ETC
charity
Revealing a world of opportunities KutDifferent exposes local boys to options they may not have been aware | BY CARLTON REESE
J
amie Gilmore was incredulous the first time he heard his hometown of Ocala referred to as “the horse capital.” Born and raised here in the heart of horse country and having been a prep football star, Gilmore found himself in Philadelphia while on a football scholarship at Temple University. An elderly gentleman one day asked the 18-year-old Gilmore where he was from, and Gilmore’s reply sparked the response, “oh, that’s the horse capital!” The old man’s remark prompted a phone call back home to mom: “Are we the horse capital?” “Yeah, boy,” his mother answered. “You
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| SEP 2021 | OCALAMAGAZINE.COM
didn’t know that?!” It could have been a bolt of lightning that struck Gilmore at that moment – he realized then there was a whole other world he hadn’t seen in his time growing up and it was in his back yard the entire time. “What does that tell you?” Gilmore rhetorically asks. “I knew we had horses, but I didn’t know we were the ‘horse capital.’ That wasn’t my world. I played athletics and I wasn’t exposed to those things, those opportunities.” That revelation stuck with Gilmore, who has since set out to make sure boys like him don’t go through childhood with the same lack of exposure. Gilmore and older brother,
Eddie Rocker (himself a prep football star who played collegiately), formed KutDifferent, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that sets out to make sure young boys are exposed to all the options that exist in society, particularly in Ocala. Along the way, the boys are mentored by strong role models such as Gilmore, Rocker and Director of Activities Tony McCall, himself a local track and field legend who competed for Team USA in the 1997 and 1999 World Championships. As athletes, Gilmore and Rocker hold a particular sway over young people, especially young black males who may perceive sports above all other things as a proper route in life. Gilmore and Rocker provide a message and a program for these youths to let them know there is a lot more out there than just hoops, basepaths and goal posts. “We preach to our young boys, ‘be your own greatness,’” Gilmore said. “A lot of them like sports, so I do this analogy: Lebron James is a great basketball player and Michael Jackson is a great entertainer; Tom Brady, he’s a great football player – they’re all great, but they’re different; greatness looks different for all of them.” For the boys engaged in the KutDifferent program, worlds they may not have otherwise been cognizant are exposed to them,
