The Detroit News
Less than a half hour after classes ended for the day at Saginaw Heritage High School, Preston Walker Jr. is dribbling on the hardwood at a local gym across the street.
"I work for about four hours every day on my game," said Walker, who went to the Class A district finals with Heritage this season before the team bowed out to its crosstown rival, Saginaw Arthur Hill.
Like many youths in this struggling, old manufacturing town, Walker's life is largely about basketball. They have role models in abundance, including Draymond Green, the emerging star at Michigan State, who is performing brilliantly in the NCAA Tournament.
"Draymond was my coach in eighth grade in a basketball camp," Walker said. "So, I got to work with him. And in eighth grade going into ninth grade, I worked with him at open gyms at Saginaw High.
"He was real nice. He's hard-working," Walker said. "He's always telling me to stay in school and keep my grades up."
Vexed by street gangs and crime and struggling to mend the local economy, Saginaw is increasingly renowned as the incubator for a long line of successful men's and women's college and NBA players like Green, who won two state championships at Saginaw High. Hang around the gyms and streets of the city for even an afternoon, and one learns quickly that there is an informal, organic system in place to bring local kids up playing the game, and playing it right.
And it has been going on for five or six decades.
"All those Flint schools and Detroit schools know they can't touch Saginaw in basketball," Green said, after practice earlier this season. "It's something we take seriously. We're tough, we can score and we play defense."
Doing their part
According to basketball people around town, the basis for the Saginaw system is that so many of the guys and gals who make it big return as coaches, teachers and mentors, long after they leave for the top basketball programs in the nation. It happens so often that while there is a lot of celebration of Green's accomplishments around town these days, the commemoration comes with a bit of a shrug of the shoulders: They have seen this all before in Saginaw.
"Day-Day," as everyone calls Green, is merely the honored son of the city who is currently in the spotlight. And he is already part of the Saginaw system.
Early in a budding career, Green has already come back to teach the young.
"It's something I take seriously," Green said. "There was someone that always came back and taught me things."
Jason Richardson, the former Spartan and current player for the Phoenix Suns also does it. LaMarr Woodley, who starred in basketball and football at Saginaw High before playing linebacker at Michigan and for the Pittsburgh Steelers, finances a summer basketball tournament, in town. Darvin Ham, who played for the Pistons, also returns regularly to Saginaw to teach.
The list is a long one.
"I am a Buena Vista High alumnus," said Leslie Toole, the coach of the Ntume Jets, a girls AAU team in Saginaw. "At one time, Buena Vista needed a coach for the girls' team. So I did that."
Toole also runs a company called FarMar Media Services, which helps local athletes market themselves to recruiters.
"Lou Dawkins, the coach at Saginaw High, played at Saginaw High," Toole said. "He came back after college and came up through the system, did his turn at junior varsity under Coach Marshall Thomas, who had also taken his turn as the junior varsity coach at Saginaw High before he became the head coach. Greg McMath, the coach over at Arthur Hill. Even with the girls at Carrollton High, they've had several state championships girls over the years come back to coach those girls over there.
"Saginaw does a fantastic job of bringing its own back to help," he said. "And I don't know what it is. It's just that we're willing to bide our time to get into that position."
Dawkins coached Draymond Green at Saginaw High. Green called his old coach Tuesday to ask him to listen to a local sports talk radio program, on which Green appeared.
Green wanted an evaluation of how he did.
"That's my man," said Dawkins, who returned to Saginaw High after playing at Tulsa. "I love him to death. I've been in his life since he's been 10 or 11 years old."
Feeder program
That early involvement by coaches in the lives of middle school and even elementary school basketball players in Saginaw is an essential ingredient in producing a long line of successful players, including Dawkins; his older cousins, Paul and Willie, who had collegiate careers; Green's aunt, the former Saginaw High and Michigan State star Annette Babers; and some others, including Anthony Roberson, formerly of the University of Florida and the NBA; Ernie Thompson, formerly of Bradley University; Eugene Seals, formerly of Miami of Ohio; Tony Smith, formerly of UNLV; Dar Tucker, formerly of DePaul; Josh Southern, of Boston College; and Brad Redford, of Xavier.
"It's our feeder program," Dawkins said. "We actually have meetings with the coaches at the elementary and middle school level to try to teach what I need, here at Saginaw High School."
In that way, Dawkins knew about Green long before Day-Day averaged 30 points per game in middle school. He knew about Green when Day-Day was tested on the ultimate proving grounds for young players in Saginaw, the concrete courts in Veteran's Park, where Day-Day's name is now mentioned with the others among the pantheon.
"Vet's Memorial has built many a reputation in this area," said Toole, who is 46. "Going back before I even stepped on the courts, if you had game you went to Vet's Memorial.
"The two northern courts are where all of the ballers played," he said. "If you have a reputation you could get on those courts. If you didn't you had to play on the two southern courts. You have to be able to earn your way from south to north.
"People are always coming back, donating nets and so forth to keep that going up there."
The courts at Vet's Memorial were empty, this week. The action picks up there in the summertime, after schools let out.
But just yards from the courts is a monument, financed by some local businesses and the city, to Lawrence McKinney, who for nearly half a century busied himself coaching players, mentoring youths, sponsoring tournaments and distributing balls and nets so the game could be played around town.
Almost any ball player in Saginaw over the past two generations almost certainly ran into McKinney at some point. It is that kind of town -- pre-eminent among the many volunteers who are part of the system in Saginaw.
A half block away, on a driveway, a half dozen elementary school children played at a backboard, rim and net which was scaled down to their size.
"I want to go to Michigan State like Day-Day does," said Ladell Lenoir, 10. "I am going to try to go there, because my uncle went there, too."
As he shot around with his pals, Lenoir paused long enough to explain that he is currently playing AAU ball in Saginaw, for one of the most successful AAU programs in the country.
"We got like six games left," he said. "And, so far, we haven't lost any.
"There's a lot of ball in Saginaw. There's a lot of people trying to make something of themselves -- and don't want to end up on the street."
"I work for about four hours every day on my game," said Walker, who went to the Class A district finals with Heritage this season before the team bowed out to its crosstown rival, Saginaw Arthur Hill.
Like many youths in this struggling, old manufacturing town, Walker's life is largely about basketball. They have role models in abundance, including Draymond Green, the emerging star at Michigan State, who is performing brilliantly in the NCAA Tournament.
"Draymond was my coach in eighth grade in a basketball camp," Walker said. "So, I got to work with him. And in eighth grade going into ninth grade, I worked with him at open gyms at Saginaw High.
"He was real nice. He's hard-working," Walker said. "He's always telling me to stay in school and keep my grades up."
Vexed by street gangs and crime and struggling to mend the local economy, Saginaw is increasingly renowned as the incubator for a long line of successful men's and women's college and NBA players like Green, who won two state championships at Saginaw High. Hang around the gyms and streets of the city for even an afternoon, and one learns quickly that there is an informal, organic system in place to bring local kids up playing the game, and playing it right.
And it has been going on for five or six decades.
"All those Flint schools and Detroit schools know they can't touch Saginaw in basketball," Green said, after practice earlier this season. "It's something we take seriously. We're tough, we can score and we play defense."
Doing their part
According to basketball people around town, the basis for the Saginaw system is that so many of the guys and gals who make it big return as coaches, teachers and mentors, long after they leave for the top basketball programs in the nation. It happens so often that while there is a lot of celebration of Green's accomplishments around town these days, the commemoration comes with a bit of a shrug of the shoulders: They have seen this all before in Saginaw.
"Day-Day," as everyone calls Green, is merely the honored son of the city who is currently in the spotlight. And he is already part of the Saginaw system.
Early in a budding career, Green has already come back to teach the young.
"It's something I take seriously," Green said. "There was someone that always came back and taught me things."
Jason Richardson, the former Spartan and current player for the Phoenix Suns also does it. LaMarr Woodley, who starred in basketball and football at Saginaw High before playing linebacker at Michigan and for the Pittsburgh Steelers, finances a summer basketball tournament, in town. Darvin Ham, who played for the Pistons, also returns regularly to Saginaw to teach.
The list is a long one.
"I am a Buena Vista High alumnus," said Leslie Toole, the coach of the Ntume Jets, a girls AAU team in Saginaw. "At one time, Buena Vista needed a coach for the girls' team. So I did that."
Toole also runs a company called FarMar Media Services, which helps local athletes market themselves to recruiters.
"Lou Dawkins, the coach at Saginaw High, played at Saginaw High," Toole said. "He came back after college and came up through the system, did his turn at junior varsity under Coach Marshall Thomas, who had also taken his turn as the junior varsity coach at Saginaw High before he became the head coach. Greg McMath, the coach over at Arthur Hill. Even with the girls at Carrollton High, they've had several state championships girls over the years come back to coach those girls over there.
"Saginaw does a fantastic job of bringing its own back to help," he said. "And I don't know what it is. It's just that we're willing to bide our time to get into that position."
Dawkins coached Draymond Green at Saginaw High. Green called his old coach Tuesday to ask him to listen to a local sports talk radio program, on which Green appeared.
Green wanted an evaluation of how he did.
"That's my man," said Dawkins, who returned to Saginaw High after playing at Tulsa. "I love him to death. I've been in his life since he's been 10 or 11 years old."
Feeder program
That early involvement by coaches in the lives of middle school and even elementary school basketball players in Saginaw is an essential ingredient in producing a long line of successful players, including Dawkins; his older cousins, Paul and Willie, who had collegiate careers; Green's aunt, the former Saginaw High and Michigan State star Annette Babers; and some others, including Anthony Roberson, formerly of the University of Florida and the NBA; Ernie Thompson, formerly of Bradley University; Eugene Seals, formerly of Miami of Ohio; Tony Smith, formerly of UNLV; Dar Tucker, formerly of DePaul; Josh Southern, of Boston College; and Brad Redford, of Xavier.
"It's our feeder program," Dawkins said. "We actually have meetings with the coaches at the elementary and middle school level to try to teach what I need, here at Saginaw High School."
In that way, Dawkins knew about Green long before Day-Day averaged 30 points per game in middle school. He knew about Green when Day-Day was tested on the ultimate proving grounds for young players in Saginaw, the concrete courts in Veteran's Park, where Day-Day's name is now mentioned with the others among the pantheon.
"Vet's Memorial has built many a reputation in this area," said Toole, who is 46. "Going back before I even stepped on the courts, if you had game you went to Vet's Memorial.
"The two northern courts are where all of the ballers played," he said. "If you have a reputation you could get on those courts. If you didn't you had to play on the two southern courts. You have to be able to earn your way from south to north.
"People are always coming back, donating nets and so forth to keep that going up there."
The courts at Vet's Memorial were empty, this week. The action picks up there in the summertime, after schools let out.
But just yards from the courts is a monument, financed by some local businesses and the city, to Lawrence McKinney, who for nearly half a century busied himself coaching players, mentoring youths, sponsoring tournaments and distributing balls and nets so the game could be played around town.
Almost any ball player in Saginaw over the past two generations almost certainly ran into McKinney at some point. It is that kind of town -- pre-eminent among the many volunteers who are part of the system in Saginaw.
A half block away, on a driveway, a half dozen elementary school children played at a backboard, rim and net which was scaled down to their size.
"I want to go to Michigan State like Day-Day does," said Ladell Lenoir, 10. "I am going to try to go there, because my uncle went there, too."
As he shot around with his pals, Lenoir paused long enough to explain that he is currently playing AAU ball in Saginaw, for one of the most successful AAU programs in the country.
"We got like six games left," he said. "And, so far, we haven't lost any.
"There's a lot of ball in Saginaw. There's a lot of people trying to make something of themselves -- and don't want to end up on the street."
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