| Show The Seattle Marinas' Harold Reynolds is giving all-st- ar children inner-cit- y S Orne kJTOOd IfiellToLookupTo - 6 DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY I want your time" Harold Reynolds the Seattle Marsecond baseiners' man told his audience last January He was speaking at a banquet for 1000 successful black businessmen which he sponsored in conjunction with the organization Role Models Unlimited "Our kids are shooting each other over Air Jordan sneakers" he continued "and your writing a check isn't going to stop them" What will stop them Reynolds and Role Models Unlimited believe is for those who have escaped the inner city to return at least once a week and show an interest in the children they left behind "Too often the only people openly courting these kids are gang leaders and drug dealers" noted Reynolds "It's the gang leaders that kiss these children on the cheek and tell them they love them Sometimes they're the only ones showing our children they care" Role Not anymore Since mid-198- 9 Models Unlimited has been offering a different kind of recruitment program It was started by Wayne Perryman 45 a community activist and onetime gang member who had been going to schools on his own and speaking to kids in an effort to keep them from becoming disenfranchised "One day two gang members came up to me" Perryman recalled "They said 'You're the first black man in a suit and tie that's shown us you care' That shocked me I began thinking how positive images are missing from these children's lives and how easy it would be to change that I wanted professional black men to go to these schools and just have lunch with these kids and talk" Perryman's idea appealed to Harold Reynolds and the two men joined forces However they were having trouble getting the organization off the ground until Reynolds came up with the idea for a banquet "The response was great" Reynolds said "I had to change my plans from a banquet for 500 people to one for 1000 We still had to turn 2000 people away" Reynolds is trying to help because he considers himself one of the lucky ones Although he grew up without a father— his parents divorced when he was 3—he had four older brothers who acted as role 1 IIS i- r :AN all-st- ar rr 44 1I :I P iZI V 7- -- -- 11':'' t 13t : :::e - 1 11 IlL ' ov ' :17' g' - ' :)- ' 1 1 I 4 1 I 'tk t' 1‘):--)- 1 ::: 4 I It lel i si :- i 170nJ 11 5 v! 1::: f I t 0 - Itt ' 4 1 C -- t'i NI ' — A Ir) 15) 4 iTs—7-1r- 0 Iii V T T ki 0 Or& II ' t k ' t 1 r37 irof :7 k t ''' 1t -- :- - 9 4 -- -- t 4' i- - 1 610OOLIO 4ar -- : ?'7V77 'w:''!!talá 1A : L'::':'IilS': 0 - e' :4 ca4!'- - p 40" b 4 )'-'-- 't - 'N:i 4t-- c 'Ir'' ' ' ---- f: 771"71' Wayne Penyman (r) and Harold Reynolds of Role Models Unlimited with openly courting these kids are gang leaders and drug dealers Sometimes they are the only ones showing our children they care" Immimmilimimiimmiiimacims models for him Raised in Corvallis Ore he says education was stressed at home and all eight of the Reynolds children graduated from college His mother cleaned other people's houses raised her children on her own and commanded the respect of a town BY B U w--t Sif( Abote ti - iFi'-- ' ':i '!t:-"-ZI- 4 -- 4 t' -' - - Corey Marcus and Angel Nue McDonald In Seattle with only four other black families "Of the black athletes I've known" said Reynolds "90 percent were raised by their mothers I was called a racist and a sexist because I invited only black men to the banquet but I'm not saying women can't be role models I'm saying they already are And more often that not it's the white fathers that are coaching the kids' teams Black men have to get involved They need abetter understanding of the word 'commitment' These are their children too" Apparently the banquet got the message across Two months later 20 new members of Role Models Unlimited were sitting in the lunchroom at Garfield High in Seattle Keven Davis a corporate attorney returned from the lunch counter with a tray of hamburgers and fries He shared them with Ricky Bell Jr "Hey man I got my license" Bell said as he reached for a burger GAIL WKM r) '''-: - - 1 114 1'1 1 '11''s 4 "Too often the only people litI 4:e C "Wow you better not drive in my neighborhood I have little kids who can't run too fast" Davis joked They both laughed Bell is the son of the late running back Ricky Bell who played for Tampa Bay and then San Diego Ricky Jr was 5 when his parents separated He moved to Seattle with his mother but would spend part of the year with his father Then in 1984 his father died from a rare heart disease with So today Ricky lives full-tim- e his mother He goes to school works at a supermarket and wants to be a professional football player just like his dad "I keep telling Ricky he's got to keep his grades up" said Davis "He can't count on an athletic scholarship" "I know" Bell agreed "My reading needs improvement Keven took me to the library after we went to a basketball game He picked out a book on football and helped me with the hard words I'm glad he's around I can talk to ICeven HALTER PAGE 10 SEPTEMBER 30 1990 PARADE MAGAZINE |
