The Martin Luther King Center in Whitesboro was pulsating with positivity Aug. 4-5 during the second annual two-day basketball tournament that brought Cape May County's high school age males together with players from Durham, N.C., to compete, connect and build a bridge between like-minded youths.
The event brought back to the state Whitesboro native and Middle Township High School alumnus Malcolm Reed, who is known for his basketball career with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Harlem Globetrotters.
Middle Township is where his career in basketball began, Reed said.
Reed currently lives in Durham, where in 2006 he founded and runs a mentoring program for at-risk youths through their high school years called D3 Community Outreach Inc., a nonprofit organization standing for 'desire determines development.' His ultimate plan was to come back to his hometown and spread D3's message to Middle Township's youths as well, he said.
The core of D3 is academics and service and athletics. Through his example and support day in and day out, Reed aims to teach the importance of a good education, where it can take you and what you will lose out on without it.
After graduating from MTHS in 1998, Reed obtained his associate's degree in business administration at Ocean County College, receiving a number of academic and athletic awards along the way. He then received an athletic scholarship to The University of West Virginia Tech, where he double majored in business management and finance. This was followed by a career with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Harlem Globetrotters.
On Aug. 4-5, for the second year in a row, Reed brought two buses full of high school boys from North Carolina's D3 to the Martin Luther King Center in Whitesboro.
"Let them see how South Jersey does it," Dahshauyn Staten, 18, of Whitesboro, said.
On the New Jersey side of the event were co-organizers Daniel Aude, the youth director at the Martin Luther King Center, and Clint Freeman, a Middle Township recreation coach working the center. The two coordinated the event, which brings young men from throughout county, including Middle Township, Lower Township, Cape May, Upper Township, the Wildwoods and Dennis Township, to the King Center.
"I always told myself I'd give back. That I'd be that positive role model that so many men were for me," Reed said Thursday as he watched the basketball tournament take place around him.
While sweat was dripping, the stands were full. North Carolina players were wearing white and New Jersey players were in black.
"This tournament's not North Carolina against out kids," Aude said, "It's North Carolina joining together with our kids."
The tournament also helped form a bridge between the county's area youth.
On Thursday evening, the King Center held a community dance for the high schoolers. Afterward, the D3 youths camped out in the center. The next day, middle school boys were invited to join the tournament and play a game. The D3 kids also went on a college tour of Rowan University in Glassboro, Gloucester County, with Reed.
Aude said the two-day tournament was an example of what the Martin Luther King Center works to be.
"It's about keeping our kids off the street, community togetherness, building character, good will and positive people," he said. "Each one, reach one."
Staten, who is a senior at Middle Township, as well as a camp counselor at the center's summer camp, Camp Unity, said the King center is like a second home.
"It's our place to go. We're family here," he said. "Uncle Dan," (as many of the neighborhood youths refer to Aude,) keeps us in check."
Former D3 student JaMario Clayton, 18, now a sophomore at Ocean County College and the second leading scorer in the nation, (following in Reed's footsteps,) said Reed has taught him to be a better person in life.
"Main priority has to be grades or there's no future in basketball," Clayton said, "He's taught me to be a better man."
Sitting by the bleachers watching the tournament from behind the metal fence, Whitesboro resident Stacy Greene said it's inspiring to see all these teenagers doing something positive and the adults noticing it and supporting it.
"It's the full package," Greene said. "These kids are doing something positive and the younger ones are watching them and cheering for them and all they want is to be just like them."
Contact Elisa Lala:
elala@pressofac.com
The event brought back to the state Whitesboro native and Middle Township High School alumnus Malcolm Reed, who is known for his basketball career with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Harlem Globetrotters.
Middle Township is where his career in basketball began, Reed said.
Reed currently lives in Durham, where in 2006 he founded and runs a mentoring program for at-risk youths through their high school years called D3 Community Outreach Inc., a nonprofit organization standing for 'desire determines development.' His ultimate plan was to come back to his hometown and spread D3's message to Middle Township's youths as well, he said.
The core of D3 is academics and service and athletics. Through his example and support day in and day out, Reed aims to teach the importance of a good education, where it can take you and what you will lose out on without it.
After graduating from MTHS in 1998, Reed obtained his associate's degree in business administration at Ocean County College, receiving a number of academic and athletic awards along the way. He then received an athletic scholarship to The University of West Virginia Tech, where he double majored in business management and finance. This was followed by a career with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Harlem Globetrotters.
On Aug. 4-5, for the second year in a row, Reed brought two buses full of high school boys from North Carolina's D3 to the Martin Luther King Center in Whitesboro.
"Let them see how South Jersey does it," Dahshauyn Staten, 18, of Whitesboro, said.
On the New Jersey side of the event were co-organizers Daniel Aude, the youth director at the Martin Luther King Center, and Clint Freeman, a Middle Township recreation coach working the center. The two coordinated the event, which brings young men from throughout county, including Middle Township, Lower Township, Cape May, Upper Township, the Wildwoods and Dennis Township, to the King Center.
"I always told myself I'd give back. That I'd be that positive role model that so many men were for me," Reed said Thursday as he watched the basketball tournament take place around him.
While sweat was dripping, the stands were full. North Carolina players were wearing white and New Jersey players were in black.
"This tournament's not North Carolina against out kids," Aude said, "It's North Carolina joining together with our kids."
The tournament also helped form a bridge between the county's area youth.
On Thursday evening, the King Center held a community dance for the high schoolers. Afterward, the D3 youths camped out in the center. The next day, middle school boys were invited to join the tournament and play a game. The D3 kids also went on a college tour of Rowan University in Glassboro, Gloucester County, with Reed.
Aude said the two-day tournament was an example of what the Martin Luther King Center works to be.
"It's about keeping our kids off the street, community togetherness, building character, good will and positive people," he said. "Each one, reach one."
Staten, who is a senior at Middle Township, as well as a camp counselor at the center's summer camp, Camp Unity, said the King center is like a second home.
"It's our place to go. We're family here," he said. "Uncle Dan," (as many of the neighborhood youths refer to Aude,) keeps us in check."
Former D3 student JaMario Clayton, 18, now a sophomore at Ocean County College and the second leading scorer in the nation, (following in Reed's footsteps,) said Reed has taught him to be a better person in life.
"Main priority has to be grades or there's no future in basketball," Clayton said, "He's taught me to be a better man."
Sitting by the bleachers watching the tournament from behind the metal fence, Whitesboro resident Stacy Greene said it's inspiring to see all these teenagers doing something positive and the adults noticing it and supporting it.
"It's the full package," Greene said. "These kids are doing something positive and the younger ones are watching them and cheering for them and all they want is to be just like them."
Contact Elisa Lala:
elala@pressofac.com
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