Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 2018)
4 SPORTS SPORTS 5 19-YEAR-OLD CEO ONORS HIS MOTHER Photo bv Jacob Thomoson BY JACOB THOMPSON SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSEDTHOMPS A s Clackamas Com m unity College’s m en’s basketball team wanned up for their season opener, the Cougars dawned fresh w hite warm-up shirts with red and blue claw marks ori the front. The design came from a once-hom eless teenager w ho’s now a Clackam as student and basketball player, freshman point guard Devon Banks. His company, Make Them Respect You, has a m uch bigger mission than making good- looking clothes. Growing up in Oakland, California, Banks was in and out o f foster care from the time he was nine years old, and though his mother, Nidja Marshall, would later regain custody, Banks often had to go back because, his m om wasn’t financially stable enough to take care o fh im . “ We didn’t have that much money and we were homeless and stuff like that when I was livingwith her,” Banks said. “ She used to do a lot o f stuff to get money for us to put food in our stom achs.” It’s those past experiences that give Banks a different perspective on people w ho are struggling and homeless. “ I remember being hungry, cold,” Banks said, “ so when I see a homeless person out there, I don’t see a homeless person. I see m yself in the mirror. I see m y m om , I see m y Clackamas Print little brother. I see us when we were staying in a motel. I felt that, I lived that life being on the street.” A fter experiencing those struggles first hand, Banks knew if he ever had money, he wanted to give back. “ I w ish somebody gave m y m om food,” Banks said. “ I wish somebody gave me money when I was homeless. So, Ijust try to give back and do what’s right.” Banks said his mother had been a victim o f domestic abuse for a lot o f his life and the final abusive relationship left her paralyzed from the neck down. “ When I saw her in the hospital, they had tubes and stuff like that all over her, and it looked like her hair was b u m f a little bit/’ Banks said. “ I asked the doctor what happened and they told m e, ‘We don’t know, we just found her in the middle o f the street. ’ ” Marshall was badly battered arid for the first fewweeks couldn’t speak. Eventually Marshall was able to tell Banks about the attack, but she never regained the ability to move. For the next five years, Banks’ mother lived in a hospital two hours away from Banks. Without a car to make the drive, Banks typically saw his mother only once every three weeks. “Just hearing her voice and telling me to keep going,” Banks said. “ She’d say, ‘Devon you know m e, this is nothing. I’ve been doing this m y whole life. This ain’t nothing. Use this as motivation and if you feel like giving up and don’t want to do it foryourself, do it for m e.” While his motherwas in the hospital, Banks began to live with his Amateur Athletic Union basketball coach Jensen Best, where he stayed throughout his time in high school. “ It was like having normal teenager in the house,” Best said with a chuckle. “ Teenage boys will be teenage boys, but you know he’s like m y son.” . It’s under Best’s roof that Banks learned more aboutbasketballbut also thé daily chores oflife. “ I consider [Best] one of my parents,” Banks said. “ Basketball-wise, I learned a lot because he’s a basketball coach, but I also learned being a m an like washing your clothes and doing your dishes.” Although Banks had a late start in basketball, it’s because o f Best challenging Banks that he was able to make up the experience gap. “ lBest]’ s always m aking m e go through different types o f challenges, so he always made me abetter man and a better basketball player,” Banks said. “ [Best] is the one who influenced me to [take basketball serious]. He said, ‘If you’re going to do it, you better go all out.’ ” A s Banks found stability livingwith coach Best, his mother’s body was starting to wear down. Five years after first being admitted, Marshall’s brain started to swell and her heart stopped for five seconds, Banks said. “ You can only take so m uch,” Banks said. “ She passed away from that. So overall she passed away from domestic violence from her boyfriend, itwas just overalonger period o ftim e.” The passing o f Banks’ m other in 2017 gave Banks the inspiration to take his idea theclackam asprint.com o f starting a clothing line and put a bigger purpose behind it than just wanting a good looking shirt. “ W hen m y m om passed away last year, that’s when I was like, alright I want to keep her name alive still,** Banks said. “ I was like, you know what, I can do it through my clothing brand. I started taking it serious in 2017 arid that’s when everything took off. ” Banks started designing shirts and hoodies with some of the merchandise paying homage to his mother by featuring her birth year of 1972 on them. Photo by Jonathan Villagome. Banks estimates that they fed somewhere between 60 to 70 people. Banks and his friends ordered pizza, bought chips, water and passed them out around the homeless Banks. H “ Where I ’m from a lot o f people hate on community. “ It was a blessin g [to be able to give you,” Banks said. “ They don’t want to see you make it and they don’ t want to see you b ack ],” Banks said. “ To see w here you come from, I came from not having food, doing better than them .” Banks was able to overcome the critics to not knowing where I was going to live, with the help o f friends like Dwayne Leaks, to haying a good clothing brand, to being Beltz, and coach Best cham pion in g his able to give back to people that don’t really have as m uch as you do. Itfeels good. Their clothing line arid its mission. “ W hen your friend says, ‘Hey I’m going facial expressions were thebest. They were to start a business, ’ you want to be there for so surprised and so thankful and like I said them , but at the same tim e you have your when I see them I see m yself.’4 . Now at Clackam as, Banks is looking tm doubts,” Beltz said. “ I really believed in [Banks] once I saw how m uch time he was obtain a degree while m aintaining a 3.0 dedicating to [M ake T hem Respect You] GPA, get a basketball scholarship to a D-I, school and raise enough m oney through and the m essage behind it is really good. [Banks] isn ’t doing it-as a business, h e ’s- Make Them Respect You to host a give back event in Oregon.. doing it because he wants to help people.” ? --"Alot o f my sales came from Oregon and Once Make Them Respect You started to grow and produce sales, Banks was looking I’m not justtryingto help where I came from for a way to give back to h is com m unity I ’ m trying to help around the world, ” Banks said. and decided on feeding som e hom eless. Along his journeyBanks had gained the respect of a lot of people and even though he’s been at CCC less than six months, he’s already gaining the respect .o f the team »especially teammate Matt O ’Brien. "[Banks] and I are really close,” O’Brien said. “ From day one, we’ve bonded. I love his story and how he helps put people. ” The coaching staff is also excited for Banks Starting M ak e T hem Respect You in Oakland was tough because a lo to f people there are very skeptical and critical, said to be a part of this program forwhat he brings on and o ff the court. “ Life’s kicked him around a lot,” said head cpach Clif Wegner “ He’s had a lot of reasons to fail and treat him self like a victim , but h e ’s got the m entality o f a survivor, he’ s extremely positive, he’s extremely energetic and he’s always looking forward. He’s a great addition as a human being to our program and he’s also going to be a great player for “ He got inspiration from his m om ,” said Banks’ friend and business partner, Jim m y Beltz. “ She was his biggest supporter and us.” It’s through struggles and trying times that Banks learned if he ever got the chance he wanted to help people who were struggling, now with Make Them Respect You Banks has found aw ay to honor his mother and give back to the people whose shoes he once wore. that’s where some o f the symbolism o f the brand comes from. She loved helping people. In the community she was really well known as being a good person and being the first one to help people out.” ----- ------------------------------------------------- -- November 28, 2018 Clackamas Print Banks designs and sells hoodies, shirts and beanies. You can buy Make Them Respect You products on https://makethemrespectyouormtry.godaddysites.com/ theclackam asprint.com November 28, 2018
