Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch did all of the popular July vacation sites, the hot spots where young, wealthy NFL players go to escape their coaches and their not-so-voluntary coaching sessions and try to relax in those final few precious days before the long season.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette photos Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch gives more than his name to the youth summer basketball league in his native Homestead. Click photo for larger image.

Aruba. Virginia Beach. Miami's South Beach ...

"Anywhere there was a party, I was there," Batch said.

That was then.

This is now ...

It's a steamy midweek night in late June, and Batch is sweating at the 16th Avenue Playground in Homestead. Make no mistake, it's a long way from Maui.

Batch is running the free summer basketball league for youths he started in 2002, not long after he joined the Steelers as a free agent. His involvement deepened this spring when he and Home Depot officials teamed up to refurbish the playground's two courts, which sloped so badly, Batch said, "It was like shooting at a 12-foot basket at one end and running downhill and dunking on an 8-foot basket at the other end." He estimated his share of the costs at $50,000.

Batch's financial investment in his hometown, though impressive, isn't what is significant. This is a guy who received a $10 million signing bonus from the Detroit Lions before the 2000 season.

What really matters is the time Batch is putting in. On most Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, he's at the playground, supervising the 50 volunteers who help with the league, settling disputes, handing out discipline when it's needed and being the closest thing to a role model that many of the players have. There are six games each night. More than 200 youths, ages 7-18, are involved.

"I didn't just want my name on this thing," Batch said.

It's important that the players see Batch.

"I came from the same streets," he said. "I have my high school diploma and a college degree. Don't tell me that you can't do it. Don't ever tell me that."

Like many of the kids in the league, Batch was raised in a single-parent home. His mother, Lynn Settles, who still lives in Homestead and always is at the playground with him, remains his best friend. Watch them together for five minutes and it's clear Batch, even at 30, still defers to her judgment. "I'm a mama's boy," he had said a few hours earlier as he picked at his chicken salad and sipped raspberry iced tea at a popular eatery at Homestead's Waterfront, which, in a lot of ways, seems just as far away from the tough streets of his old neighborhood as Cancun.

Like many of the kids on those streets, Batch had his problems in school. "The longest walk of my life was the walk home the day I had to tell my mother I flunked sixth grade," he said. Later, after leaving Steel Valley High School, he had to sit out his first season at Eastern Michigan as a Prop 48 victim.

And, like many of the kids in the neighborhood, Batch was devastated by gang and drug violence. His sister, Danyl, was shot and killed in 1996, innocently caught in the crossfire of rival gangs between 11th and 12th Avenues, not far from Settles' home on 10th. She was 17.

"Yeah, one of the reasons I'm doing this is for her," Batch said, quietly.

"I don't want another person to feel what we felt. I'm trying to give these kids something positive to do ... "

Batch paused a moment to poke at his chicken.

"It's nice to see that playground filled with kids again," he finally said.

Batch insists on seeing a player's report card before he or she is allowed to register for the league. If he notices slippage or poor grades, he personally calls a parent to make sure it's OK for the kid to play. If nothing else, he figures, that sends a message about how important he believes academics are.

Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon stops by to talk to the Batch summer-leaguers this week. Click photo for larger image.

Since Batch joined the Steelers, he has bought tickets to the circus and ice shows for high achievers at Homestead's Barrett Elementary School through his Best of the Batch Foundation. He is no less diligent about schoolwork in the summer. Last week, he had Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon stop by the playground to speak to the younger players. Dixon spent almost an hour there, which says something about him.

"I can only talk to the ones in ninth grade and younger. NCAA rules," Dixon said, shrugging.

You should have seen Batch glare when some of the older players and even a few of the volunteers bounced basketballs at the other end of the court during Dixon's speech. He didn't want any distractions. So what if most of the kids were more interested in hearing about former Pitt players Chris Taft and Carl Krauser than SAT scores? If Batch and Dixon can help just one kid do well in school, their time will have been worth it.

Antwaan Randle El is among Batch's Steelers teammates who have visited the playground. But the highlight probably was Earl Boykins, who played basketball at Eastern Michigan when Batch was there. Boykins, a point guard for the Denver Nuggets, is 5 feet 5.

"I could see the kids looking at him and thinking, 'I'm taller than that guy and he made it,' " Batch said. "I loved that.

"Keep looking for a reason to succeed not a reason to fail."

Batch's summer-league kids get a few other perks. Tomorrow, they'll celebrate the holiday by going to the Pirates-Philadelphia Phillies game at PNC Park. Batch's foundation is buying the tickets.

Of course, Batch will be there, too,

Hey, it's beats the Bahamas this time of year.