Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Football isn't the only thing he knows

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published August 5, 2005

Greg Lee vividly recalls his youth football days.

He was a little tyke with one of those oversized helmets that make every youth player look like the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones.

Lee treasures those days playing for the North Tampa Police Athletic League's Chiefs not only for the memories, but for how they have helped him succeed.

"Growing up in Florida really helped," said Lee, who later played football at Chamberlain High. "Playing in the youth leagues taught me a lot. When I got to high school, I already was experienced."

Those experiences are paying huge dividends. Lee, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, leaves for college today as one of the nation's best receivers.

In 2004, he caught 68 passes for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns. Three of those scores came against the University of South Florida at the Raymond James Stadium.

Lee wasn't always the can't-miss prospect. Coming out of high school, he received only two scholarship offers. But Lee never lost his confidence. If given the chance, he knew he would produce big numbers.

Today he's getting interest from NFL scouts and could become a high draft pick.

Lee, 20, has become a shining example for all the little kids running around on Tampa football fields . He has plenty of advice for them.

"First of all, I would tell them to stay focused and stay in school," said Lee, a communications major who hopes to go into broadcasting. "If you can't make the scores in high school, you're not going to be able to do it in college and set an agenda for yourself.

"The other thing you have to do is set goals for yourself. I came into every season having a goal. Sometimes I made them, sometimes I didn't, but I always had something to shoot for."

Romey Battle helped me catch up with Lee on Thursday. Battle is a counselor with the Audrey Spotford Center's Youth Opportunity program in east Tampa who has befriended players such as Lee and former Middleton receiver O.J. Murdock, who begins at South Carolina this fall.

You can tell that Battle and fellow counselors Joe Troupe and Mike Brown love working with teens at the Spotford Center, which is part of the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa. What you can't tell, unless you ask, is that their chance to change lives is coming to an end. In September, the U.S. Department of Labor's funding runs dry for the five-year multimillion dollar program at the Spotford Center and four other sites in Tampa.

Battle, Troupe and Brown likely will be in the market for new jobs unless some 11th-hour funding comes through. But on Thursday, all Battle wanted to talk about was how Lee deserved recognition.

"I love the work and I know I'm probably not going to be able to do this kind of work anywhere else," Battle said. "I'm a little upset, but I'm not stressing. I've been able to help a lot of people, and I'm going to keep helping people."

But who's going to help Battle? These guys have steered a lot of kids off the street and into college or meaningful jobs. I don't know who I'm more worried about, the counselors or the kids who keep asking CDC of Tampa chief executive officer Chloe Coney what's going to happen.

"I'm worried about both," Coney said. "A lot of programs focus on development up until the age of 8, but what happens when they turn 13? That's when they get in trouble. That's when the dropout rate goes up. That's when we lose them."

Coney dreams of having a dedicated funding source for youth development programs, perhaps a tax that would provide more stability. In this antitax atmosphere, such a move seems unlikely, but people need to realize this is a Fram Oil Filter issue.

Remember the old commercial when the mechanic would talk about failing to change your oil filter? He would warn, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."

If we don't fund youth development movements now, we will pay for it later in bigger jails, more cops and more drug rehabilitation facilities.

Let's pay now.

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 5, 2005, 01:07:16]