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City Shot: When Coaching Ends
Thursday, October 18, 2001 Photograph by Steve Mellon, Text by Lillian Thomas, Post-Gazette Staff
Garth Taylor, pictured in his office, works as a juvenile probation officer and coaches Garfield Gators midget football. He doesn't like it when the two collide.
"I've had a few, kids I coached first and then got them in my job. I took that kind of personal," he said.
Like the other Gators coaches, Taylor makes it his business to be in his players' lives, in their faces when need be, in their camp when an adult ally is called for. And like the other coaches, he gets frustrated when boys slip away from the island of discipline and pride the Gators have ferociously maintained.
"We're losing too many borderline kids," said Taylor, 32. They have trouble making the adjustment to high school; they flounder academically; they fail to impress coaches despite their abilities and training; they start showing up on the street corners instead of the playing field.
The issue eats at the men who started the Gators. Taylor, Ray Williams, Tone Walls and Bob Jones wanted to give Garfield children what they didn't get growing up .
Jones said many of the boys they deal with don't have a father in the home. During the boys' years as Gators, the coaches give them structure and attention.
"When they go to high school, often they're not given too much attention. A lot of kids are intimidated. High school is a big transition anyway. When you're talking about participating in a recreation activity, they don't have time to court you, make you feel comfortable."
"They tell us, 'Oh, the kid doesn't want it,' " said Taylor. "Or they say the kid doesn't have support he needs at home, or the kid isn't trying.
"But if he played for me, he had to be respectful, he couldn't swear, he had to be disciplined, he had to accept losses as well as wins. He was successful. He got good grades when he was playing with me."
The coaches are the first to admit it takes a lot to keep some young people from slipping away. They've all lost sleep, missed appointments, given up weekends and strained family relationships to do what they do, unpaid, on top of full-time jobs.
They don't see any other way to live. When they see a kid messing up, they see themselves.
Jones, 32, and Walls, 33, have known each other since third grade. "We didn't have dads. We raised each other. It was a checks and balance thing -- if he saw me going astray, he'd step in; if I saw him, I'd step in."
They all made it to jobs, family, stable lives. They all now have 14-year-old sons starting high school, all honor roll students. They have staked all on the premise that it's possible to give that to others.
"Do I have all the answers?" said Walls. "No, but I'm pretty sure I have some answers. I know you have to give a kid love. You have to show that you care. You have to give him discipline, structure. When they cry, half the time we cry, too."
City Shots is following the Garfield Gators during their season this fall.
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