By the time evening came, 69 teams from the Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus areas – from schools large and small, urban and rural, public and private – had taken part in the Miami Valley Football Coaches Association Social Justice 7-on-7 football competition, a free annual event sponsored this year by Walker Toyota and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Following the on-field scrimmages, teams took part in hour-long discussions using preset questions about themselves, each other and especially the racial divide that sometimes separates them.
Finally, Albert Powell – who along with fellow veteran coach Jim Place, launched this concept five years ago – stood at the podium in the Arena’s President’s Lounge and announced: “Two minutes! You’ve got two minutes to wrap this up!”
And that’s when five players at one of the front tables – three black athletes from Middletown, Dante Williams, Caron Spicer and Justin Lincoln; and two white counterparts from Alter, James Brooks and Miguel Delgado – went into a hurry-up two-minute drill unlike anything you’ve ever seen before in prep football.
“Wait, I’ve got one more thing to say,” said one of the Middletown players who earlier made the point about how “we’re really the same person; we bleed the same, cry the same, do a lot the same.”
Now he stressed: “They should do this in all the sports: basketball, track, tennis, everything.”
Brooks agreed: “When you focus it on sports, it eventually goes to other parts of the school. That’s how it will spread.”
Up near the front of the room John Fantauzzo, who’s spent 54 years as a college player, high school coach and college recruiter, shook his head in amazement:
“This is like a miracle. You can’t get the older generations to sit and talk. Not like these kids are.”
Nearby Powell was equally moved. “This is beautiful,” he said quietly. “Just look and listen. This is the seed being planted.”
Springboro High coach Ryan Wilhite addressed that issue with his team early Wednesday.
“We talked about that before we got on the bus to come over this morning,” he said as his team began its on-field session with Westerville South at C.J.
“Today is more than just football. It’s about life and using the game of football to make the world a better place.”
Place and Powell believe by bringing together players who wouldn’t normally associate with each other, you can overcome barriers.
“We believe contact brings acceptance,” Place said.
And when that happens players from disparate backgrounds see much of the divide disappear said CJ coach Marcus Colvin:
“There might be differences that come from your religion or your politics, but when you sit down and talk, you’ll find you’re like 90 percent the same.”
Most coaches agreed Wednesday that we now live in the most polarizing times in America in the past half century.
“We’re a much more polarized society than when I was these kids’ age,” said Alter coach Ed Domsitz. “Everybody seems to be on one side or the other.
“What’s the word?... Intransigent. People are unable to move, unable to try to understand the other person’s side, but this promotes the kind of community that gets you through that.”
Before the players broke into discussion groups Powell – the longtime Dunbar coach who now travels the nation speaking on life issues – addressed the players briefly.
At other sites, there were speakers like Michael Carter, the former area basketball coach who is now a Sinclair Community College administrator and Brandon McKinney, the local product who played eight seasons in the NFL and has coached at Central State since 2018.
Each football setting Wednesday also had a site manager, including veteran coaches like Mike Schneider and UD sidelines legend and administrator Mike Kelly.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
“So why are we bringing you here?” Powell asked the players. “It’s not to tell you how to think. It’s not to tell you about one political party or another – that’s none of our business.
“We want to speak to your heart. We want to leave you with a message that will always help you make a good decision, no matter what profession you end up in. Whether you’re a judge, a peace officer, an educator, a doctor, a great father – the message is clear:
“Be good to anyone you come across. There is nothing in you that makes you wake up in the morning and say, ‘Today I’m going to mistreat somebody.’”
‘Let’s use football’
This venture began five years ago after George Floyd’s kneel-on-the-neck killing by police in Minneapolis.
As protests began to ramp up, Powell said he called Place, his friend and fellow coach, for over 40 years:
“We both ended up weeping,” Powell told the gathering. “Two grown men and we were weeping about the situation.”
Place remembered the phone call: “Al said, ‘The nation is going to be torn up by hatred. Why don’t you and I do something together to try to make things better? Let’s use football.’
“We both believe athletics can be a driving force in life.”
With that in mind, the pair began to find ways to use their sport to bring people together to discover their similarities, while appreciating their differences.
In the summer of 2021 – with the backing of the Miami Valley Coaches Association – they held their first 7-on-7 competition and drew 24 teams.
Next year, with the addition of some Kentucky teams and three area schools who had to drop out this year, Place said they’ll have 80 teams, at least.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
“One thing I’ve found over and over,” Place said. “People want to do the right thing, but they just don’t know how to do it.
“The overwhelming feedback we get from kids is that they want a better world than what they were given. And one of those problem areas is in matters of race.
“We live in a divided society and everything is pulling people apart. We want to pull people together. For us, that’s through football.”
Domsitz agreed: “Our kids, most of them come from south of town and it can be a homogenous type of thing. That’s why this is important. Kids talk about issues, their lives and their backgrounds.
“It’s good for the kids from Alter to get into discussions about what’s going on in the world and about America, their country.”
Kali Jones – the former CJ and Colonel White player who went into the Marine Corps after high school, got a political science degree at Wright State, built a solid coaching resume and now is leading the turnaround at Middletown High with an impressive staff that includes well-known former NFL players like Jalin Marshall (who once starred at Middletown High and Ohio State), Artrell Hawkins and Tyree Kinnel – spoke about the importance of Wednesday’s event.
“When you get kids from different demographics, different social and economic backgrounds and have them discuss the issues they are asked to here, they’re able to share their unique perspectives and that’s when growth happens.
“And they end with (tools) that help them when they enter the workforce and become productive citizens. Lessons like those they learn here can be drawn on throughout their lives.
Comfortable results
Place said he’s heard no negative feedback from teams that have taken part, though he did have a coach tell him his team wouldn’t be able to participate because a couple of school board members were against it.
While you do notice certain leagues in the outlining areas of the Miami Valley have no schools taking part in this social justice showcase – and those are some of the places that could use these lessons the most – Place and Powell won’t get into that discussion.
“We just keep offering it and hope schools see the worth in it for their kids,” Powell said. “As Coach Place says, ‘From uncomfortable conversations comes comfortable results.’”
You saw that Wednesday between the Alter and Middletown players when the discussion session ended.
As Powell and Place had asked them to do at the end, they took out their cell phones, took a photo of themselves with the new people they met and then posted the images on their social media sites.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Brooks gathered the other four players behind him, held up his phone and took a group selfie.
Before leaving, the players from the two teams shook hands. They wished each other luck in the coming season and a few minutes later, out in the parking lot, two of them still stood talking before they each headed to their team bus.
“This is what athletics is supposed to be about,” Place said. “This is about making kids better men.”
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