Bray Center, Inc.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Mary Burke at the Bray Community Center

September 21, 2014 Mary Burke on Sunday continued to deflect criticism about allegations that parts of her state job plan were lifted and unattributed from other candidate and independent reports.

And later the same afternoon, during a Racine appearance, the Democratic candidate for governor encouraged supporters to work hard to get out the vote on Nov. 4 to overcome what she described as “roadblocks” that state Republicans put in place through court-upheld voter ID legislation.

All that took place during and before a Sunday town hall meeting to a friendly audience of about 100 at the Bray Community Center, 924 Center St. While she received a warm welcome inside, a group of about a dozen youthful Republicans stood outside with placards trumpeting the plagiarism allegations. The group protested silently and dispersed without incident after Burke arrived and was rushed inside.

On Friday, Burke’s campaign acknowledged that consultant Eric Schnurer, who was hired by the campaign, used portions of plans he had prepared for other political campaigns throughout the country. The Burke campaign has since cut ties with Schnurer.

“I brought in ideas I thought would work here in Wisconsin and that have worked in other places to obtain innovative ideas on how we’re going to grow Wisconsin’s economy,” Burke told reporters before Sunday’s town hall meeting at the Bray Center. “But Eric should not have used the same language that he used in providing services to other clients.”

Further allegations were surfacing Sunday that more of Burke’s plan had been lifted from other sources, including a Harvard University study, but Burke said she had not had a chance to look into those.

Protesting Republicans outside the Bray Center declined to comment and instead sent a request for comment to state Republican Party officials.  “Mary Burke needs a lesson in business ethics because even eighth-graders know that you shouldn’t copy the work of others,” Joe Fadness, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in an email to The Journal Times. “Burke must stop pointing fingers and immediately accept responsibility for putting forward a dishonest, plagiarized jobs plan.”

In her talk to supporters at the Bray Center, Burke said the Republicans were trying to use the plagiarism allegations to deflect attention from a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday that showed Wisconsin ranks 33rd in the nation in private sector job creation for a 12-month period that ended in March.

Burke’s Republican challenger in the Nov. 4 election, incumbent Gov. Scott Walker, has made job creation a key platform, promising when he was first elected in 2008 that he would bring 250,000 private-sector jobs to the state. Walker has acknowledged adding 100,000 jobs since he began serving as governor, but a monthly labor report shows the state lost 4,300 jobs between July and August.

Burke brought out reinforcements Sunday to mobilize supporters in her quest to unseat Walker. Appearing with her at the Bray Center were: running mate for lieutenant governor and state Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine; state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha; state Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Somers; and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., who sang a lively version of a number she called the “Scott Walker Blues.”

A recent Marquette University poll shows the race to be in a near dead heat, and Burke has said several times that Racine will play a key role in pushing her to victory. Moore, a Racine native, called the campaign a “battle royale” and Lehman said Burke’s victory was not just important to Wisconsin, but was important for the progressive movement nationwide.  After the speech to the crowd at the Bray Center, which largely mirrored the one she delivered on Aug. 2 at the Racine County Democratic headquarters, Burke took questions from the audience. She voiced support for raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, supported restoring collective bargaining rights for public employees and said she would look at ways to reduce the prison recidivism rate.

Unified Leaders address Black Community on District Issues

Leaders and administrators of the Racine Unified School District held a community forum called the first of its kind Tuesday night to discuss ongoing district issues with residents.  The forum, held at the George Bray Neighborhood Center, 924 Center St., specifically dealt with issues facing black students in the district, such as achievement and graduation rates that fall well behind their white peers.

“We need a community effort to make all of this really work,” said Unified Superintendent Lolli Haws to about 30 residents who attended the meeting. “We need active involvement from all of the community’s stakeholders in solving all of the complex problems that go along with all of the reasons why our teens aren’t performing as they should.”

The forum was organized by Melvin Hargrove, school board member and pastor of Zoe Outreach Ministries, along with Bray Center Executive Director Jameel Ghuari, to open a dialogue with the city’s black community on district issues.  In a presentation that opened the forum, Haws and Chief of Schools Eric Gallien addressed numerous issues facing the district and especially its black students — including low achievement on test scores, low graduation rates and high expulsion rates.  Gallien also addressed the district’s most recent efforts to address these problems, such as giving teachers additional support, implementing a new discipline policy setting up a new class structure to provide high school freshmen with more attention and support.

After the presentation, Haws and six of her department leaders took questions from the residents and community leaders. About 15 attendees addressed the panel on a wide range of topics from recent initiatives discussed in the presentation to overworked substitute teachers to the district’s upcoming referendum.  Hargrove said after the meeting that this was the first forum addressing the district’s black community and he hoped more would follow at other neighborhood community centers around in the district.  He noted that this type of forum not only allows residents to more easily access district administrators with issues and concerns, but also alerts administrators to worries within the community.  “Having a conversation like this, (Haws) can also hear from people she may not normally hear from at a School Board meeting,” he said.

Cutting crime through basketball

Eight middle students anxiously waited in a meeting room of the George Bray Neighborhood Center, 924 Center St., Tuesday night, April 28, 2014, with energy and athletic clothes better suited for playing basketball in the gymnasium downstairs than playing the game of Jeopardy they were about to start. That changed when Jeopardy started. Focusing solely on trivia about the criminal justice system in Wisconsin, the game quickly captured their attention as students excitedly recalled answers to questions while some recounted their own interactions with police and court.  “It’s sad to say, they can relate,” said Jennifer Bias, deputy trial division director for the State Public Defender’s Office. “They have their own personal stories, unfortunately.”  Bias leads these students through a 30-minute course, called a life-skills session, every Tuesday and Thursday as part of the Bray Center’s Jacob Lott Middle School Basketball League.

The league, in its second year, offers students the opportunity to play basketball in the league free of charge — so long as they sit through this 30-minute life skills session before their game once a week, according to Jameel Ghuari, director of the center and organizer of the league.  Funded by a grant from the Department of Justice to divert youth away from gangs and violence, the program is designed to educate students on the consequences of being charged and convicted of crimes and how to avoid being part of the criminal justice system in the first place. “A lot of these young kids in middle school are at risk of being incarcerated,” he said. “We’re trying to do all we can the help them avoid that.”  Students are transported to the Bray Center twice a week from the city’s five other neighborhood centers, which Ghuari said have played a vital role in the program. Ghuari stressed that basketball is just a way to get students in the door for the life skills sessions.  While last year’s sessions focused on a wide variety of subjects and teachers, Bias now leads most sessions in a curriculum solely about the criminal justice system.

Noting the high stakes for inner-city students and especially young black males, Ghuari said that being convicted of a crime and serving time in prison is a black mark that can make getting a job or a loan much more difficult years into the future.  “Once you get involved with the system, it’s with you for life,” he said. “Every aspect of your life is negatively affected by that involvement, even after you serve your commitment.” While the sessions focus on the criminal justice system, Bias noted that the long-term goal is to keep these students in school.  After a session earlier this month, J’Quail Hanks, 13, of McKinley Middle School, commented on how he stays away from influences that would get him into trouble.  “Walk away, play basketball, don’t get into the negative,” Hanks said.

Marshaun Emery, a 13-year-old student at Mitchell Middle School, noted how he had already received a citation for being in a fight and now tries to avoid situations that would lead him further down that path.  “I know better things than to fight,” he said.



COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER

STARTING DRILL TEAM, TEEN MOM

Imagine a drum and bugle corps performance, with the instruments replaced by clapping, stomping and chanting, and you have drilling. That’s one of the two programs for young people that Brenda Petty is starting to organize at the Bray Community Center, 924 Center St. Petty, who recently returned to her hometown from Minnesota, said she’s also starting a supportive program at the center for teenage mothers.

Petty, now 50, said she learned drilling locally in about 1979.  “It was very popular in the ’70s and ’80s,” she said.  She started a team at the Bray Center, the Jammers, in the 1980s. Petty started another, the South Side Strutters, at the Bryant Community Center in 1992, and she said it won competitions in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. They had about 40 to 50 girls and as many boys.  “We kept kids off the streets,” she said.  “Their kids and grandkids are on the (new) team now,” Petty said.

She recently put out word that she was organizing a drilling team at the Bray Center and attracted about 30 girls to the first practice on Wednesday.  And she said quite a few more are talking about it on Facebook.  Meanwhile Petty, who is on long-term disability pay and uses her time to do community service, is also laying plans for a teenage mother program that she said will start in June at the Bray Center.  “It will be set up like a class,” Petty said. “Each young mother will pick an advocate she likes, like a Big Sisters thing.”

The classes will be taught by professionals on a volunteer basis, and Petty said she already has seven enlisted.  Petty said her passion for community service was instilled by being raised in a loving foster home, by parents who taught her to share her God-given talents with others.  “If I can get one child off the streets and doing something positive that they like, it makes me smile,” she said. “So if I can get 30 kids to do it, you know I’m all smiles!”

Petty plans to hold fundraisers and get company sponsors for drill team uniforms and any costs for the teenage mother program, such as buying bus passes.  “I’m trying to get the community to help with these kids, Petty said. “Because it’s their kids.”  She said anyone interested in the drill team should go to the Bray Center between 4:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Bill Cartwright at Racine Storm Practice

March 8, 2014 Former Chicago Bulls player and head coach Bill Cartwright, left, watches Racine Storm practice with Storm General Manager Ken Hasty on Saturday at the Bray Center, 924 Center St., Racine.

RACINE — Just because he’s 7-foot-1 and towered over some of the players didn’t mean members of the Racine Storm basketball team were going to listen to Bill Cartwright on Saturday.  But they did — possibly because of the three NBA championship rings he won while playing for the Chicago Bulls. Or the two additional rings he won in 1997 and 1998, while he worked as an assistant coach with the Bulls.

“One thing these guys are gonna do when Bill Cartwright is talking is listen,” Racine Storm General Manager Ken Hasty said.  The retired basketball star hit the court in Racine on Saturday, offering guidance and coaching expertise to almost a dozen men, most of whom play for the Independent Basketball Association’s Racine Storm. The team had been in Lake County, Ill., but moved to Racine this year.

“Ken likes helping these guys out,” Cartwright said. “It’s really interesting because you never know who you’re going to be looking at. Some of them drive down from Chicago.”  Cartwright, 56, and his family live in Lake Forest, Ill. If he can help the players, why not attend the practice, he said.  “What we talked about today is a basic attack. When you get the ball, you dictate the action,” said Cartwright, who was the Bulls’ head coach from 2001-04. “As an offensive player, you want to dictate the action. You don’t want the defense to dictate to you. It’s giving an idea how to post up — how to be an offensive player.”  Cartwright said he also talked about footwork with the guys.  “I’m giving them tips or ideas of what I like to see. After that it’s up to them,” he said. “If you’re going to make strides, it’s not a one-day job.”  Each player has different abilities, and they need to play to their strengths.  “Everybody has something they do well,” Cartwright said. “It’s a big difference between if (retired All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal) was out there or a skinny post guy, like (current Bulls power forward) Joakim Noah. He can’t play like Shaq, but he can get to the same spot by using his quickness. Use what you got.”

Racine resident Devron Bostick, 26, said he “grew up watching the legends” like Cartwright.  “It was nice to have him come and give us some of his wisdom,” said Bostick, a recess and cafeteria supervisor at 21st Century Preparatory School. “It made us play a lot harder with him here.”  He said when Cartwright gives them advice, they try to follow it.  “The advice he gave us today, about not giving up layups, was right,” said Bostick, who’s also the middle school basketball coach at 21st Century.  Hasty said he was coaching college basketball when Cartwright was coaching the Bulls, and they struck up a friendship.  “He’s obviously a tremendous player in the NBA. He can teach them proper maneuvers,” Hasty said. “He’s got a good heart. We’d like all the guys to get better.”

It’s early Saturday morning at the Bray Center, 924 Center St., and players on the Racine Storm men’s basketball team have already worked up a sweat.

Head coach Clinton Bryant, coming off working third shift as a truck driver for Imperial Laundry, had his players start practice early.  Game after game, a team of players with different backgrounds from different schools played five-on-five, improvising plays and running the fast break.

“It’s like I tell the players,” Bryant said, “I can’t teach you; you already have to know the game.”  The Racine Storm started as an exhibition team in Lake County two years ago.  Bryant agreed to coach the team last season, then known as the Lake County Stars, guiding them to a 15-4 record and a playoff team that came within two points in overtime of winning the Independent Basketball Association championship.

Before the start of the spring season, team owner Michael Tyler, an assistant attorney general at the Louisiana Department of Justice, made the decision to move the team from Lake County, Ill., to Racine.

Ken Hasty, general manager for the Racine Storm, said the team was moved to a better basketball community and also to attract more talent.  “Racine just has so many good players up here,” he said. “From the North Shore of Chicago to here, Racine has the best concentration of good players.”

Some of the players are familiar names from Racine Countyl basketball’s recent history: Devron Bostick and Reggie Bunch are from St. Catherine’s, Thomas Cobbs is from Case, Greg Morrisette from Horlick.

Others, like Jonathan Mandeldove, who played at the University of Connecticut from 2006-09, and Fred Durr, who played for Oklahoma Panhandle State University, represent a mix of players with major collegiate and professional experience playing overseas.  For many players, playing in the IBA is a means to staying in game shape, a chance to play professionally overseas or to get noticed by an NBA scout.  “To get a job, you need numbers and film from a credible league,” Hasty said.

League players do not command a salary. However, access to game film, league statistics and recognition playing in an established basketball league are all tools a player can use to market himself on a larger stage.  Abdul Jeelani, a program director at the Bray Center and a former Park High School standout who went on to play in the NBA as well as overseas professionally, praises Bryant’s work with area players.  “He keeps that dream alive for them,” he said. “Their careers would be all but over except for him.”  The Storm begins its 2014 spring season on Sunday, March 9, versus the Kenosha Ballers at 6:30 p.m. at the Kenosha Boys and Girls Club, 1330 52nd St., and make their home debut at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, at Case High School versus the Kankakee (Ill.) County Soldiers.

 

Jameel Ghuari explains how activists in Racine’s past have shaped the city’s history at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., Monday evening. Ghuari is Executive Director of the George Bray Neighborhood Center, one of the activists he praised at the event. Behind him are representatives to the State Assembly Mandela Barnes of Milwaukee and Cory Mason of Racine.

As Black History Month comes to a close this week, several community leaders gathered Monday night to commemorate the accomplishments of eight African-American residents of Racine throughout history.  Whether a runaway slave, a local teacher or a member of Congress, current community leaders spoke on their research or personal memories of these eight men and women who left an indelible impact on Racine and, in some cases, the country.  “We have a great tradition in this country of celebrating Black History Month in February, and we learn about many great national figures who are important at both a national and state level,” said state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, who organized the event. “But sometimes we forget how important Racine’s contributions are to the legacy of African-American history here in this country.”  In front of an audience of about two dozen residents at the Racine Public Library, five speakers addressed the legacies of former community members including U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., a Racine native; Corrine Reid-Owens, one of the first black Racine Unified School District teachers and often described as the “Rosa Parks of Racine;” and Joshua Glover, a runaway slave captured in Racine and famously broken out of jail by local abolitionists.  While discussing the achievements of George Bray, former alderman and founder of the Racine Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Jameel Ghuari said Bray made sure Ghuari went to school by ensuring his mother knew about it when he was caught skipping class.  Ghuari is now the director of the neighborhood center that bears George Bray’s name.  “What I remember most about George Bray is that he was a humanitarian,” he said. “His spirit still is there in the Bray Center ... and all I’m trying to do is be a keeper of that vision.”  Mason announced after the event he will host a similar event next month for Women’s History Month to commemorate women who have made an impact on Racine’s history.

  

COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER: 

GEORGE BRAY NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER 

In the summer of 2013, Jameel Ghuari, Executive Director of the George Bray Neighborhood Center, reached out to extend space usage to agencies in the community that had youth programs to offer. Volunteers from Girls Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast answered the call by accepting the center’s offer to use space to hold Girl Scout troop meetings.

Currently the Bray Center provides monthly meeting space to three Girl Scout troops:

• Girl Scout Junior Troop 9371, which meets on the first and third Saturday.

• Girl Scout Cadette Troop 9314, which meets on the second and fourth Saturday.

• Girl Scout Cadette Troop 5630, which meets on the second Wednesday.

The volunteers and girls are very grateful, as the space given includes an office for supply storage, a separate private meeting room large enough for group activities and a kitchen that troop leaders especially enjoy as it allows the opportunity to infuse cooking and healthy living skills into the Girl Scout leadership experience.

Each troop is currently working on Girl Scout Leadership Journeys from one of three themes: It’s Your Planet, Love It!; It’s Your Story, Tell it; and It’s Your World, Change it! National Leadership Journeys help Girl Scouts learn and practice the three keys to leadership: girl-led, learning by doing and cooperative learning. In addition, girls aid their community while earning leadership awards. Troops add to their experience by attending events, mentoring younger girls through the Girl Scout Program Aid Training program and selecting a community concern that they can take action on by educating themselves about the issue and providing a sustainable project that impacts the community in a positive way.

The three troops are currently working diligently to meet their Girl Scout Cookie program activity goals. Participating in this program is much more than selling cookies. The girls also learn about financial literacy, earning badges on goal setting, decision making, business ethics, money management, developing people skills — aspects essential to leadership, to success and to life.

Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast is the leading organization on girl leadership, which provides a platform for girls to build courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place. Girls interested in joining these or other troops can contact their local Girl Scout Racine Service Center.

                   Handle with Care

Meshawn McClendon (left), 10, and Tony Demaio, 9, play basketball Monday, Dec. 2, 2013, during an open practice at the George Bray Community Center, 924 Center St.

Protest shuts down

Sixth Street

RACINE — Twelve Racine women effectively closed a block of Sixth Street for an hour Friday afternoon after they sat in the middle of the street in front of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s office, 216 Sixth St., to push him to take action on immigration reform.    Police blocked off the street at Main Street and allowed the women to address a crowd of several dozen that gathered in front of the Racine office for Ryan, the Janesville Republican who represents Racine County in Congress.  The women-led protest, organized by the Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera, called on Ryan to work for speedy immigration reform and stop deportations.  Police wrote down each woman’s information and told them that they would be cited for the incident, according to Joe Shansky, a representative of the organization.  One of the women, 77-year-old Racine resident Luz Maria Hernández, said some of her children have been waiting in Mexico for 17 years for their visas to be approved.  “I have no fear because I’m fighting for my children and for many families who also suffer and are saddened,” said Hernández, who has nine children, 31 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.  Hernández, her one daughter who has been able to move to Racine, 57-year-old Sofia Anguiano, and her granddaughter Cecilia Anguiano were three of the women cited during the protest.

Hernández and her granddaughter were arrested together in a protest in Washington, D.C., in September, but Sofia Anguiano said that Friday was the first time she has ever been ticketed in the United States.  Another protester, Luisa Morales, 25, said that deportations are of particular concern for her because she was raised in Racine by two parents who were always at risk of being deported.  “I feared everyday in my childhood because they came to this country undocumented,” she said. “I had to grow up much sooner than most kids.”  Shansky said that the organization has held similar protests in front of the offices of Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson in the past to spur action on immigration reform.  The protest began at about 3 p.m. and lasted for about an hour, until the women concluded the protest and willingly moved out of the street.

Congratulation

Willis Wray Bray Center Alumni

Willis is now the new Program Manager @ Racine Youth Sports (RYS)

Willis is presently the Vice President of Bray Center Board of Directors

RACINE — Willis Wray is a self-described basketball junkie.

Wray says a day doesn’t go by in which he doesn’t get his basketball fix. “I love basketball,” said Wray, who was a starter for the Horlick High School basketball team during the 1996-97 season. “I eat, drink and sleep basketball.”  So, when Wray heard there was going to be a Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Racine, he immediately wanted to get involved with it. Not as a player, mind you, but as an official.

The 33-year-old Wray contacted some local Gus Macker officials and told them he would be more than willing to volunteer his services for the two-day event held behind Gateway Technical College.  Gus Macker officials were more than happy to oblige Wray who, shortly after the crack of dawn Saturday, was raring to go, ready to blow his officiating whistle.

For Wray, it was his small way of paying back.  “I wanted to help with this tournament and I’m glad I did,” said Wray, who is a management assistant for Enterprise car rental in South Milwaukee. “I wanted to help out in any way I could. I wanted to give back to the community and give back to the kids.”

Wray is one of 60 individuals who are donating their time and energy to officiate the hundreds of Gus Macker games being played on the 19 courts near the shores of Lake Michigan.  Keith Sobotka also is voluntarily officiating, noting the Gus Macker tournament is a vehicle to provide a community service. A math teacher at the Mack Alternative Center, Sobotka officiated Gus Macker games last year as well.

“This is really a good community event and it helps raise money for Racine Youth Sports,” said Sobotka, who was a member of the Milwaukee Don Bosco team that lost in double overtime to a Jim Chones-led St. Catherine’s team in the championship of the 1969 WISAA State Tournament at the Milwaukee Arena. “I really like doing this.”

Sobotka, who officiated for nearly eight hours Saturday, said the games have been easy and enjoyable to officiate — with some exceptions.  “The kids are great,” said Sobotka, who then smiled and added, “but some of the parents need to take a time out. I had to give one parent today a ‘T’. Other than that, it’s been a great tournament.”  Steve Botzau, one of the local Gus Macker organizers, said he was grateful for the officials and the many other volunteers.  “We have more than 100 volunteers in all and we appreciate what they do,” Botzau said.  As for the officials, this year’s group is an experienced group. Many of them have worked this tournament in the past.  “With them coming back and officiating again this year, it has made this an even better tournament.”

RACINE COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME:

Jeelani among Racine’s greatest

HALL OF FAME

Abdul Qadir Jeelani

Date of birth: Feb. 10, 1954  Birthplace: Bells, Tenn. 

High school: Park, 1972 graduate

College: UW-Parkside, 1972-1976; did not graduate.

Family: Son Azim; daughter Kareema; seven grandchildren

Career highlights: All-time Parkside leader in scoring (2,262), rebounding (1,237) and field goals (954); scored 47 points in a game twice; is second and third in single-game rebounding (21 and 20); charter member of the Parkside Athletic Hall of Fame; scored the first points in Dallas Mavericks franchise history Oct. 11, 1980; played professionally for six years in Italy, four years in Spain and a partial season in Sweden.

Even at 59, Abdul Jeelani looks like he can post you up under the basket or break you down with a long-range jump shot.  It’s hard to believe that about 10 years ago, his life was spiraling out of control.  Things are good now for the former Park High School and UW-Parkside standout, who will be inducted into the Racine County Sports Hall of Fame Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Racine Marriott as part of the third class.  “To be immortalized while still living is truly a special honor,” Jeelani said. “To be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Racine is a particular honor and is very humbling.”  If you talk to fans of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks about Jeelani, he will be remembered as the player who scored the first points in the history of the franchise on Oct. 11, 1980.  “That’s worth the Hall of Fame,” Jeelani said with a smile. “That’s a great trivia question.”

But long-time followers of basketball in Racine and Kenosha can claim the 6-foot-8 Jeelani, the former Gary Cole, as the player who helped put Racine and Parkside basketball on the map in the mid 1970s. Even 37 years after he put on his No. 43 Rangers’ jersey for the final time, at the end of the 1975-76 season, Jeelani is the leading scorer and rebounder in Parkside history.  “He was a franchise player,” said Rudy Collum, then the Rangers’ assistant coach. “That’s what we considered him back then. He had good hands, good skills and was a very intelligent player.  “You didn’t have to tell him anything twice. He had a feel for the game and had the personality for the game. He was extremely coachable and just a joy to work with.”

Jeelani’s love of the game began early, when he was playing pickup games at Garfield Elementary School (now Julian Thomas). He didn’t play organized basketball until McKinley Middle School boys coach Ron Hoppe pulled him from the intramural program to play for the school’s seventh-grade team.

When Jeelani went to Park, he tried out for the sophomore team, but was bumped up to the junior varsity and also dressed with the varsity. He got his chance to start on varsity after an injury to another player and never left the starting lineup again.

Jeelani graduated in 1972 and earned a scholarship to Southern University in Louisiana, but “got the worst case of homesickness imaginable,” he said, and was back home before the end of the school year. He was able to get in at Parkside and play right away — and the rest as they say is history.  “I’ve seen all the best players in Racine from 1960 to now and Abdul was the best scorer I’ve ever seen in Wisconsin, including Jim Chones and Caron Butler,” said Jameel Ghuari, the former Chuck Chambliss, who played with Jeelani for a year at Park and went on to a standout career of his own (1971-74) at Parkside. “He had a very high basketball IQ and was very analytical about the game.  “He was like a sponge. If you would bring somebody around Abdul who could handle the ball, he could emulate what they were doing and add that into his game.”

Jeelani was drafted by, but never played for, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and was also waived by the Detroit Pistons the next season. After two years in Rome, the Portland Trail Blazers gave him a chance and he played for one season (1979-80) before being made available for the expansion draft and going to the Mavericks.

After one year in Dallas, he accepted a $750,000, four-year contract with Libertas, a pro team in Livorna, Italy. He spent a total of six years playing in Italy, four years in Spain and part of a season in Sweden.

But in the mid-90s, through a combination of life events, including a divorce and his mother Luna Mae’s illness, Jeelani became addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was homeless in Racine for a time in 2010 before beginning to pull himself back up. He had a lot of help.  “I had my faith and believe in God and some incredible support from some great friends,” Jeelani said. “Not everyone will be as fortunate as I’ve been (to get out of it), but again, I had the love of a lot of people who were willing to reach out and help one another and give me far greater appreciation for life than I had. I’ve been able to experience that and it prepared me to be person I am today.”

Jeelani is pursuing a degree in counseling and is in the early stages of reviving a program he started during his time in Italy, Youth Color and Culture. He is also working with Ghuari, the executive director of the George Bray Community Center.  The Hall of Fame, his third, is the ultimate award for Jeelani, and not just for him.  “I’m pleased with him being inducted,” Collum said. “It couldn’t happen to a better person or player.”

Bray Center Alumni-Will Bynum
BYNUM frets about CPS downsizing

Chicago Tribune

Will Bynum beat the odds?  Undrafted after a college career that included stops at Arizona and Georgia Tech as well as a trip to the Final Four, the Crane grad spent time playing in the D-League and for an Israeli club team.  When you’re a 6-foot point guard, you have to pay some dues.

But now Bynum is 30 and an established NBA player coming off his fifth season with the Detroit Pistons.  His fame gives him a platform others don’t have, and his background gives him something to say that deserves a careful hearing.

Bynum grew up on the South Side and went to school on the West Side, attending three schools that have been closed or reorganized in the Chicago Public Schools’ ongoing downsizing.  It’s a development that he considers shortsighted at best and dangerous at worst.  “To me, it just doesn’t make sense,” Bynum said.  “I’m from the inner city.  I grew up on some these turfs.  They may look at it like, these kids can transfer five to six blocks to another school. But they’ll have to pass three different gangs.  I don’t think it was well thought out.”  He has thought about the implications of the closings, drawing from his own perspective.

He moved around as a kid, living near 41^st and Cottage Grove, 58^th and Union, and 63rd and Paulina at different times.  He doesn’t see the task of giving kids safe passage to their new schools as an abstract exercise in coordinating the efforts of multiple public agencies.  Instead, he knows it’s a problem to be faced every day:  “It’s a part of life for every inner-city kid, whether to walk this way or walk around an extra four blocks.”

Bynum considers himself one of the lucky ones.  He got a good education and remembers to this day the people who helped along the way.  “Mr. Pickens, my eight-grade teacher, he was always telling me to have a backup plan, not to put all my focus on one thing.  It was an inspiration.”  He worried that the next generation of kids might not have the chance to be as successful.  Closing traditional schools and diverting money to charter schools is a bad idea, Bynum believes.  “It’s a direct blow to African-American kids,” he said, expressing concern that students who don’t fit in at charters might wind up at alternative schools for no good reason.

Like a lot of parents and teachers who have been fighting the CPS closing, Bynum believes the best course is to provide more resources to the public schools that currently exist.  He makes his point without having a stake in the game—other than as someone who came through the system and can offer the perspective of a kid with a dream of a better life.  Now, he talks to other kids like that on a regular basis, trying to help them understand they can be successful, too.  “Some kids believe it,” he said.  “Some kids think there’s no hope.”  Bynum is afraid the second group will grow if the closings aren’t reversed.  “There’s other ways around it,” he said, “to make the schools better, other than shutting them down.”

If CPS does downsize as much as it plans to, Bynum sees a bleak future for inner-city kids.  He fears many will not find a place in the educational system.  “They don’t want to go to school, fearing for their lives, “he said.  “The next step is the streets.  That’s what they see every day.  It’s going to create more problems.”  And the saddest part to Bynum is those problems could be avoided.

Bray Center Alumni Welcome home: Emotional Butler holds press conference on Bucks trade at Park High School

RACINE — Prior to the Milwaukee Bucks acquiring Caron Butler in a trade with the Phoenix Suns last week, Bucks general manager John Hammond and coach Larry Drew wanted to feel Butler out.

They arranged a conference call with the two-time NBA All-Star from Racine and wanted to know if he had any reservations about playing for the Bucks.
“We were basically telling Caron how bad we wanted him and how it would be a great fit for him,” Hammond said. “At one point in our conversation, Caron stopped me in my tracks and said, ‘You don’t have to convince me. I’m excited about playing for the Bucks. I want to be there.’
“The conversation went on a while and he said, ‘I just have a request, one favor.’ And we said, ‘Sure. What is it?’ “Caron said if we were going to have a presser he would like to have it in Racine. He said, ‘Can we do that?’ And we said, ‘Of course.’  “It just made sense. Racine is home for Caron.”
Thursday afternoon, the Bucks formally held a press conference at Park High School, 1901 12th St., where Butler attended and starred for the Panthers in the late 1990s.

It was held in the fieldhouse before an enthusiastic throng of Park students and teachers, friends and family members of Butler’s, including his wife Andrea and mother Mattie Paden.
For Butler, the occasion was special. Several times during the event, Butler’s emotions spilled over, with him at times crying or choking on his words.  “I just thought the kids needed to see this,” Butler said. “You always need to see positive things.  “I’m been trying to inspire my community for a decade plus now. Everything I do comes from a good place and I do it for all the right reasons. It’s something I take a lot of pride in.  “I was really excited to do this at Park High School; the other spots I would have had this were the Bray Center or Bryant Center, places that I spent a lot of time as a kid.
“But I would have done this at the corner of my old neighborhood if I would have had to, just so I could try and inspire others.  “It meant a lot to do this right here in my hometown.”  It meant a lot to his mother as well. For the last 11 seasons, her son has played for teams in various parts of the country. Butler spent his first two pro seasons in Miami with the Heat. He was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers before playing for Washington, Dallas and the Los Angeles Clippers, who last month traded him to Phoenix.

Butler had barely settled into a home in Scottsdale, Ariz., before the Bucks came calling.
He called his mother about the news.  To Paden, it was Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.  “When he called me and told me he was being traded to the Bucks, I started screaming and shouting and jumping all around the house like a little kid,” Paden said. “My husband (Melvin) said, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’  “I told him, ‘Caron is going to play for the Bucks. My baby is coming home. I said, ‘Thank you God in the name of Jesus’ about 20 times. I was so overwhelmed, so blessed.”

The Bucks feel fortunate to have obtained the 33-year-old Butler.  He started 78 games last season, averaging 10.4 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting an impressive 39 percent from 3-point range for the Clippers, one of the best teams in the NBA.  During the press conference, Hammond made it clear that Butler would be the Bucks’ starting small forward and would play major minutes.
“We need him, we need him very badly,” Hammond said.  Drew echoed those sentiments, adding he was a major proponent of the Butler trade.  “In all the people I spoke to (before the trade), I got nothing but rave reviews about him,” Drew said of Butler. “When I saw this opportunity, I told John we got do everything we can to make this happen.  “I know our guys are going to reap great, great benefits from having this guy around.  “As a coach, I’m really excited about what Caron brings to our team, not just as a talent but as a person.”

Butler Homecoming

Caron Butler says hello to Jameel Ghuari after Butler was announced as a new member of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA basketball team during a press conference held in the Park High School gymnasium on Thursday, September 5, 2013. Butler is from Racine and attended Park High School.