Flint schools can't stop running now
Flint Journal Column by Rickey Hampton
April 09, 2008
Willie Taylor, the Northern High girls track coach, was a man on the run Tuesday afternoon at Northwestern's Houston Stadium.
The Vikings' boys and girls teams were hosting Saginaw Valley Conference rival Midland Dow.
"Hosting a meet is a lot of work," said Taylor, in between charting times and setting up hurdles. "But, I don't mind it at all. It's good to have a place to call home."
Northern and Dow were taking part in the first high school track meet hosted by a Flint school in four years.
A new, $400,000 track - paid for by an incredible, grass-roots community effort led by Flint Athletes for Better Education - replaced a tattered and torn surface damaged by years of neglect.
"I can't tell you how much this means to me," said Taylor, in his 25th season. "Actually, I can tell you what it means. It means everything."
The Vikings' boys and girls were on the losing end of the meet, but they still felt like winners.
Adrian Thomas is a senior who runs the 3,200 relay and the 400 for the Vikings' boys team.
"Finally, we've got a home," he said. "It's hard traveling outside the city every time you have a meet and not having your family and friends be there to support you."
The track is immaculate. People like Marty Crane, who won 10 state track titles at Beecher, lent more than 50 years of experience in the sport making sure everything was done right.
Crane was standing with Norb Badar, Northern's legendary track coach. The two are hoping this is the first step in returning the area to prominence in the sport.
"Flint dominated track and field in the '60s and '70s," Crane said. "But it's been tough of late. Why would a kid come out for track when there is no facility?"
The track will be a lot more than a place for kids to run. It has the ability to breathe hope into a life filled with despair. And when you consider the stunning dropout rates in urban cities such as Flint, there are literally countless kids who need just that.
Something as innocent as joining a track team can be used as a springboard to a successful life.
Flint's Herb Washington, the great track star, would attest to that. Now a successful businessman in Ohio, Washington played a large role in the building of the track with his financial gifts.
It will be impossible to put a number on how many lives will benefit - whether using the track to improve their health or as a springboard to college.
But, most definitely, there will be people who benefit.
And, hopefully, those people will come back to make a difference the way Jeff Grayer (Northwestern), Terence Greene (Central), Patrick McInnis (Powers) and other members of FABE did in making the track a reality.
It was really a special afternoon as gentle, warm winds caressed the faces of those on hand, while the athletes sprinted, jumped and competed for their school's honor.
www.mlive.com |
