There are moments when we find ourselves effortlessly conscious of every detail, when we place ourselves on the edge of every spoken word as if eagerly jumping across a series of rocks that each contained something more magical than the previous. These are moments when we know something more important can either happen, or, is already happening.
Such a moment, or, I should say, moments, occurred this past weekend in San Pedro at the Toberman Neighborhood Center, a non-profit organization that was named “Non-Profit of the Year†by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles in 2006. Last June, Toberman celebrated the grand opening of a new $7.3 million, 36,000 square-foot facility. This time, Toberman celebrated the official opening of its Weingart Foundation Gymnasium. To celebrate this facility and to hold an auction that would fund the various programs it will hold, the private reception, called “One on One with the Legendsâ€, featured a tremendous wealth of basketball legends whose community involvement, in addition to the hard work of the Toberman staff, made this event possible.
Proportionately, considering that these great minds embody Los Angeles basketball history, placing these legendary figures in the same room and bringing their forces together would be like gathering the historical figures found on Mt. Rushmore and then bringing them together for a political think tank.
The basketball legends in attendance were the following; John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Jamaal Wilkes, Tex Winters, A.C. Green, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Keith Erickson, Marge “Chick†Hearn and Stu Lantz (featured left). If you take into account the accomplishments that this group represents, then, immediately you start talking, respectively, about the men and women behind 10 NCAA titles in 12 years, one of the 50 greatest NBA players of all-time, an important member of two undefeated UCLA championship basketball seasons, the creator of the triangle offense, the record-holder for the most consecutive NBA games played, the first 4-time All-American basketball player in NCAA history, a member of both basketball and volleyball NCAA championships, and the first and second most recognizable voices in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers. I should mention that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton were originally scheduled but could not attend. Instead, Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton took their place. Early in the event, Derek Fisher made a brief special appearance.
And yet, despite the achievements that these men and women represent, the power of this event came from its resolutely human focus. Here, guests were able to catch a glimpse of these legendary sports figures in person. As is sometimes mentioned by athletes doing charitable work and definitely holding true here, the need to help people extends beyond the hardwood. Their mere presence here is testament to a purpose greater than basketball itself.
As the lunch reception took place, as the Laker girls graced the surroundings and as the UCLA and USC bands cheerfully played, guests were able to mingle with the celebrities in attendance. The main portion of the event featured a question and answer forum and short yet enthusiastic speeches. Laker announcer, Stu Lantz emceed the proceedings. Each celebrity was introduced individually and escorted up to the main stage by a group of Toberman kids. Kenny Green, a gang intervention counselor, spoke about the need for recreational programming that helps children envision a world beyond their own “four-block mentalityâ€. He also introduced young kids to the audience, kids who have recently dramatically improved their academic performances. During one of the most poignant moments of the day, a 97 year-old John Wooden (featured right) stood on-stage and asked a group of Toberman kids, along with every adult present, to take the “John Wooden Pledge†for sportsmanship.
In a building that will house various athletic activities, this is almost like having the Pope inaugurating a new church. Some of them perhaps future legendary sports figures themselves, the Toberman kids, with their faces full of hope, were reason enough to feel spiritually lifted, with all of the implications that such an event brings alive. Joyce Sharman, wife of Bill Sharman and a Toberman trustee, would later address the guests stating “you get to see the young people that you’re helping today. I know it’s gonna touch your hearts to know where your hard earned money is goingâ€.
In regards to some of the programs that the gym will feature, Gloria Lockhart, president and CEO of Toberman Neighborhood Center, is excited to describe them. “We have a teacher that currently teaches nutrition and fitness at Torrance Memorial Hospital, she’s gonna bring her curriculum here. We will have “art therapy†by Loyola Marymount, youth radio by NPR, new art classes, and competitive athletic leaguesâ€, says Gloria.
This, of course, is all in addition to the daily menu of nine core human service programs that Toberman has long made available for families and individuals of all ages; anyone from newborns to senior citizens. As Gloria and Kristy Day, a consultant and fund-developer for Toberman, would say, “we serve 14,000 people a year, 97 percent of which live at or below the poverty line. We’re a one-stop shop service center. When you’re poor you don’t have luxury of getting in your car and going from one agency to another to get services, but you can come to Toberman and get all your needs met under one umbrella.â€
As an exclusive benefit reception, the collective effort to create this event was motivated by the need to fund the various fitness and nutritional programs that will service the disadvantaged children of the Harbor region. In addition to promoting healthy athletic development and competition, other concerns facing today’s inner-city youth involve gang-prevention, obesity, and diabetes.
As with the various other programs at Toberman, the ultimate goal is to help people become self-sufficient. Toberman strengthens families, and, to a larger degree, it strengthens whole communities. In today’s society, as they perhaps have always been, strong families are crucial. Beyond its immediate purpose, there is thus yet a greater significance to this event. In a recent essay titled “Crying Povertyâ€, by Lawrence Mead, Mead points out, “stable marriages have virtually disappeared in poor black and hispanic areas, undercutting basic socialization.†Often times, it is this basic socialization, the attitudes and habits that derive from it, that greatly determine an individual’s ability to succeed. To achieve basic skills and a general positive attitude, a neighborhood center like Toberman, serving as an extended family of sorts, helps tremendously to fill the vacuum created by broken families. The basic socialization and life skills that can be learned through fitness and nutritional programs need not be mentioned here. It is worth merely stating that they are here now, and that the value to its neighborhood can perhaps only be understated.
For all that these programs can and will bring, it is refreshing to witness the level of generosity that these basketball legends have provided. With this generosity, they leave this neighborhood with more resources, which, in the end, can only assist in the fight to achieve self-sufficiency for Toberman’s clients. Though I wrote about Toberman a few weeks ago, I was compelled to write about this event because of many representations it stands for. While most of the press that the inner-city receives is typically negative and or sensationalized, this event reminds us, that for all that appears to be wrong in the world, there is still a vast array of good left in it.
Furthermore, after a year in which the sports world witnessed steroid reports, dishonest NBA referees, and athletes involved with animal brutality, this event helps to alleviate some of what has been lost in today’s athlete and or sports in general. It is refreshing that there are still sports figures such as A.C. Green, who not only attended this event, but months ago, helped lead a peace march in the harbor region after the killing of a local high-school student. And so, for the sports world, this past weekend is perhaps, we could hope, one of many more-to-come similar small-scale triumphs. On the other end, for the residents of the harbor living in the “four-block†environments that many often perceive as their entire world, this past weekend is not only a large-scale triumph for today, but a necessary acquisition in the game of survival and in the challenging season that is their lives.
All Photos by the Author Jaime
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