The Southerner Volume 65, Issue 6

Arena of Acceptance Before the Georgia Dome, before Turner Field, Grady’s facilities were home to Atlanta’s first integrated games

By Phillip Suitts On any given day, black and white athletes compete with and against one another in Grady Stadium. While a passerby may give that issue no thought, there was a time when it represented historic news, and potentially led to protests, demonstrations, and racial slurs.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and ‘60s, Grady High School’s sports facilities were an important testing ground for advancing racial desegregation in Atlanta and the South. Historic records show Grady was one of the first public schools in the state to desegregate in 1961, but that wasn’t the only desegregation movement Grady was involved in.

This untold story shows how Grady’s own sports venues were the early, perhaps pivotal, places where Atlanta’s white and black people first came together to begin to break centuryold rules of segregation.

In the spring of 1949, more than a decade before the Atlanta Public Schools system was integrated, Atlanta’s first public desegregated event was held at the old Ponce de Leon Park, less than half a mile from Grady. Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella played in an exhibition baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Atlanta Crackers. The Ku Klux Klan protested, and state legislators tried to ban the event. A well-integrated crowd of around 50,000 fans, however, watched a three-game series, including 25,221 fans who turned up for the third game, in which America’s first black Major League Baseball player broke Atlanta’s sports color barrier.

Eight months later, in December 1949, this nationally publicized event was quiety followed by the first desegregated football game in the history of the state—held at Grady stadium.

THE SPORTING EVENTS The historic game was between an army regiment and naval base. Charles Hall, a black tailback playing for the Third Army All-Stars, ran all over the Naval offense, setting up their only touchdown, and his fellow black defensive lineman Robert Murphy had a similarly successful night. Their efforts were for naught as the Jacksonville Naval Air Station beat the Third Army All-Stars REMEMBER THE KNIGHTS: 12-7 the Atlanta Daily World repoted. Hall and Murphy Former assistant Grady still had reason to rejoice, though. Only three years after football coach Eddie Kenny Washington officially integrated the NFL in 1946, Henderson (far right) and his players react to a touchdown football in Atlanta and Georby Price High School during a gia was integrated as well.

1974 game. Henderson was In 1953, an integratthe first black coach at Grady ed weightlifting comand became head coach petition was held in the three years later.

Grady gym.

James Milsap, the first black person to compete in an integrated weightlifting competition in Atlanta, went on

to win in his weight class according to the Atlanta Daily World. In addition, Milsap prepared under a white trainer.

In 1962, Grady and Brown High School became the first public schools in Georgia to sponsor integrated extracurricular activities: their basketball teams. Although they were ineligible for varsity-level competition, sophomores John Henry Carter and Grady Davis played on Grady’s “B team” that year, and along with Clemsey Wood from Brown, became the first black athletes to play with white teammates in Atlanta Public Schools.

On Aug. 11 of that same year, Grady Stadium hosted the first integrated NFL game in Atlanta.

First, the Chicago Bears took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game. The game featured black players like Steelers running backs Bob Fergunson, a former Ohio State All-American, and Bears running back Willie Galimore, offensive lineman Willie McClung and Charles Bivins, a native Atlantan.

Those athletes were joined by black fans in the stands. Columnist Marion E. Jackson from Atlanta Daily World, the prominent black newspaper in Atlanta, believed that sports, and this game specifically, had the power to bring white and black people together.

“It is a happy occasion that we have professional sports which have done so much to wipe out the misconceptions of race, color and regionalism,” Jackson wrote in his column on the day of the game. “NFL football is giving us an opportunity and a challenge. To the South, the challenge is to forego the yardstick of color as the measuring rod of a man’s acceptance.”

There were no major incidents or demonstrations reported.

Less than a month later, on Sept. 8, the Dallas Cowboys played the Minnesota Vikings in another exhibition game held at Grady Stadium. Black players, like Jim Marshall, a Vikings defensive lineman, and Cowboys fullback Don Perkins played with and against their white teammates and opponents.

“We had no professional sports teams, and the mayor [at the time] Ivan Allen believed attracting pro sports and big pro events would be critical to proving to business leaders around the country that we did believe in a ‘New South,’” former mayor Andrew Young said in an ESPN.com article last January.

Residents near Grady Stadium complained their property values would be lowered by the invasion of a cross-section of fans. Former law professor and Grady alumnus Elwood Hain believes this was code for the residents saying they didn’t want black people in their neighborhood. As a result, after the second preseason game, the Atlanta Board of Education adopted a resolution that limited the use of its stadiums to amateur competition.

A year later, however, Grady would again host another integrated event that brought numerous black people into the neighborhood around Grady Stadium.

In

Georgia AAU track meet It was a “precedent-setting event,” Jackson wrote in Atlanta Daily World. On May 25, 1963, for the first time in its history, the Georgia Amateur Athletic Union track meet was integrated.

Former Georgia Tech track and field coach Douglas “Buddy” Fowlkes, the chair of the meet, remembers meeting some resistance after announcing the meet would be open to black runners.

“We [Fowlkes and his wife] started getting some calls,” Fowlkes said. “I talked to some of them. We heard their side and they heard my side. A lot of them were hate calls. You would start to say something, and then they would make a derogatory comment and hang up.”

Fowlkes was undeterred, and the meet preparations proceeded. He said no one involved in organizing the meet raised any concerns about allowing black and white people to run together. Fowlkes believes sports culture had something to do with that.

“I think you find that people in the sports world aren’t nearly as opinionated [about integration] as in other sectors of society,” Fowlkes said.

The morning of the meet, Fowlkes drove to Grady Stadium concerned there would be a large demonstration. It turned out his concerns were unnecessary since he remembers only two protestors showing up.

What he remembers more is his surprise when he saw the size of the crowd at the meet. Fowlkes said track and field typically didn’t draw a very big crowd in the early 1960s.

Morehouse College, a historically black college, was the champion of the meet that year, and the following year, Florida A&M—another HBCU—and future Olympic sprinter Bob Hayes finished second at the meet.

Jackson believed that desegregating the meet helped its popularity immensely.

“For years the Georgia AAU barely merited a flick of the eyelash,” Jackson wrote the day of the meet. “That is because it was restricted and channelized. It was a Caucasian show. … No one recalls any significant publicity about it.”

But the added popularity was just a bonus for doing the right thing, Fowlkes said.

“I feel thrilled that we had the intestinal fortitude to go through with [the meet] because it was right, and right was on our side and it prevailed,” Fowlkes said.

Why Grady?

Grady was selected as the host of numerous desegregated events, but why?

Kuhn, a former Grady parent, said Grady’s stadium was a “modern venue” during the ’50s and ’60s with its light fixtures and ability to hold numerous people. He also pointed out that, until Fulton County Stadium opened in 1965, there wasn’t a major stadium in Atlanta.

Fowlkes said Grady’s facilities were better than the ones he had at Georgia Tech because spectators at Grady could see the entire race.

Kuhn believes the moderate racial climate at Grady explains why the school hosted so many desegregated events. “[Grady held these events] in part because of the student body and where it was positioned in Atlanta, in a more liberal district, in contrast to some other parts of town where there was much greater resistance to desegregation,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn believes Grady’s racial attitudes had a lot to do with its Jewish population. Hain, who once conducted a survey of the Grady student body’s attitudes towards integration for The Southerner, said that when he attended Grady in the mid-50s, the school was about 25 percent Jewish, and about 25 percent of the students surveyed said they favored integration. He believes there’s a connection between those two figures.

CO

beyond athletics

UR TE

SY

O

FB

oyd

In addition to the sporting events held at Grady, the school hosted two other events that were important to the desegregation movement in Atlanta.

Lewis

Spring 1949—As 50,000 fans watch a three-game series, Atlanta hosts its first public desegregated event, the hometown Crackers against Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ponce De Leon Park.

December 1949—Grady Stadium hosts the first desegregated football game in the history of the state.

1940s

1953—An integrated weightlifting competition is held in the Grady gymnasium.

March 1954—Grady’s gym hosts possibly the first integrated meeting of educators in Georgia.

May 1954—U.S. Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public schools.

1950s

1961—Grady High School becomes one of the first public schools in the state to desegregate.

March 1960—The only hearing for the Sibley Commission in Atlanta is held in Grady’s gym.

In March 1954, Grady’s gym hosted possibly the first integrated meeting of educators in Georgia. The all-black Washington High Boys Chorus sang at the Georgia Music Educators Association’s second annual convention. The event was held in conjunction with the all-white Georgia Education Association’s 87th Annual State Convention. Guests included Rual Stephens, the principal of then all-white Grady, and Clinton Cornell, principal of then all-black Washington. Just six years later, in March 1960, the only Atlanta-based hearing for the Sibley Committee—one hearing was held in each of Georgia’s 10 congressional districts at the time—was held in Grady’s gym. The Sibley Committee was created in order to gauge public opinion on public school desegregation.

Black leaders spoke in favor of keeping public schools open and desegregating them all but faced opposition from some white people.

Kuhn said the Sibley Committee hearings were “where local option was developed and individual school systems could figure out by [themselves] what to do about the desegregation issue.”

A little over a year later, Grady was desegregated by Mary Francis and Lawrence Jefferson, the first two black students to attend the school.

The effect of events The effects of the Sibley Committee hearing are evident, but the effects of many of the sports events held at Grady are not as easy to notice.

Only four years after the preseason NFL games were played at Grady Stadium, professional football came to the city in the form of the Atlanta Falcons. Black players such as defensive backs Lee Calland and Ken Reaves and running back Junior Coffey suited up for the Falcons that year. That same year, the Atlanta Braves played their first year in Major League Baseball with black Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. Two years later, the Atlanta Hawks, in their first season, were led by Walt Hazzard, a black all-star.

In order to bring professional sports to Atlanta, former mayor Ivan Allen had to prohibit segregated seating and facilities for sporting events.

Young believed sports events, like the ones held at Grady, were not only important in bringing professional sports to Atlanta but also affected the Civil Rights Movement.

“People always talk about the marches and the protests, but what they don’t talk about is how big a part sports played in the economic part of the movement, in changing the perception of what the South was,” Young told ESPN.com last January.

Kuhn has seen evidence that supports Young’s contention.

“There’s been lot of studies written about how sport offered a way to connect, to have a place for new black students and an arena where both black and white students had an investment in the athletic teams,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn also believes these sporting events previewed what was to come for desegregation.

“Things are happening before Brown v. Board and the student sit-ins that are going on under the radar,” Kuhn said. “Changes begin even before actual desegregation occurs in school.”

Kuhn also believes “sports helped smooth the bumpy road of desegregation.”

Jackson believed that sports had a power to bring black and white people together that other events simply lacked.

“Whatever ‘demonstrations’ on the performance level that take place at Grady Stadium will be far more effective than a thousand sit-ins,” Jackson wrote in 1963. “This is not censure of our young people who are courageously tackling problems often ignored by their adults, but we must move into arenas of acceptance that will win in a profile of good will, understanding and forebearance. Not all of this can be gained with acts of hostility but in the grass roots of tolerance.” p Allen Edward Joyce’s 1975 doctoral Emory University thesis, “The Atlanta Black Crackers” was a source for this article.

August 1962—Grady Stadium holds the first integrated NFL game. The Chicago Bears play the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game.

1962—Grady and Brown High School become the first public schools in Georgia to have integrated extra-curricular activities.

1960s

May 1963— The Georgia AAU track meet is integrated for the first time in its history.

Arena of Acceptance Before the Georgia Dome, before Turner Field, Grady’s facilities were home to Atlanta’s first integrated games

By Phillip Suitts On any given day, black and white athletes compete with and against one another in Grady Stadium. While a passerby may give that issue no thought, there was a time when it represented historic news, and potentially led to protests, demonstrations, and racial slurs.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and ‘60s, Grady High School’s sports facilities were an important testing ground for advancing racial desegregation in Atlanta and the South. Historic records show Grady was one of the first public schools in the state to desegregate in 1961, but that wasn’t the only desegregation movement Grady was involved in.

This untold story shows how Grady’s own sports venues were the early, perhaps pivotal, places where Atlanta’s white and black people first came together to begin to break centuryold rules of segregation.

In the spring of 1949, more than a decade before the Atlanta Public Schools system was integrated, Atlanta’s first public desegregated event was held at the old Ponce de Leon Park, less than half a mile from Grady. Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella played in an exhibition baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Atlanta Crackers. The Ku Klux Klan protested, and state legislators tried to ban the event. A well-integrated crowd of around 50,000 fans, however, watched a three-game series, including 25,221 fans who turned up for the third game, in which America’s first black Major League Baseball player broke Atlanta’s sports color barrier.

Eight months later, in December 1949, this nationally publicized event was quiety followed by the first desegregated football game in the history of the state—held at Grady stadium.

THE SPORTING EVENTS The historic game was between an army regiment and naval base. Charles Hall, a black tailback playing for the Third Army All-Stars, ran all over the Naval offense, setting up their only touchdown, and his fellow black defensive lineman Robert Murphy had a similarly successful night. Their efforts were for naught as the Jacksonville Naval Air Station beat the Third Army All-Stars REMEMBER THE KNIGHTS: 12-7 the Atlanta Daily World repoted. Hall and Murphy Former assistant Grady still had reason to rejoice, though. Only three years after football coach Eddie Kenny Washington officially integrated the NFL in 1946, Henderson (far right) and his players react to a touchdown football in Atlanta and Georby Price High School during a gia was integrated as well.

1974 game. Henderson was In 1953, an integratthe first black coach at Grady ed weightlifting comand became head coach petition was held in the three years later.

Grady gym.

James Milsap, the first black person to compete in an integrated weightlifting competition in Atlanta, went on

to win in his weight class according to the Atlanta Daily World. In addition, Milsap prepared under a white trainer.

In 1962, Grady and Brown High School became the first public schools in Georgia to sponsor integrated extracurricular activities: their basketball teams. Although they were ineligible for varsity-level competition, sophomores John Henry Carter and Grady Davis played on Grady’s “B team” that year, and along with Clemsey Wood from Brown, became the first black athletes to play with white teammates in Atlanta Public Schools.

On Aug. 11 of that same year, Grady Stadium hosted the first integrated NFL game in Atlanta.

First, the Chicago Bears took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game. The game featured black players like Steelers running backs Bob Fergunson, a former Ohio State All-American, and Bears running back Willie Galimore, offensive lineman Willie McClung and Charles Bivins, a native Atlantan.

Those athletes were joined by black fans in the stands. Columnist Marion E. Jackson from Atlanta Daily World, the prominent black newspaper in Atlanta, believed that sports, and this game specifically, had the power to bring white and black people together.

“It is a happy occasion that we have professional sports which have done so much to wipe out the misconceptions of race, color and regionalism,” Jackson wrote in his column on the day of the game. “NFL football is giving us an opportunity and a challenge. To the South, the challenge is to forego the yardstick of color as the measuring rod of a man’s acceptance.”

There were no major incidents or demonstrations reported.

Less than a month later, on Sept. 8, the Dallas Cowboys played the Minnesota Vikings in another exhibition game held at Grady Stadium. Black players, like Jim Marshall, a Vikings defensive lineman, and Cowboys fullback Don Perkins played with and against their white teammates and opponents.

“We had no professional sports teams, and the mayor [at the time] Ivan Allen believed attracting pro sports and big pro events would be critical to proving to business leaders around the country that we did believe in a ‘New South,’” former mayor Andrew Young said in an ESPN.com article last January.

Residents near Grady Stadium complained their property values would be lowered by the invasion of a cross-section of fans. Former law professor and Grady alumnus Elwood Hain believes this was code for the residents saying they didn’t want black people in their neighborhood. As a result, after the second preseason game, the Atlanta Board of Education adopted a resolution that limited the use of its stadiums to amateur competition.

A year later, however, Grady would again host another integrated event that brought numerous black people into the neighborhood around Grady Stadium.

In

Georgia AAU track meet It was a “precedent-setting event,” Jackson wrote in Atlanta Daily World. On May 25, 1963, for the first time in its history, the Georgia Amateur Athletic Union track meet was integrated.

Former Georgia Tech track and field coach Douglas “Buddy” Fowlkes, the chair of the meet, remembers meeting some resistance after announcing the meet would be open to black runners.

“We [Fowlkes and his wife] started getting some calls,” Fowlkes said. “I talked to some of them. We heard their side and they heard my side. A lot of them were hate calls. You would start to say something, and then they would make a derogatory comment and hang up.”

Fowlkes was undeterred, and the meet preparations proceeded. He said no one involved in organizing the meet raised any concerns about allowing black and white people to run together. Fowlkes believes sports culture had something to do with that.

“I think you find that people in the sports world aren’t nearly as opinionated [about integration] as in other sectors of society,” Fowlkes said.

The morning of the meet, Fowlkes drove to Grady Stadium concerned there would be a large demonstration. It turned out his concerns were unnecessary since he remembers only two protestors showing up.

What he remembers more is his surprise when he saw the size of the crowd at the meet. Fowlkes said track and field typically didn’t draw a very big crowd in the early 1960s.

Morehouse College, a historically black college, was the champion of the meet that year, and the following year, Florida A&M—another HBCU—and future Olympic sprinter Bob Hayes finished second at the meet.

Jackson believed that desegregating the meet helped its popularity immensely.

“For years the Georgia AAU barely merited a flick of the eyelash,” Jackson wrote the day of the meet. “That is because it was restricted and channelized. It was a Caucasian show. … No one recalls any significant publicity about it.”

But the added popularity was just a bonus for doing the right thing, Fowlkes said.

“I feel thrilled that we had the intestinal fortitude to go through with [the meet] because it was right, and right was on our side and it prevailed,” Fowlkes said.

Why Grady?

Grady was selected as the host of numerous desegregated events, but why?

Kuhn, a former Grady parent, said Grady’s stadium was a “modern venue” during the ’50s and ’60s with its light fixtures and ability to hold numerous people. He also pointed out that, until Fulton County Stadium opened in 1965, there wasn’t a major stadium in Atlanta.

Fowlkes said Grady’s facilities were better than the ones he had at Georgia Tech because spectators at Grady could see the entire race.

Kuhn believes the moderate racial climate at Grady explains why the school hosted so many desegregated events. “[Grady held these events] in part because of the student body and where it was positioned in Atlanta, in a more liberal district, in contrast to some other parts of town where there was much greater resistance to desegregation,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn believes Grady’s racial attitudes had a lot to do with its Jewish population. Hain, who once conducted a survey of the Grady student body’s attitudes towards integration for The Southerner, said that when he attended Grady in the mid-50s, the school was about 25 percent Jewish, and about 25 percent of the students surveyed said they favored integration. He believes there’s a connection between those two figures.

CO

beyond athletics

UR TE

SY

O

FB

oyd

In addition to the sporting events held at Grady, the school hosted two other events that were important to the desegregation movement in Atlanta.

Lewis

Spring 1949—As 50,000 fans watch a three-game series, Atlanta hosts its first public desegregated event, the hometown Crackers against Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ponce De Leon Park.

December 1949—Grady Stadium hosts the first desegregated football game in the history of the state.

1940s

1953—An integrated weightlifting competition is held in the Grady gymnasium.

March 1954—Grady’s gym hosts possibly the first integrated meeting of educators in Georgia.

May 1954—U.S. Supreme Court outlaws segregation in public schools.

1950s

1961—Grady High School becomes one of the first public schools in the state to desegregate.

March 1960—The only hearing for the Sibley Commission in Atlanta is held in Grady’s gym.

In March 1954, Grady’s gym hosted possibly the first integrated meeting of educators in Georgia. The all-black Washington High Boys Chorus sang at the Georgia Music Educators Association’s second annual convention. The event was held in conjunction with the all-white Georgia Education Association’s 87th Annual State Convention. Guests included Rual Stephens, the principal of then all-white Grady, and Clinton Cornell, principal of then all-black Washington. Just six years later, in March 1960, the only Atlanta-based hearing for the Sibley Committee—one hearing was held in each of Georgia’s 10 congressional districts at the time—was held in Grady’s gym. The Sibley Committee was created in order to gauge public opinion on public school desegregation.

Black leaders spoke in favor of keeping public schools open and desegregating them all but faced opposition from some white people.

Kuhn said the Sibley Committee hearings were “where local option was developed and individual school systems could figure out by [themselves] what to do about the desegregation issue.”

A little over a year later, Grady was desegregated by Mary Francis and Lawrence Jefferson, the first two black students to attend the school.

The effect of events The effects of the Sibley Committee hearing are evident, but the effects of many of the sports events held at Grady are not as easy to notice.

Only four years after the preseason NFL games were played at Grady Stadium, professional football came to the city in the form of the Atlanta Falcons. Black players such as defensive backs Lee Calland and Ken Reaves and running back Junior Coffey suited up for the Falcons that year. That same year, the Atlanta Braves played their first year in Major League Baseball with black Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. Two years later, the Atlanta Hawks, in their first season, were led by Walt Hazzard, a black all-star.

In order to bring professional sports to Atlanta, former mayor Ivan Allen had to prohibit segregated seating and facilities for sporting events.

Young believed sports events, like the ones held at Grady, were not only important in bringing professional sports to Atlanta but also affected the Civil Rights Movement.

“People always talk about the marches and the protests, but what they don’t talk about is how big a part sports played in the economic part of the movement, in changing the perception of what the South was,” Young told ESPN.com last January.

Kuhn has seen evidence that supports Young’s contention.

“There’s been lot of studies written about how sport offered a way to connect, to have a place for new black students and an arena where both black and white students had an investment in the athletic teams,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn also believes these sporting events previewed what was to come for desegregation.

“Things are happening before Brown v. Board and the student sit-ins that are going on under the radar,” Kuhn said. “Changes begin even before actual desegregation occurs in school.”

Kuhn also believes “sports helped smooth the bumpy road of desegregation.”

Jackson believed that sports had a power to bring black and white people together that other events simply lacked.

“Whatever ‘demonstrations’ on the performance level that take place at Grady Stadium will be far more effective than a thousand sit-ins,” Jackson wrote in 1963. “This is not censure of our young people who are courageously tackling problems often ignored by their adults, but we must move into arenas of acceptance that will win in a profile of good will, understanding and forebearance. Not all of this can be gained with acts of hostility but in the grass roots of tolerance.” p Allen Edward Joyce’s 1975 doctoral Emory University thesis, “The Atlanta Black Crackers” was a source for this article.

August 1962—Grady Stadium holds the first integrated NFL game. The Chicago Bears play the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game.

1962—Grady and Brown High School become the first public schools in Georgia to have integrated extra-curricular activities.

1960s

May 1963— The Georgia AAU track meet is integrated for the first time in its history.

a & e

March 6, 2012

11

UGANDAN dance troupe performs, inspires audience The Children of Uganda takes care of about 500 children, but not all of the children perform in the tour, Phillips said.

One of the performers, 17-yearold Jane Nanfuka, has been a part of the Children of Uganda since she was 8 months old. She said she wanted to be a part of the Tour of Light because when she was younger, she saw other dance troupes travel and work hard so that she could have food to eat and a place to sleep. Nanfuka said that it’s her turn to make sacrifices so that others have food, shelter and a school to attend.

Vincent Mawejje, 19, said he enjoyed performing because he wanted to share his talent and culture with an American audience. Mawejje is currently studying to be a journalist and wants to adopt at least one vulnerable child. He said he worked very hard to be a part of the group, and he sees it as a privilege.

“The Tour of Light is the public face of our organization,” Phillips said. “Of the children [in the Children of Uganda], we choose the most talented to tour around.”

In addition to performing at Grady, the group came during school hours to visit music teacher Kevin Hill’s 2B chorus class.

“We sang, and they sang, and they were really, really good,” junior Victoria Dragstedt said. “You could tell they put a lot of effort into their performance.”

The chorus students were able to ask the Ugandan performers questions, Dragstedt said. The performers also taught them a traditional dance, which the chorus students enjoyed.

“It was a lot of fun,” Dragstedt said. “Everyone was really into it, and they were all dancing and having fun.”

The tour relies on host families and donations for hotel rooms when staying in different cities. While in Atlanta, the performers stayed at the

photos by konadu amoakuh

continued from front page

homes of Grady students, including senior Elizabeth McGlamry and juniors Justin Williams, Sammi Dean and Megan Prendergast.

“My mom volunteered our house,” Williams said. “We were contacted by [Susan Muntzing], who works in the College and Career Center.”

Muntzing has a niece, Angela Lantz Smith, who has volunteered as a doctor outside Kampala, Uganda for the past three summers. When Muntzing found out the group was coming to Atlanta, she invited them

DANCE TO THE BEAT OF A DRUM: Three girls (top left) perform a traditional Ugandan dance as they balance clay pots on their heads. Earlier in the show, musicians (bottom left) set the tone for more storytelling as they drum up audience excitement. One performer (above) has a solo dance after talking to the audience. to perform at Grady.

While in different cities, the performers practice and perform and still find time to have fun.

“The kids have loved going bowling and have toured national historic sites,” Phillips said. “We even took them to gymnastics.”

The tour’s youngest performer, Winnie Kembabazi, said her favorite experience from the tour was meeting people of different ages and backgrounds. Executive director of Children of Uganda, Pamela Brannon,

said that Kembabazi and many other performers were overwhelmed by the love shown by their audiences and by the families who hosted them.

Some of their host families were surprised by the “normal” American things that amazed the children.

“They had just toured Atlanta, and back at home my mom said, ‘Oh I’m going to the grocery store,’ and they got more excited to see a grocery store than they were about the tour [of Atlanta],” Williams said.

Phillips said it is valuable for the

kids to learn about American culture, especially when they are surprised by something like seeing a father cooking for the household, since that is unusual in their culture.

Phillips said that she first saw the tour when she was in high school seven years ago, which inspired her to volunteer for the organization and take a trip to Uganda.

“Music and dance really helps them to face the world, and for me it’s a total inspiration,” Phillips said. p

Poetry Out Loud teaches courage, literary reverence “I’m pretty good at memorizing stuff, so I don’t think it was

By Jasmine Burnett Feet stopped shuffling and voices hushed as senior Khadijah very hard,” Cushing said.

She said she was more nervous to be judged on her perforBrown took the stage as the first participant of Grady’s annual Poetry Out Loud competition. Brown, who won the event, mance than to perform in front of her peers.

“I didn’t know there were judges until today,” Cushing said competed against eight other students on Feb. 13.

For the event, each student memorized and performed a work on the day of the competition.

Seniors Brown and Jahra Gholston, sophomores Kyle Cobb from the competition’s catalog of poems. and Zoie Cushing and freshmen Molly Gray, Billie Lavine, KarGrady librarian Lisa Taft organized the event.

“It’s something the [literature] teachers were doing before rington Moore, Caitlin Sims and Cailen Williams all competed in the event.

I got here,” Taft said. “I sort The competition was judged by writof stepped in and said, ‘Well We had, what, five to six differing center coordinator Riki Bolster, writif you want me to coordinate ent styles of poetry out here? ing center volunteer Salimah LaForce and the school competition, I’m It was just from one end to the Tosha Bussey, the youth services librarian happy to do it.’ So each year I send out an email saying at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library. other fantastic.” what’s going on.”

The three judges named Brown the Riki Bolster winner of the event, advancing her to the Taft said she believes Poetry Out Loud is a great judge district-level competition. program. She said the purBrown, who recited “I’m a Fool to pose of the program is to promote an appreciation for and Love You” by Cornelius Eady, said she participated in the an understanding of poetry. event for three years but never made it this far. She credited “I feel like a lost component of literacy is listening and speak- her involvement on the debate team for helping her prepare ing and recitation,” Taft said. “ Just the spoken word is so beauti- for Poetry Out Loud. ful, and it really comes alive, and I think it’s a great experience.”

“The worst thing about this is being in front of people speakSome literature teachers held classroom competitions before ing,” Brown said. “That is the hardest thing to do, and I feel the schoolwide one and selected the best performer of each class like when you do debate it gives you an outlet to become more period to advance to the next level. confident and comfortable in front of people. So that kind of Literature teacher Deedee Abbott chose sophomore Zoie made this a little bit better.”

Cushing to move on to the schoolwide event. Cushing said it Brown said she is nervous for the districtwide performance. wasn’t hard for her to prepare.

“I’m very nervous, and on top of this I have to go to debate for

“

state, and I don’t really have my piece for [Poetry Out Loud],” Brown said. “It’s going to be some hard work.”

Bolster, who has judged the competition for the past two years, said she believes those who participate in Poetry Out Loud gain a lot from the experience.

“They will gain confidence,” Bolster said. “They will learn about poetry [and] about understanding different styles of poetry. We had, what, five to six different styles of poetry out here?

It was just from one end to the other fantastic.”

LaForce said she enjoyed being involved and hopes to continue her support of the program.

“This is the first time I’ve participated in this, and I love it,” LaForce said. “I love poetry, and after this experience I’d love to do it every year and maybe get involved in the district [level].”

Although the event only attracted a small audience, senior Tene Lewis attended and enjoyed watching the many poetry performances.

“It was really good,” Lewis said. “Each year it’s good, but it’s better when more people show up. It wasn’t like last year because last year people came to view the performance, [and] it wasn’t just [the] people performing.”

She also said the level of difficulty of the poetry didn’t seem as demanding.

“The people that were there [did] not necessarily [choose] the hardest poem,” Lewis said. “They just seemed like they chose it to pass. It wasn’t like they wanted to be there.”

She said she hopes the competition continues next year.

“I’m hoping Poetry Out Loud doesn’t die off with the seniors who performed this year,” Lewis said. “I hope it builds more excitement around it.” p

people

March 6, 2012

13

By Lauren Ogg Behind a velvet curtain, 1,000 people have just taken their seats.

They have come to see junior Elen Pease perform; she must do well.

With nerves reeling like a ball of yarn, Pease realizes the time to emerge from behind the drape is creeping up. She has a million things on her mind: her next modeling gig, her last blog post, her dance moments away. Frazzled with thoughts, she hurries onto the stage, accidentally forgetting a shoe.

Though Pease has only been dancing for three years now, she has learned the art at a rapid rate.

Her favorite dancing style is classical ballet—it’s the style with which she feels most comfortable. Currently Pease trains and dances with Ballethic Dance Company located in East Point. When she dances, Pease is constantly striving for excellence and hopes to keep improving she said.

“Ballet is so precise and exact,” Pease said. “Every miniature movement is done a certain way, so if I’m not focused on what I’m doing, I look [crazy].”

Junior Autumn Rivers, Pease’s best friend, said she’s only seen her dance two or three times, but each time she felt she danced with “grace and technique.”

Though the two have only known each other for two and a half years they have a bond that is undeniable.

“We are mutually and genuinely one of each other’s best friends,” Rivers said. “[It] is special because neither of us uses those words to describe people very often.”

Not only is Pease a talented and dedicated dancer, she has modeled, both professionally and for fun, for more than six years. She was first signed in fifth grade to Kiddin Around Models and Talent but later switched to a different branch of the same agency, called Real People

Photos Courtesy of elen Pease

Junior Elen Pease shines in dance, fashion, modeling

READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP: Pease (above) stands in the C200 hallway at school. Pease (top right) models for her best friend Rivers’ picture. Pease (left) shows off her fashion sense. The picture was featured on the fashion blog that both Pease and Rivers run together.

Models and Talent.

“About a month after I got my headshots done, I started getting calls for print ads and auditions fairly regularly,” Pease said.

Pease has appeared in ads for companies including Sears, Lenscrafters, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Talbots Kids. The most recent modeling audition she attended was for a “Bop It” commercial.

“I regularly did print ads in Macy’s catalogs for about three years,” Pease said. “But I’ve auditioned for lots of bigger TV roles, like small parts in Tyler Perry [productions], some pilot for Disney XD and a ‘no texting while driving’ ad campaign with Justin Bieber.”

Even with all the publicity, she

said she must remain collected.

“When I get hired, I’m there to do a good job and produce something, so I have to get in that mindset of [being a] professional yet still interacting with people well,” Pease said. “It took me a second to find a good balance.”

Of the many ads and campaigns Pease has taken part in, her all-time favorite was set at the beach.

“My favorite thing I’ve done was probably a print ad for Talbots Kids a few years ago, because the location was in Seaside, Fla.,” Pease said. “[It] was really awesome. We spent about two to three days down there shooting for the summer catalog in March, so [it was] cold but still really great.”

When she’s not in front of the camera, Pease enjoys working be-

hind the scenes on the blog she shares with Rivers.

“She’s very creative and driven, which you can see in her work in fashion, in her blog and [in her] other creative endeavors,” Elen’s mother Maria Pease said.

Their blog, called tw0girlsoneblog, is a fashion blog on Tumblr that the two best friends share. They post pictures of fashion inspiration and feature outfits seen on the streets, such as retro girls in vintage clothes, as well as outfits they have created and modeled themselves.

“Whenever I take pictures of [Elen] for our blog, she’s very bubbly and interesting in front of the camera,” Rivers said.

Rivers said Pease is “hilarious, nonconventionally stylish and caring.”

“What makes her special is her

ability to deal with criticism and her ability to down entire bottles of juice in a short period of time,” Rivers said. “She’s good at keeping secrets, she’s good at making me feel better when I’m down and she tells it straight. When an opportunity presents itself in her life, she dives toward it and takes advantage [of it].”

Between dancing passionately, modeling professionally and operating a fashion blog, Pease maintains balance in her packed schedule. She goes to school, socializes with her friends after school and does homework and then goes to dance lessons almost every day.

“She is dedicated and disciplined, which you see in her dancing,” Maria Pease said. “Dancing on pointe is very difficult, and rehearsal schedules are hard to manage while also studying.”

Her mother added that she respects her daughter’s dedication to ballet, as it is a far more complex hobby than it appears to be.

No matter how full her plate is, Pease said she’ll always make room for the things she is passionate about. “[Practice] takes up lots and lots of time, but I never have a problem with it because I love doing it,” Pease said. “I want to make sure I keep up with it to perfect the art [of dancing and modeling] throughout college, even if that’s not what I choose to do as a living afterwards.”

Her busy lifestyle requires a strong support system. Pease feels lucky to have a supportive family and appreciates their willingness to help her grow in her talents throughout the years.

“I hope she has learned that reaching your goals takes perseverance, discipline, hard work and passion,” Maria Pease said. p

By Diana Powers His tennis shoes beat rhythmically across the dark pavement as Brian Montero crosses the finish line surrounded by supporters.

The 36-year-old has ridden his bike to Grady every day for four years, and he cites this daily commute as the first step toward a realization that would forever change his life. Being consistent with biking led Montero to become interested in long-distance running. He has run three half marathons, one full marathon and is training for his second full marathon.

“I actually started out with an online program I found,” Montero said. “I enjoyed doing smaller distances for about a year or so, but it didn’t really excite me. It really clicked with my body when I completed my first half marathon.”

Now, Grady graduate and media specialist Montero devotes great effort and time to running long-distance trails. He said that, just like any other sport, other athletes will try to get him to be overly competitive or to run a particular way, but he likes to have his own methods. He feels he has created a base that is strong enough to draw upon and has given him endurance.

Montero ran his second half marathon more quickly than his first, which encouraged him to try to complete a full marathon.

He said marathon training took him to the next level in terms of running, with 17 weeks of intense workouts. Montero continues to bike daily, which he says is good cross-training exercise.

Montero runs about four times during the school week—occasionally before work—and completes long runs on the weekends.

“What I’m interested in is not fast running but seeing myself able to go longer and actually enjoy the adventure, while continuing to build that endurance up,” Montero said.

Faster times might not be his objective, but he’s achieved them anyway. In the Atlanta Marathon on Oct. 30, which was his first full marathon, Montero placed sixth out of 120 men in his age group, 43rd out of 1,128 total runners. His goal for the race was to complete it in under three and a half hours, and he achieved this goal with 10 minutes to spare.

“I have noticed myself steadily progressing ... getting faster,” Montero said. “That’s always exciting. My parents and friends are always supportive, and even people who don’t know me think it’s cool.”

Montero and world history teacher George Darden often talk about Montero’s racing, and Darden said his time was very solid for a recreational runner and well above the common marathon runner’s goal of finishing under four hours.

Darden said he’s seen Montero change over the course of the past three to four years, from being heavy-set and out-of-shape to becoming a much fitter and healthier person.

“As an endurance coach and athlete, I can tell when someone’s fit,” Darden said. “He definitely looks it.”

Following Montero’s first full marathon race, Darden sent an email out to the faculty informing everyone of his race results.

“Finishing a marathon, and especially finishing well, is a remarkable achievement that deserves recognition from the community, and he should be proud,” Darden said.

Montero is currently preparing to run his second full marathon, the Georgia Publix Marathon, on March 18 and will spend the weeks prior doing strength building and increasing his weekly mileage.

“Running is therapeutic, a great way to clear your mind and leaves you feeling better overall,” Montero said. “I feel like I’ve become addicted. There’s nothing like it.” p

Courtesy of brian montero

Montero strides into healthy, exercise-filled lifestyle

ON THE RUN: Montero strives to finish his first full marathon. He placed sixth in his age group of 120 men, surpassing his previously set goals.

the Sports section thesoutherneronline.com

HENRY W. GRADY HIGH SCHOOL, ATLANTA

MARCH 6, 2012

VOLUME LXV, NUMBER 6

Best regular season record in recent

HISTORY

The basketball team: hasn’t won 22 games since the ‘84-’85 season. hasn’t been top 10 in the state since the ‘84’85 season. hasn’t won the subregion since 2007. started the season with an 8-game winning streak and also had an 11-game winning streak. will return four starters next season.

RISING KNIGHT...

Brandon Watkins Storybook season comes to abrupt close as team suffers three-game skid.

By Nally Kinnane The scoreboard reads, “Woodward 50, Grady 49.” Seconds remain for the Grady boys basketball team to clinch a spot in the state playoffs. As the clock ticks down, senior Greg Sessions dishes the ball to junior Chad Winfrey. Winfrey goes up for a 3-pointer that swishes through the hoop as the buzzer goes off. Grady wins 52-50—putting them one step closer to a state title.

The win against Woodward Academy was the team’s 22nd win of the season and 11th in a row.

Head coach Douglas Slade remembers that game as the most exciting of the season.

“I mean that is why you play the game,” Slade said. “We were dead in the water. It really said something about the team. They literally never quit.”

The team’s winning streak came to an end the next day when the Knights lost to Towers High School in the semifinals of the region tournament. With this loss the boys’ hopes of playing for a region championship and the chance to secure home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs were gone.

The team now had to play a consolation game for third or fourth place against Washington High School.

“Since the game was right after the Towers loss we really didn’t have time to regroup,” junior forward Kivan Taylor said. “We didn’t get hyped up because playing for third wasn’t what we wanted.”

Despite beating Washington twice in the regular season, Grady lost 82-75.

Both Slade and Taylor were frustrated with the outcome.

Taylor was especially discouraged because he felt like some of the players gave up on the game early in the fourth quarter.

Despite being a No. 1 seed in the tournament after winning division A with a 21-2 regular-season record, the team came out of the region tournament ranked fourth.

“Even though we were the fourth seed, I still wasn’t worried,” Taylor said. “We knew we were the No. 1 team in the region, and we shouldn’t have been ranked fourth.”

The team headed to Carrollton County for the first round of the playoffs to play the region 6-AAA champion Carrollton Trojans.

Slade knew Carrollton was going to be an outstanding team but believed that if his team played to their potential, they would win the ball game.

After building a first-quarter lead and trailing by only four at halftime, the team faltered late and fell 70-57.

“We just didn’t leave it all on the court,” Taylor said. “First half we played like we wanted to win, but second half it seemed like we thought they were just going to give us the game. They didn’t. They were the No. 1 team, and they

played like the No. 1 team. We didn’t.”

That game ended one of Grady’s most successful boys basketball seasons.

The team started the season with high hopes of competing for a state title. With the core of the team returning and having only lost three seniors from the year before, Slade and the players believed they could win a state championship.

The team started off the season with nine wins in a row.

“I knew we were going to be good when the season started because we had a pretty good season last year, but I definitely saw improvement through the year,” junior center Cory Caswell said.

Slade and the team credit their successful season to team chemistry.

“One of the things different from last year is we tried to change the mindset,” Slade said.

“We tried to approach them from the mental perspective for practices and the game.”

Caswell said the team had a better attitude than last year. He thinks Slade is the reason they got better and closer this season.

“My thing is I try to tell them every day, ‘Try to be better than you were yesterday,’” Slade said. “I try to use that same approach in making us better than we were last year.”

Despite this season’s disappointing finish, the team has high hopes for next year.

“Next season we have four starters returning,” Taylor said. “I know we say this every year, but next year is our chance to win state.” p

Height: 6-foot-9 Weight: 225 pounds Position: Center Grade: Junior Commitment: West Virginia Points per game: 21 Rebounds per game: 11

Play of the Year The alley-oop from the Druid Hills game that Greg [Sessions] threw me. Everybody was going crazy.”

Moment of the Year Against Woodward Academy, when Chad [Winfrey] shot the three. I thought we were going to lose and then Chad shot the shot, and we got lucky.”