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Houston Texans. But Watson says he would like to see more participation — more players and more support from the community.

This echoes sentiments expressed by Aziz at the town hall meeting. If we want to stop the cycles of violence, he told the group, residents and local business owners must support, with their money and time, programs that benefit the next generation. We can’t take for granted, Aziz says, that troubled youth “should know better,” as the phrase goes. “Sometimes they do not know better, and we need to teach them better.”

More than just football coaches, Aziz and Watson — and the 25 or so other men and women who volunteer their time to little league and cheerleading — believe they are working on the root problems of a troubled community by giving disadvantaged children a chance to break negative cycles.

Playing little league sports doesn’t guarantee the players won’t eventually turn to drugs and crime. “There are guys I played with who are in prison now,” Watson says. But it does show players there is another way.

Greg Callahan’s death sent a shock wave through the Hamilton Park community, but will it spark true change, or will people forget about it in a few weeks?

“My hope, my goal, is that we turn it around,” Watson says.

Aziz says he will be “furious” if no action is taken to “honor Greg’s life.”

Aside from supporting youth sports, what are some of the immediate changes these community activists hope to see? Both say changing the vernacular is an essential start.

“We need to stop bragging about the bad,” Watson says. Aziz says that he hears people “bragging about HP being the ’hood, but when someone dies, all of a sudden it’s like: ‘community’.”

Watson says the entire community needs to pray for positive change.

Aziz says prayer is fine, but that without action and follow-through, it “equals another missed opportunity.” In a written message to his Hamilton Park neighbors on social media, he expounds: “... if all you want to do is hold hands and pray while misguided folks grab guns and prey, you are giving a pass to those that feel [murder] is acceptable.”