œi’1 IJa rtlan b (©hserucr
luly 12. 2006
Page A3
Camps Balance Brains and the Game
“Life After Sports”
sends message of
success to youth
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
Hoop dream chasers see the glitz o f the
NBA lifestyle, but rarely catch aglim pse of
the other side o f superstar athletes. With
skills that generate m illions o f dollars,
professional sports stars c a n 't survive
w ithout practicality and savvy business
skills, and a solid education only helps.
T hat’s the m essage found in Life After
Sports, a m otivational speaking tour that
em phasizes the balance between academic
success and athletic dream s. Even though
m ost o f us w on’t becom e professional
athletes, athletic goals can be healthy,
character-building pursuits when com ­
bined with academ ics.
The cam p ’s creator, Billy M oore, is a
Jefferson H igh S chool graduate w ho
started his own com pany. G lobal Sports
M anagem ent, after playing basketball in
college and the m ilitary, follow ed coach­
ing. He adm its he m ade som e bad deci­
sions that led him o ff track, but it's that
experience that helps him teach a younger
generation that there’s more to life than
basketball.
M oore w orks with form erT rail Blazer
Jam es 'H ollyw ood' R obinson, and to­
gether they travel throughout the country
photo by M ark
W ashington /T hf . P ortland O bserver
F orm er Trail B la zer J a m e s 'H ollyw ood ’ R o b in so n (left), a n d m e n to r Billy M oore (right) jo in T re' V ionte R iley (cen ter)
during th e Life A fte r S p o r ts s p e a k in g tour, w hich s to p p e d in P ortland la s t m o n th a t S e l f E n h a n c e m e n t Inc.
- not to discourage dream ers, but merely to
present the realities o f the situation.
“ It's not our position to dow nplay
sports in society, but to provide a dose of
reality o f the ups and dow ns," M oore said.
"It's going to be m ore im portant what you
do academ ically than what you do athleti­
cally. T hat will g o o n and on, where sports
Higher Education Post Filled
New Gang Task Force Formed
Operation
covers entire
metro area
enforcem ent team will be housed at
the Portland Police Bureau's North­
east Precinct.
Supervision o f the group will
com e from a board o f directors co n ­
sisting o f a representative from each
A new gang task force w ith offic­ law enforcem ent agency, the four
ers from six local police departments elected district attorneys and the
and two federal agencies will com ­ United States A ttorney for the D is­
bat gang crim e in the entire Port­ trict o f Oregon.
land m etro area and both sides o f
O fficials announced the form a­
the C olum bia River.
tion o f the task force on Friday as an
The M etropolitan G ang Task effort to com bat gang-related vio­
Force will consist o f officers from lence under the U. S. Dept. o f
the B eaverton,G resham , Hillsboro, Justice’s Project Safe N eighbor­
Milwaukie, Portland and Vancouver hoods gun violence reduction ini­
police departm ents; the Bureau o f tiative.
Alcohol, T obacco, Firearm s and
The overall goals are to detect
Explosives; and the FBI. T he law and apprehend members o f gang-
related organized crim inal enter­
prises and their leadership by gath­
ering and sharing inform ation and
expertise am ong local, state and
federal law enforcem ent agencies.
G ang officers in the Portland
m etropolitan area believe that in
order to com bat the gang problem
effectively, officers must be able to
track and investigate gangs in the
four-county area.
"G angs d o n 't care about state
lines or city limits; this task force
erases the boundaries, so law en ­
forcem ent can work together to re­
duce g an g -related crim e," says
Special A gent in C harge Kelvin N.
Crenshaw , Bureau o f Alcohol, T o ­
bacco, Firearm s and Explosives.
w o n ’t."
The to u r's curriculum cuts through the
com m on conceptions, and illustrates the
differences between basketball at high
sch o o l, co lleg e and p ro fessio n al levels
M oore calls the high sc h o o l level
rea lity , becau se stu d en ts are fo rm in g
rela tio n sh ip s. He says co lleg e b a s k e t­
ball is a fantasy, becau se u n d erg rad s
face tough ch o ices w hen ath letic re ­
sp o n sib ility becom es a m ajo r d is tra c ­
tion. He says p ro fessio n al b ask etb a ll,
w ith its m illio n -to -o n e o d d s, is ju s t
dream ing.
"It can go from being the g am e you
love to the gam e you love to h ate,” he
teach es. He says the m essage is n ever
easy , but he keeps pounding that point
home.
R o b in so n ’s role on the to u r is to
en h a n ce that m essage by sh arin g the
ups and d ow ns o f his real life e x p e ri­
en ces. He played ball at the U n iv ersity
o f A labam a, before the B lazers se lec ted
him in the first round, the 2 1 “ o v erall
pick, in the 1993 N BA d raft. He spent
seven years in the N BA , fo llo w in g w ith
a b asketball career o verseas.
So how does a p la y er w ho found
elu siv e su ccess co n v in ce y o u th to value
ed u catio n as m uch as sp o rts?
"T h e N BA is m ore o f a b u sin e ss.”
R obinson said. " I t’s not w hat they think
it is, fun and gam es. T he asp ec t is you
w anna be paid and you w anna be c o m ­
p en sated w ell for it.”
R obinson also k eeps it real w hen e x ­
p lain in g co lleg e b ask etb all, sim ply s ta t­
ing, “ if you d o n 't have the G P A , you
c a n 't play".
G o v . K u l o n g o s k i 's
no m in atio n o f Dr. D alton
M iller-Jo n es to the S tate
B oard o f H igher E d u ca­
tion has been con firm ed
by the O regon S tate S en ­
ate.
M iller-Jo n es is a p ro ­
fesso r o f p sy ch o lo g y and
c h a ir o f B lack S tu d ies at
Portland S tate U niversity.
B oard p resid en t H enry
L orenzen p raised him for
his w ork in classro o m s
and w ith teach ers, ad m in ­
D alton M iller-Jones
istrators and parents to a s­
sist inn er-city sch o o ls and c o m ­
“H av in g the trust and respect
m unity c o lle g e s to ach iev e th eir o f his co llea g u es m akes D alton
acad em ic goals.
an effec tiv e co m m u n icato r, and
w e look fo rw ard to his c o n ­
trib u tio n s to the b oard on
b eh a lf o f all O re g o n ia n s,”
L orenzen said.
M ille r - J o n e s h as b ee n
p ro fesso r o f P sy ch o lo g y at
PSU since 1991, and w as ap ­
poin ted ch air o f the Black
S tudies D epartm ent in 2004.
He served as vice pro v o st
for acad em ic affairs at PSU
from 1992 to 1996. Recently,
he
w o rk e d
w ith
th e
C h a n c e llo r's O ffice to e s­
tab lish d iv ersity in itiativ es
to assist all O U S cam p u ses
in th e ire ffo rts to recru it faculty
fro m d iv e rs e c u ltu ra l b a c k ­
g ro u n d s.
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