Swinging for the fences for kids
Harry Preston uses baseball to help kids stay out of trouble, learn life lessons and have fun.
By DEMORRIS A. LEE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 2, 2008
CLEARWATER - Armani Calhoun, 8, stood at the plate on a recent Tuesday evening looking like a natural.
Bat in hands, feet squared, his sweeping swing connected as baseballs came his way. He drove the balls to the back of the batting cage.
It was Armani's first baseball practice. He joined other boys and girls, 7 to 17, from the North Greenwood community, many of whom never had played baseball.
"It was fun," Armani said, finishing his turn at bat.
Harry Preston noticed the smiles on Armani and his cousin Eric Towns, 8, who also attended for the first time. The youngsters' smiles put a shy smile on Preston's face too.
Preston, 57, sees baseball as a tool. He hopes the two-hour baseball outings Tuesday and Thursday evenings will give boys and girls in the community life lessons.
"I'm trying to use baseball to steer them in the right way," Preston said one recent evening while driving from home to home in North Greenwood, picking up players.
"I'm trying to show them other role models and mentors. I want to show them that there are other things to do than standing on the corner in groups and selling drugs."
Preston started the Community Academy for Youth Development in August. It runs the North Greenwood Baseball League. Father of six adult children, Preston has worked 18 years at Angelica Textile in Safety Harbor.
He had to purchase all the equipment. Many kids had never worn a baseball glove.
For now, the North Greenwood Baseball boys and girls meet at the Winning Inning Baseball Academy, at Jack Russell Stadium, once the Philadelphia Phillies' spring training site.
Preston has about 20 regulars at practices. They learn to hit, pitch, run bases and catch. Some nights, a guest speaker shares a life experience and the importance of staying out of trouble and off the streets.
"This is my first time playing," said Janiero Crankfield, 10. "I really play football. It's fun and I don't have anything else to do."
Timothy Jackson, 10, is also playing baseball for the first time. He, too, is a football player.
"I like to pitch," Timothy said.
Preston's competition isn't football. It's the lure "of the streets."
Preston once was part of it. Though he hasn't been involved with the judicial system in nearly 20 years, Preston spent time in prison on drug-related offenses in the 1970s and '80s. He tells his story to the program's kids.
"I was a street guy and I don't want to see these children go through what I went through, destroying themselves without knowing there's another way," Preston said. "I want to share with them the bad choices I made so they can make better choices."
Demorris A. Lee can be reached at dalee@sptimes.com or 445-4174.