate of the
University of Maryland Baltimore County,
where she earned a bachelor's degree in
sociology and played on the women's bas
ketball squad.
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