DAILY CLIPS COVER - East Carolina University

Smith didn't just like the job. He came to believe so strongly that he needed to work there
that he recently left positions as football and basketball coach at Hope Middle School
because they detracted from South Greenville.
“I was staying here until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, then going over to Hope to
coach,” he said. “It was good for me to see the incredible family support they have out at
Hope, to compare with what I was dealing with over here.”
The youth living around the center pick up something there far more valuable than a
game of hoops, Smith said. They are vulnerable to the dangers that typically befall lowincome,
latch-key kids, including gangs, drugs and school performance issues, said
Smith, who grew up near the facility on Kennedy Circle.
Kids of all ages and grades arrive after school and do not go home until the gym closes.
“Man, this is all these kids have to look forward to, all they have to do after school,”
Smith said. “I hate to say it, but parents around here are just not involved in their kids'
lives. I can put up a sign here saying we have our basketball program signups next week,
and I won't see one parent here. It's just the kids who come.
“If they didn't come here?” he asked. “I guess my competition is trouble — gangs and
any other type of trouble they might find waiting for them outside.”
In addition to Smith, Ty Riddick manages the center for the city, and volunteer staff help
provide football and basketball clinics as a way to spend time with the children.
The Greenville Police Athletic League shares the center with Smith and provides afterschool
tutoring and educational services from student interns from East Carolina
University. It also provides a summer camp program.
No one had to explain to Smith how important the gym is to the neighborhood's youth.
He knows first-hand.
“I was coming here since I was 5 years old,” he said. “If the gym opened at 9 a.m., I was
here at 9 a.m. If it closed at 9 p.m., I left at 9 p.m.”
Smith explained the similarities between his healthy gym environment and the more
dangerous gangs to whom his young athletes might otherwise turn.
“When you get in these gangs, you're hanging with a crew and you're tight, just like
here,” he said. “I can see how easy that can happen when you have nowhere else to turn.
The streets will take anybody in. Just like we give kids structure and discipline here,
gangs give them that and the attention they seek.”
Smith pointed through the glass separating his office from the basketball court and talked
about the players he watched over.