A Penn Relays Story - Running for the Love of Mom

The Perry brothers, Menchville track stars in the 1970's
and early 80's recently reunited to run the 4x400
in a Master's race at the Penn Relays as a tribute
ti their ailing mother.

On a terribly sad note, Mrs. Mary Perry passed away on May 22, 2012. I was not aware of her death before posting this. I do feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to tell this story while Mrs. Perry was with us.


Within the confines of the Newport News track and Menchville athletic Hall of Fames, the Perry brothers have built their own wing. Over the period from the mid-1970’s to early 1980’s, the brothers dominated local and state high school track and helped the Monarchs, under coach Steve Lewis (now with Hampton University), to three consecutive state titles from 1979-1981.

Each brother had his own niche. Clifton owned the middle distances, winning a state title in record time in the 880 in 1975, followed by a high school national record in the 600-yard run the following year, a record which still stands. James was a half-miler who competed on Menchville’s school record 4x880 yard relay. He also ran cross-country.

Eric was a three-time high and intermediate hurdles state champion who earned All-American status. Ray was also a state champion in the 330-yard intermediate hurdles. In all, the Perry’s built their legacy on excellence.

The Perry brothers, in uniform surrounding
their mother, Mary

It was a trait inherited from their mother Mary. Last November, the family gathered for Mary’s 80^th birthday celebration. On that day, all of the Perry brothers celebrated their mother to the tune of the Intruders “I’ll Always Love My Mama,” while each brother (nine, in all) presented a single gold rose to their matriarch. It was a special day for Mary and her 14 children.

Just weeks later and three days after Christmas, Mary complained of stomach pain and was taken to the hospital emergency room. The doctors’ initial prognosis was confirmed and in early January of this year, Mary was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, essentially a terminal condition.

Now in hospice care, the Perry’s all realize that their mother doesn’t have much time left on Earth. Still, her spirit continues to inspire.

Says Eric, “She is such a fighter. Her spirit is so strong as is her passion for love and passion for life.”

Now a detention officer in Texas, Eric wished to share one of the stories which best describes this passion.

“My mother has a favorite window at the home. Every day, there’s a squirrel that comes up to her window as if he knows she is going to be there. Mom even gave the squirrel a name… “Runner.” We like to say that the squirrel is sending nature to her window every day.”

Now in their 50’s, five of the brothers (Mike was added as an alternate runner) decided to bond and compete one more time in honor of their mother. For this moment, they turned back to their track background. Thinking of the prestigious Penn Relays meet in Philadelphia, they signed on to run, as a 1600-meter relay. Under the moniker “Sons of Mary,” the brothers entered the 50-and-older Masters race. Uniforms were designed and pictures were taken to commemorate the event.

Last Saturday, the brothers took to the track at Franklin Field, to relive their past glory in front of the 42,000 fans who commonly attend the last three days of the meet. Ray led off, followed by Eric, James and finally Clifton with the anchor leg. Their time of 4:15.13 was good enough for ninth place of 22 teams. But for the brothers, the placing and time were only a secondary matter.

Added Eric, “We wanted to have an opportunity, before the Lord calls her over, for our mother to see her sons together, focusing on one cause … one more lap.

And even though she was in Newport News at the time, on that sunny Friday in Philadelphia, Mary Perry’s presence was indeed alive, in the form of her five sons.

Heritage tennis coach voted PTR Member of Year

Heritage tennis coach Donald Widener speaks
at a USTA function

Heritage girls tennis coach Donald Widener was recently honored by the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) as the Member of the Year for the state of Virginia.

Widener, now in his third year with the Hurricanes, was presented the award at the PTR International Tennis Symposium in Orlando, Florida this past February. As noted by the organization, the award is presented to a PTR member who has shown dedication and diligence in promoting tennis and PTR.

Widener is well known in local and national tennis circles. Along with his coaching duties at Heritage, he is also the Head of Player Development for An Achievable Dream Academy in Newport News. In this position, which he has held since 2004, he oversees the development of many United States Tennis Association (USTA) and National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) student athletes.

The student athlete aspect of the position is an element that is not overlooked by Widener.

 “At the end of last semester, ADA had 11 students inducted into the National Honor Society. Five of them were tennis players.” He also points out that two of the five schools in Newport News which reached their Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) goals last year were Achievable Deam schools.

 With regard to the award, Widener said he was “honored” and added, “there is a lot of talent in the state… a lot of coaches doing great things.”

 The award is well deserved as Widener’s list of accomplishments is long and impressive. He is certified in all three PTR pathways – Junior Development, Adult Development and Performance, putting him in a rarefied class of coaches. He is also the primary coach with the Hampton Roads Competitive Training Center (CTC) for USTA, working with players from the ages of 8-10.

“As a group (USTA), we are looking at the younger pool. America used to dominate tennis in the 1960’s and 70’s but has fallen off a bit. Our objective is to identify these kids and work with them from a young age. It’s what the other countries are doing. We’re trying to find the next Grand Slam champion.” As an example, he speaks of Mya Byrd, an under-10 student of his from Norfolk who is already showing flashes of potential.

Widener’s work with USTA also includes serving as a board member with the Mid-Atlantic Section and Virginia District, as well as CTA President, and Junior Team Tennis Coordinator.  At the national level, he serves on the USTA’s Diversity Team and Junior Team Tennis Committees and was a national speaker at the 2009 USTA Community Development Workshop.

Other honors include a selection as the Virginia Community Outreach Person of the Year. Also , in 2007, he was named district Volunteer of the Year for Virginia.  His tennis program was spotlighted as a national NJTL Tennis Excellence Program at the 2009 US Open in Queens, New York during Arthur Ashe Kids Day.  

His tenure as head coach (he also served as an assistant for Eddie Bunch) at Heritage has also been short, but remarkable. Part of his success stems from the fact that Achievable Dream directly feeds its K-8 students into Heritage making his a “perfect situation.” His team is almost split in half between the “Dreamers” and “Non-Dreamers.” While this year is more about rebuilding, there are already stories of college scholarship athletes, most notably the brother/sister tandem of K’wanme and Sharmaine Tonkias, who are playing college tennis at Virginia State on a full scholarship. On a particular Friday, Widener took his team to Petersburg to watch the two freshmen compete.

For the team, it was a chance to see what their tennis career could become, led by the man who can help them get there.

Woodside's Brown Plays the Silent Beast

Having just submitted an article on some Phoebus (Hampton, VA) high school soccer players who have succeeded each other as the valedictorian or salutatorian of their class, I got to thinking about some other athletes I have covered this school year who will also be graduating next month. Here's a piece from the Newport News Town Square section of the Daily Press on Shaheem Brown from Woodside High. It was published in early March. We met at the Peninsula District wrestling championships and the most striking thing to me was Brown's tranquility. He was very quiet. On the phone weeks later, the personality came out a bit more. Good kid..and I wish him well in the future.

In a sport known for its fierceness and physicality, Woodside’s Shaheem Brown possesses an uncommon aura of silence. At the Peninsula District championship last month, a first glimpse of Brown found the senior in the bleachers at Phoebus High School, headphones on, in total silence.
In this case, he was getting ready for a semifinal match. However, a later meeting presented a relatively soft-spoken young man who chooses his words carefully.

When asked about his penchant for appearing to be quiet, yet intense, Brown’s answer was well constructed, and humorous.

“Everybody at school asks me all the time if I’m mad. But if you get me in a conversation, I won’t stop.”

Brown did note his change in appearance during competition.

“When it comes time for a match, I’m getting ready. Basically, I am thinking that I know what I have to do.”

This quiet intensity has made Brown one of the more accomplished grapplers in the Peninsula District. Last year, he was the district champion at the 171-pound division. In the recently completed season, Brown moved up the 182-pound class and found a tough opponent for the Peninsula final in the form of Hampton’s Chris Lee., who entered the match undefeated at 9-0. The match was close at 3-2 after the first period, but a pair of takedowns in the second gave Lee an 8-4 advantage, and he held the momentum for a 10-5 decision.

Brown went on to win two matches at the Eastern region meet, only to eventually fall in the double elimination competition. Still, his final season record was an impressive 21-7, giving him a 35-12 mark for the final two years with the Wolverines.

But his start with the sport started three years ago at another school. While attending Bruton as a ninth grader, Brown’s older brother Shamar had decided to try out for wrestling. Looking for an ally in the sport, he recruited Shaheem to try out.

So, your brother and you got to wrestle together for a few years?

“Well no,” said Brown. “He only wrestled one year. Broke his hand.”

Woodside wrestling coach Doug Camp has his own recollections of meeting Brown.

“Since the first time that he walked into our mat room he has stood out from the rest as a natural leader. Since taking over the wrestling program he is my first District Champion. Personally, his drive to become better at wrestling or whatever he puts his mind to is always evident. Watching this young man grow these past three seasons has been a pleasure, I know he's going to go far in life.”

Even after losing his brother as a teammate, the younger brother stuck it out and wrestled for all four years of high school. There might be an opportunity to extend his season as preliminary talks are in place to begin a Peninsula vs. Bay Rivers wrestling tournament at the conclusion of each season. While the intention is to begin this event soon, parts of the talks have included an attempt to start the meet this year.

Would Brown be interested in perhaps wrestling against Andrew Junio of Tabb?

‘I probably would not,” answered Brown, again wasting no time in getting to the point, but speaking of the match itself, not the opposition. But his reasoning makes perfect sense. “I messed up my leg after regionals. Actually, it had bothered me all season, but I must have done something else to it that day.”

But his career on the mat may not be over. Brown’s plans, to no surprise, are well defined. His outlook on wrestling mirrors the choices he is currently making in life.

“I like having competition. I am always trying to get better.” Quiet, but driven.

His choice of colleges has narrowed to the University of Maryland or the Florida Institute of Technology. A future stint with the Air National Guard waits. There may still be time for wrestling.

“I may go on to club wrestling. But, if I go to Maryland, I might try to make the team as a walk-on.”

With the dedication and preparation that he puts into every other aspect of his life, there is every reason to believe that if any wrestler could walk-on and compete for a nationally recognized program, it could be the quiet, determined young man from Woodside.

Lambert Defies Odds, Back on Beam

For Ashley Lambert, the hope is that her 2012 season in gymnastics will have a happier ending than 2011.

The level 10 gymnast with the World Class team was enjoying another successful season, with a state all-around title and regional crowns in the vault and floor exercises under her belt. A scholarship offer from a large Division I school in the SEC was on the table. Heading into May and one week before Junior Nationals, Lambert looked to have the world on a string.

In an instant, she almost lost it all.

Ashley Lambert's gymnastics
career almost ended abruptly
last year when she suffered
a broken neck.
Amazingly, she's back in
the sport.

Doing some less structured activity after practice one day, Lambert suffered a career-ending type of injury, one which left her with a C1 bone broken in two places as well as a broken C6 bone. To understand the seriousness of the injury, one only needs to know that 80 percent of individuals who break the C1 bone end up dead because the broken bone blocks the breathing passage which suffocates the victim. As a point of reference, actor Christopher Reeve became paralyzed after breaking his C1 bone when falling off his horse during an equestrian competition.

Amazingly, the Menchville junior was not aware of the seriousness of her condition and continued to practice. Mother Tonia came to pick her up, and as she recalls found her daughter “doing crunches and crying.” However, Ashley did not want to make World Class coaches Tami Harrison or Jon Angle aware of her pain. Later, at home, Tonia recalls spending 15 minutes trying to pop Ashley’s neck, thinking it was simply jammed. Looking back she now realizes, “I could have killed my child and didn’t even know it at the time.” But as soon as Ashley complained that her left eye had gone numb, the mother quickly knew what had occurred.

Says Tonia, “Right then, I knew it was neuro (related).” Four hours after leaving practice, the pair headed to the hospital emergency room.

After several hours in the waiting room, Tonia was approached by the doctor.

“He came to me and said, I have some good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Of course, she wanted to hear the good news first.

He said, “it is by the sheer grace of God that your kid is walking and talking. She only survived because of her sheer physical condition and her youth.”

Ashley recalls her time in the ER.

“They did an X-ray and didn’t really find anything specific. But when they looked at the results of the CAT scan, the doctors started freaking out.” She was quickly transported to Portsmouth Naval Hospital and fitted for a halo by the next morning.

For Lambert, the dream looked to be over. Gymnastics appeared to be a sport of the past, replaced by the halo to stabilize her neck and a lifetime of shattered dreams. Letters and get well wishes poured in from fellow gymnasts in every corner of the country. It was assumed that just getting Ashley back to normal activities would be the new goal.

But Ashley had larger aspirations. She missed not seeing her World Class teammates and friends at Menchville as she completed the school year with the homebound program. But after spending two-thirds of her 17 years in competitive gymnastics, Lambert was not ready to call it quits.

Recalls Tonia, “we had a conversation about it and she said, what else am I supposed to do?  I have been doing this my whole life.”

After almost two months in a halo, Ashley placed a video on her website, thanking her well-wishers. The most amazing feature of the 19-second clip was the bright smile displayed. The next day, the halo was removed.

Was there ever a concern about not competing again?

“Uh-huh.”  The biggest concern was that with junior year approaching, it was time to get back to the gym and make sure that she earned her athletic scholarship, her goal since beginning the sport at the age of six. The junior year of high school is usually the most crucial, particularly in gymnastics, as most of the scholarships for her class are awarded by the end of 11^th grade.

So it was time to go back to work.

After six grueling months of training, averaging 30 hours a week in the gym, the young lady who escaped a life-threatening injury returned to competition in January. In only her second competition, Lambert placed second in two events and qualified for the level 10 regional meet, which will be held on April 21-22 in Allentown, PA. But the larger goal is to qualify for Junior Nationals, which will be held from May 10-13 in Hampton, VA. At this point, Ashley feels as though she is “just getting back to where I was last year.”

Is there anything to be learned from this experience? In a closing thought, Tonia notes her daughter’s new found appreciation for gymnastics, one which can only be gained by almost losing the ability to continue at it.

“I think that she finds herself working much harder now. For a long time, a lot of this was very easy for her.”

For more information about Ashley Lambert, visit her website at http://www.gym-style.com/ashley

For Black Male Athletes, No Fear = Huge Stigma

Several months ago, I ran a post about the Golden Saints, a youth league church football team in Newport News. It was a story about the team looking for a home field, something that all of the other teams in their Hampton Roads league had. Last night, Chaplain Deborah Mitchell of the World Outreach Center (the Knights sponsor) reported to me that the city of Newport News has given the team a field at Lee Hall Elementary to call their own! On top of this, IHOP (ihop.com) has volunteered to pay for the cost of installing lights at the field so the team can practice and play at night.

Today, I wish to turn to a more serious subject, that of false bravado....

At the beginning of March, I had the opportunity to cover the AAA state track meet for the Daily Press. During the course of the day, I encountered several other reporters, but spent most of the day seated next to Carl Little, who covers high school sports for the Washington Post. I was not aware of this information until the end of the meet, when we happened to be conversing with the same athlete. Actually, all I knew was his first name. But, as a lifelong reader of the Post, I told him that there would probably be an embarrassing moment when I returned home, because a cursory search of "Carl" and "Washington Post High School Sports" would make me realize exactly who he was.

After a poor game four years ago,
then Titans QB Vince Young
grabbed a gun and disappeared
in his car. For hours, his whereabouts
were unknown.

To no surprise, once I looked up All-Met sports (the Post’s online high school outlet) and matched the surname, I remembered that there was a reason why Little’s name stuck out in my mind. A deeper search helped me to understand why.
In 2008, Little authored a piece entitled “The Pain Beneath the Swagger,” for a website called The Root, which is found at http://www.theroot.com. As it turned out, I had recalled reading this article.

The first line reads:

“Black male bravado allows no room for a mental health crisis. What a sad and dangerous thing.”

Little’s piece goes on to tell the story of Vince Young. At the time, Young was a highly touted quarterback from Texas who was in the early stages of his career with the Tennessee Titans. While showing flashes of brilliance, the former Heisman Trophy winner was considered a disappointment, despite leading the Titans to a 17-11 record in the games Young started over his first two seasons. On September 7, 2008, Young was mightily booed in a winning effort. A sprained left knee simply added injury to insult.

The following day, Young told a psychiatrist that he wanted to quit football. He also shared thoughts of suicide. Later, Young grabbed a gun, exited his home unannounced and took off in his car. For over four hours the whereabouts of the 25-year-old were unknown. Eventually, he was found unharmed.

The huge response to the story forced a press conference from Young just three days later. While multitudes of sports media jocks and self-proclaimed “experts” had bandied about with their theories of Young’s condition, the quarterback was going to be allowed the opportunity to settle the record.

“I was never depressed,” proclaimed a self-assured Young.

What??

In a nutshell, Young was obeying the man law which was described by Little with the following four words – Black boys don’t cry.

After citing other examples of African-American athletes suffering from episodes of depression, Little brings home his point, and it is a valid one. His words speak much better than mine, so to quote:

“While there is much to appreciate about black masculinity, there are some insidious aspects to playing the part. For instance, many believe that we have to struggle alone with our demons and that asking for help makes us appear weak. That kind of individualism is a façade, and we do ourselves no good when we hold back the tears.”

Well put Carl. It was nice to meet you.