J-Rich and friends send message
Friday, July 20, 2007
GREG MANCINA
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Jason Richardson reads the newspaper, surfs the Internet, and talks to his friends and family in Saginaw, so he knows what's going on. "Even though I'm in California, I always keep up with Saginaw and always will, it's my home," he said.
Then, he turned to the 200 or so youngsters assembled in the auditorium at Saginaw Valley State University's Curtis Hall on Thursday afternoon and said: "We are losing our city, fellas."
Even with a $10 million salary as an NBA player with the Golden State Warriors, and now with the Charlotte Bobcats via a recent trade, Richardson said the shootings and violence in his city hurts him. "I was in the juvenile center two weeks ago and saw two kids, teen-agers, who might never again see the light of freedom," Richardson said. "I love this city. We've got to take it back fellas, and it starts with you guys in here. It starts with you guys."
Richardson plans to help, though, and it is the reason he convened a "Man Up Forum" for Saginaw's youngsters on Thursday, the first of what he hopes will become an annual event. A panel of speakers ranging from ex-convicts to professional motivation speakers addressed the youth, who came mostly from programs such as the First Ward Community Center, the Neighborhood House, the Cathedral District Youth Center and the Boys & Girls Clubs. And they told tales ranging from limousine rides to doing hard time in a maximum security prison in the Upper Peninsula.
"Life is about the choices that you make," said Kareem Bowen, Jason Richardon's business manager and cousin who was the forum moderator. Bowen said the phrase "Man Up" came from the basketball court, and is meant to represent a person taking responsibility for his or her actions.
Brian Pruitt, a former Arthur Hill all-state and Central Michigan All-American running back, related a story of making a bad choice, but that he also was faced with some hard choices when his dreams of playing in the NFL were dashed because of a spinal cord condition that teams felt made him susceptible to serious injury. "One day I was sitting on top of the world, the next day the world is sitting on top of me," he said. "That was the time to Man Up."
A resident of Saginaw Township, Pruitt now runs his own company of seven motivational speakers and travels across the country talking to groups just like the one on Thursday. Among the other speakers were Darnell Parm, a Saginaw man who finished a 12-year stint in prison about a year ago; Fred Nickles, owner of Affinity Kickboxing Gym in Detroit who spent 11 years in a federal penitentiary for selling drugs; Chris Pryor, the youth pastor at the Victorious Believers Ministries in Buena Vista; Jeff Bowen, Richardson's uncle; and a few others from the youth organizations.
Each spoke of decisions and how they affected their lives. Parm turned a three-year conviction into 12 years in prison. Nickles found religion during his 11-year stint. "We've all taken different paths, and all were based on our decisions," Richardson said. "And we all want you to be the next ones up here talking to the next generation."
Richardson's "Man Up" Forum came a day after his golf "Classic" at The Fortress in Frankenmuth, which raised $24,000 for the United Way of Saginaw County.
The local United Way chapter also helped organize the "Man Up Forum" on Thursday.
Greg Mancina is a sports writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9670.