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Tampa graduate makes history
By MELANIE AVE
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Robert L. Tools was an average student at Blake High School 40 years ago, a lanky, personable teenager considered quiet yet funny by his former classmates and teachers. But now that Tools has become the first recipient of a fully contained artificial heart, his old Tampa pals consider him a hero -- and one of the most famous graduates of the former all-black high school. "It's history in the making, that's all I can say," said 74-year-old Harry T. Morris of Tampa, a former Blake driver's education teacher who remembers Tools. "I'm quite proud of Robert." Tools, of Franklin, Ky., revealed during a news conference Tuesday that he was the recipient of the artificial heart. The identity of the 59-year-old retired phone company employee had been a secret since the landmark procedure was performed July 2 in Kentucky. Tools, a diabetic with a history of heart problems, said he accepted the experimental grapefruit-sized device because he "had no more chances." His fellow Blake alumni think Tools may make life much better someday for others with heart problems. Wilbert Malphus, who played in the Blake band with Tools and graduated with him in 1960, said he was shocked when he saw his high school friend from West Tampa on television. He recognized him immediately. "I said to myself, "That's ol' Tools,' " said Malphus, a general contractor who had heart surgery last year. "I envy his courage. I don't know if I would have done that. "I hope this comes out very successful for him and for others to benefit from it." Tools graduated from Florida A&M University in 1968, and he was remembered Wednesday by that school too. He received a personal note of encouragement from Florida A&M president Frederick Humphries and university paraphernalia, including a hat, shirt and tie. Myrtle Jones-Walker, who graduated from Blake one year after Tools, brought her ragged 1960 yearbook to her job as the principal's secretary at Stewart Middle School, which was the original Blake High School from 1956 through 1971, when it closed to comply with a federal desegregation order. Stewart opened in 1996. A year late, Blake reopened as a magnet school at another location. As she flipped through its yellowed pages and looked at the smiling, thin-faced Tools, she recalled him as someone who was nice to most everyone. "It's great," said Jones-Walker, 57. "It gives him another chance at life." George Wilds, a math teacher at Chamberlain High School who graduated from Blake a year earlier than Tools, said he thinks his classmate's bravery will put Blake High back on the map. "I can understand him being the first, being the type of person he was," said Wilds, 60. "He was a happy-go-lucky guy." Malphus said most people think only of famous athletes when they remember notable Blake graduates. But now they can think of his old high school buddy. "I think right now people will say, "Look at Tools,' " Malphus said. "I think his courage shows that he is not self-serving." -- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Melanie Ave covers education and can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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