Praiseworthy Timeout

If only more student athletes could have the good fortune of playing for a coach like Ken Carter of the Bay Area’s Richmond High School. The fact that few do is borne out by college graduation statistics and the many stories of those who dropped through society’s cracks into poverty and obscurity once their athletic talent was lost through age or injury.

Graduation rates for collegiate athletes playing men’s basketball, for example, are abysmally low among all races. Some universities failed to produce any male graduates in the sport in the school years 1988-89 through 1991-92. Women players, with fewer prospects for professional riches, graduate in much greater numbers.

What’s needed are more coaches like Carter, who last week benched every player on his undefeated 13-0 boys’ basketball team and did so despite the fact that all were eligible to play under state grade point average requirements.

Carter didn’t stop there. He padlocked the gym and moved the benches to the school library. Why? His players were showing up late for classes, ducking homework and earning less than the 2.3 grade average that Carter demands of his players. Since last week practice hours at Richmond High have been spent cracking books with tutors and volunteers. What a loud and righteous message to send.

Maybe it was a gimmick, something to shake up the Richmond High players: Sure enough, on Monday Carter announced that his team will return to the court for a game tonight. So what. It wasn’t Carter who made this story so sadly remarkable but rather his coaching colleagues around the country who focus on win-loss records and little else.