community
By John Telford During his childhood in
the 1970s, Shawon Respress was in foster care. By 1985, this former ward of the court had, amazingly, become a star trackman and a Detroit News Dream-Team football player at Central High.
He started on some good
University of Iowa teams as a linebacker, graduated with a degree in special education, and returned to DPS to coach at his alma mater, as many of us old PSL athletes have done. He counts as mentors Central coaches David Snead (later DPS superintendent) and the late, great Woody Thomas, plus another old DPS coach
gers — paid him a visit. By then, former foster care client Shawon was anticipating retir- ing from teaching and coach- ing and going to work for the Michigan Foster Care System.
Shawon encouraged his
former protégé to continue to take advantage of his extraor- dinary football talent, but also to reach back into the commu- nity and touch some lives of disadvantaged youths. Three years later, Antonio asked his former mentor to help him help many youngsters with the same mentoring and caring that Shawon had given him and his Central teammates and
THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
June 16-22, 2010 Gates Foundation rehabilitates troubled teens
classmates when they were coming up in Detroit under his mentorship. Shawon en- thusiastically agreed.
Superstar Antonio Gates
intends to use some of the millions of dollars he has earned during his luminous career as a tight end for San Diego to seed his foundation in Michigan (and ultimately in several other states) to provide teenage boys who are wards of the court with long- term round-the-clock resi- dence, individual and group therapy, social skills develop- ment, vocational education, curriculum-centered tutoring,
and athletic training. Shawon Respress, Gates’ former coach and mentor, is now the CEO and program director of Open- ing Gates Inc., Antonio Gates’ non-profit residential child care institute centered in a huge half-million-dollar resi- dence in Shelby Township.
Coincidentally, this resi-
dence is near the spacious second home I bought for my wife Gina and me on a little lake in the township two miles from the Opening Gates mansion, and now the Open- ing Gates executive board has elected me as its president. While I serve on other phil-
anthropic boards, including those of Team for Justice, the Clear Purpose Foundation, Wolverine Human Services, and the Detroit Track Old- Timers, this one is particular- ly intriguing to me because its institute’s supporting foun- dation was established by an athlete with very deep pock- ets. Also, its institute is being administered by a dedicated fellow ex-jock who like me was in a residential institution in his early youth. Opening Gates has also
partnered with Pathways Em- ployment Services in Farming- ton Hills and other suburban
Telford’s
Telescope By John Telford
who happens to be writing this column.
While Shawon Respress
was launching his coaching career at Central, he helped to mentor a super-talented young athlete named Antonio Gates. Several years later, Shawon had become the head coach at Osborn High School, and his talented former Cen- tral player — who in the mean- time had become a dominant star with the San Diego Char-
Detroit Retire- ment Systems participates
The General Retirement
System of the City of Detroit and the Police and Retirement System of the City of Detroit (Detroit Retirement Systems) recently announced that they, along with other existing in- vestors including the gaming affiliates of Rivers Casino chairman Neil Bluhm and Walton Street Capital, have participated in a successful recapitalization of the Rivers Casino located in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Detroit Retirement
Systems’ action protects the long-term interests of its members and retirees by re- ducing the casino’s secured debt by over 45 percent result- ing in improved financial sta- bility. It also allows the casino to commence with table game operations, which will further enhance its financial perfor- mance and contribute to long- term revenue growth.
The recapitalization, which
received the support of 100 percent of the casino’s senior lenders, includes the infusion of $108 million of new capital from the gaming affiliates of Rivers Casino chairman Neil Bluhm and Walton Street Cap- ital ($54 million) and the De- troit Retirement Systems ($27 million each).
The Detroit Retirement
Systems have increased their participation from 10 percent up to an economic equivalent of 39.8 percent, subject to gaming authority approval.
Wine tasting
raises funds The Golden Retriever
Rescue of Michigan (GRRoM) will host a “Night of Wine and Goldens” wine tasting event on Tuesday, June 29, from 6 to 9 p.m., at The Oxford Inn, 1214 S. Main St., Royal Oak. Tickets for this fundraiser are $40 per person in advance or $45 at the door. Space is lim- ited and participants must be 21 years of age or older.
Guests will sample red
and white award-winning dog- themed wines by Mutt Lynch Winery of California, including 2008 “Unleashed” Chardon- nay, a gold-medal winner at the California State Fair Wine Competition. The wines are sponsored by Holiday Market, working with Mutt Lynch Winery, a proud supporter of local animal rescue organiza- tions.
For more information or to
donate silent auction items, e- mail Jeff Angell at grromtrea-
surer@gmail.com.
For more information about
GRRoM, visit the organiza- tion’s website at
www.grrom. com.
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REMEMBER, FATHER’S DAY IS JUNE 20
and inner-city organizations. Former foster child Shawon
Respress has come a long way. Now, with Gates and me by his side, his sojourn on behalf of troubled kids has shifted into overdrive.
Retired school superin-
tendent and All-American sprinter John Telford’s tell-all memoir on DPS is available at Barnes & Noble stores, at
www.AlifeontheRUN.com, and at Harmonie Park Press — (586) 979-2077.
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