Newspaper Page Text
The Augusta News-Re view December 8,1984
Box _
Score PW
by George Bailey
Football finale 84
Football season for the Rich
mond County high schools has
finally ended, and what a dismal
season it was for most Richmond
County schools.
Only two schools experienced
any success before they were both
eliminated by Thomson High.
Besides Glenn Hills and Westside,
the rest of our countys chools
probably wished this season had
never existed.
Reasons have been offered for
the diasppointing seasons. Many
say it was the big transition in new
head coaches. Six of the sever?
high school programs saw new
faces as head coaches. That meant
kids had to adjust to new
programs, and that had to take
sometime. Come on now!
Before last year it was said some
programs needed new faces to turn
the programs around. I sure hope
they found the turning point;
there’s no where to go but up.
Another reason comes from
some critics who say that cities
with several high schools cannot
win state championships in foot
ball. The talent is spreaded too
thinly. Take Atlanta for example:
with little league coaches. One
skull session might make all the
difference.
This may be a necessary move if
the school system is not going to
incorporate athletic programs in
the middle schools.
Hopefully, once the school
system is financially stable, we will
wee programs in the middle
schools, and once again some
good, sound, competitive varsity
programs.
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Community Center to
celebrate 72nd. year
There has been an oasis located
in the southwest portion of the
City of Augusta and for 72 years it
has been to Black Augustans what
the Civic Center is to the CSRA
area.
The Bethlehem Community
Center, located in southwest
Augusta has been a network for
developing community service for
residents of its immediate area as
well as city-wide. The center has
the distinction of being the first
Black community center founded
in the United States. The fun
ctions of the center has been many
and varied over its history and it
has kept up with the times in its
ongoing programs of day care,
senior nutrition, counseling,
recreation, social education and
cultural activities. A special “latch
key” program for families and
tutoring services for school age
children are two of its latest
programs.
“We’re here to meet the needs
of the communitya nd helpnurture
and develp in young people a sense
One would think a school system
that large would have hundreds of
kids to pick from. Yet, a public
school from that city hasn’t won a
state football championship since
1973.
That was the year when South
west High school won AAA state
titles in football and basketball,
led by perhaps the greatest high
school athlete from Georgia, An
thony “Flan” Flanagan.
Locally, our problem is of
another kind. The absence of
junior high or middle school
programs is hurting our varsity
programs. Let’s face it; good
programs must have good training
programs, and we don’t have that
in Richmond County. On sure, we
have the little league programs, but
they are not designed to be a feeder
program to our high schools, but
they could be. Or could they?
Anybody in the football ’know’
is aware of solid, winning high
school programs, and much of
their success can be traced all the
way to the little league programs.
Normally, these little league
programs have one or two high
schools to feed to.
Such is not the cast in a place the
size of Richmond County. There
are too many little league teams
with too many coaches iwth too
many different philosophies about
techniques and basic skills.
Consequently, when these kids
reach high school, the coach has t
spend valuable time correcting
mistakes of little league programs.
However, the little league
programs might be more beneficial
to high school programs if high
school coaches spent a little time
of identity, said Edythe Diamond,
executive director of the center.
“I’m very proud of our com
munity programs, but I’m also in
terested in learning what more we
can do to help,” Ms. Diamond ad
ded.
Being the first Black community
center in the United States, the
center is very proud of other con
tributions they have made to the
city of Augusta.
In 1941, the center organized the
first Black Girl Scout Troop in
Augusta and also was the first
community center to provide work
for senior citizens.
It provided the only gymnasium
for bassketball for Black youth for
many years. Sewing classes, cam
ping, and a host of other activities
provided many pleasurable
moments for generations of young
Black Augustans.
Although the center receives
contributions from various
organization, it continues to be in
Page 6
The killing of a student athlete
CHICAGO,—On a cold, bright
fall afternoon, Ben Wilson, one of
the nation’s premier high school
basketball players, was walking
with two girls on his lunch break
when he came upon several boys
blocking the sidewalk. Minutes
later he lay dying.
The death by shooting of the 17-
year-lod student on Nov. 20
touched a responsive chord in
Chicagoans. Thousands of people
streamed past his silver-blue coffin
in the gymnasium at Simeon
Vocational High School on Nov.
23. Thousands more attended his
funeral the next day.
City officials vowed to look for
ways to counter violent street
gangs that the police say have been
largely responsible for the 130
slayings since January of youths
from 11 to 20 years old. And
blacks are saying they are “sick
and tired” of blacks killing other
blacks.
As the Illinoid Legislature
lauded Benjy Wilson for his “mild
demeanor and clean character” in
a memorial resolution Tuesday,
torrents of scorn were being aimed
at the two youths charged with
murder and attempted robbery in
his death.
But the world of Benjy Wilson,
a 6-feet-8 senior who was being
recruited by major colleges, was
not that far removed from that of
William (Billy) Moore, the 16-
year-old who has been charged
with shooting the basketball star
with a .22 caliber pistol, and Omar
Dixon, the 15-year-old who the
police say urged Billy to pull the
trigger.
At Benjy’s funeral, Ned L.
McCray, his high school principal,
said: “Unfortunately, between
youth and manhood, many of our
youth go astray and travel the
wrong path.”
Adults fail them, he said, when
they are not punished swiftly and
surely for their misdeeds, when
education becomes a low priority
in the competition for limited
need of funding for its projects.
The major fundraiser for the cen
ter it its Anniversary Celebration.
In observance of its 72nd an
niversary, the Bethlehem Center
will sponsor a reception honoring
volunteers on Dec. 14 at the Gar
den Center.
A special award will be made in
horor of Dr. Maurice Thompson,
wh served as president of the
Bethlehem Center’s Board of
Directors.
“Dr. Thompson was part of our
history here at Bethlehem,” said
Ms. Diamond. “He not only was a
board member, but also one of the
first Eagle Scouts here at the cen
ter,” she said.
In its historical initiative to offer
services for the Augusta com
munity, there is no doubt that the
Bethlehem Community Center will
continue to provide not just a
variety so services for the com
munity, but opportunities for per
sons to achieve maximun potential
in a functioning society.
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Ben Wilson, right, a high school basketball star in Chicago,
who was slain last month. Charged in connection with his
death were William Moore, top left, and Omar Dixon. At ,
Simeon Vocational High School, students mourned before ? lOL
a bulletin board displaying pictures of Ben Wilson and the | BKtUBB I
gown he would have worn at graduation. Wf-
financial resources and when Black
men, especially, do not provide
positive role models.
“For all these reasons,” Mr.
McCray continued, “the young
men who took Benjy’s life are not
to be hated. We failed them.”
One theory of why he was shot is
that Omar Dixon and Billy Moore
were envious of him. Mrs. Wilson
believes that.
Another is that the incident was
gang-related, with Omar and Billy,
posibly members of the Disciples,
going after Benjy because he or
other members of the Simeon
basketball team might have been
associated with another gang, the
El Rukns. But Mr. McCray says
the El Rukns had no connection to
Simeon and the Police Depar
tment’s Gang Crimes Unit says it
had no reason to believe that Benjy
Wilson was associated with any
gang.
Now everyone from the City
Council to Mayor Harold
Washington to School Superinten
dent Ruth B. Love to the Rev.
Jesse Jackson to a group called the
Black Leadership Council is of
fering a plan to curtail gang
violence.
Conrad Worrill, secretary of the
National Black United Front, said
Blacks are no longer willing to
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make excuses for Black youth who
kill.
“In the Black community,” Mr.
Worrill said, “we’ve allowed the
gangs to organize our young
people. We need counter
organizing. It’s clear that if these
young people can be organized in
to these youth groups, then,
without question, they can be
organized into something else.
The question is: Is it too late?”
At his mother’s request, Ben
Wilson was buried in his blue and
gold basketball uniform.
“Simeon students will feel an
inner hurt for a long time,”
guidance counselor Lillian Dunn
said at the ake. “I can pick out
Simeon students just from the look
of pain on their faces. I just hope
this won’t be forgotten.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson told
mourners Wilson’s death should
serve as a rallying cry for efforts to
prevent senseless street violence.”
“All the other murdres that we
didn’t respond to set the stage for
this one,” Jackson said. “This
nightmare must end. Ben we got
the message. We are hard of
hearing but we won’t let you
down.”
Former DePaul basketball coach
Ray Meyer, his voice soft and
breaking, said a life is a terrible
thing to waste.”
“I haven’t seen a better poten
tial basketball player in four
years,” he said.
“I don’t know whyanyone
would want to hurt him,” Wilson
father, Benjamin Sr., said as he
fought back tears. The elder
Wilson said he was “very proud”
of his son.
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