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Shooting for unity on basketball court, in city
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Devaun Adams enjoyed thrusting himself into the legwork behind organizing a pair of basketball games, though he hopes the underlying meaning of the contests will endure far beyond the court – and long after the final steals, jumps, fast breaks and lay-ups.
“I wanted to help bring the city together; there’s so much negativity going around, and I wanted to better it,” said Adams, a 2012 Youngstown Valley Christian School graduate. “I’m also a basketball trainer, and I want the sport to be a safe haven and alternative to negative choices.”
Bringing people together in a spirit of unity while promoting a few friendly competitions was the primary driving force behind Sunday afternoon’s Campbell Memorial High School Red Devils vs. Youngstown All Stars alumni basketball game at East High School on Bennington Avenue on the East Side.
Preceding that game was one between two Rising Stars teams, one red and the other white.
They consisted of young barbers, entrepreneurs, disc jockeys, models, artists and others with some local name recognition who are “doing good things around the community,” said Anthony Moses, a 2008 Campbell Memorial High graduate who played for the Red Devils and also works with at-risk children.
In the first game, the red team won 65-60. In the second, Youngstown beat Campbell 92-87. A few hundred family members, friends and others attended.
Adams, who’s also East High’s first-year assistant varsity basketball coach, runs Xposed Sports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and strengthening the skills and mindset of area youth while promoting greater exposure to local sports via social media. He also wants basketball to be a vehicle to instill positive life lessons in youngsters beginning at age 7, he explained.
Adams also spearheaded a parallel effort called “Shoot Hoops, not Guns,” a summer camp geared toward steering young people from violence to making positive decisions.
With that kind of background, he “jumped at the idea to help with it,” Adams said of his desire to put Sunday’s games together.
Among the Rising Stars players were James Major Burns, co-founder of Three and a Half Gays who’s appeared in numerous productions at the Youngstown Playhouse, with which his organization has a partnership, and Craig “Big Money Jack” Jackson, a local artist and a 2010 Campbell Memorial High grad.
“I play [basketball] on a regular basis. It’s more about doing it for the kids and everyone having good times,” he said about Sunday’s two competitions. “I’ve got to stay fit mentally and physically, man.”
Jackson and Jonezy “Too Cool,” a rap artist, also are part of a group called Steez Paradise, which specializes in mixing hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll, they said.
When the two aren’t on the basketball court, chances are you’ll find the duo in a recording studio, because they are working on a project titled “Mosh Points 0,” which combines the two musical genres. To that end, they have 13 tracks recorded, Jonezy said.
The rap artist added that his primary influences are singer Michael Jackson, along with Steven Tyler, the lead singer for the Boston-based band Aerosmith, and Future, a rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer perhaps best known for his self-titled album and one called “HNDRXX.”
Also in the mix was Brandon Perry, who founded City Kids Care Inc., an organization that has created programs, provided youth-development opportunities and hosted more than 120 community events, all aimed at allowing youngsters to build self-esteem, achieve academic and other success and instill in them tools to serve them positively throughout their lives, according to its mission statement.