Nicholls’ Allen enjoying a big season
January 16, 2013Despite adversity, don’t give up on LSU football just yet
January 16, 2013
A Mulberry Elementary student pushed a basketball behind his back two times Friday afternoon and then gently kicked it with his knee to a man waiting for the odd pass with a giant smile.
Just minutes after this went on, another stood on the back of a gigantic grown man who was hunched onto the school’s floors doing push-ups.
Sure, it wasn’t exactly conventional learning, but it was an hour-long lesson these kids won’t forget for a long time.
Former Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams joined former Buffalo Bills lineman Leonard Larramore this week at schools throughout the parish for Project LEAD.
The two motivational speakers shared their stories in an hour-long presentation that combined humor with lessons designed to show the children the importance of choices in their lives.
“We’re here for two reasons – the first is to just get you out of class for a while,” Adams said with a laugh as students erupted in applause. “And the second is to tell you our stories and to hope that you learn from us, while having fun.”
Adams led off the high-paced hour with his story – one filled with ups and downs along the way.
The former Globetrotter told the children that he witnessed his father abuse his mother.
“He’d drag her through the street and then beat her with a water hose,” Adams said. “And I had to watch that.”
The former professional basketball player also said he never remembers being told “I love you” by his mother.
“I remember playing football and scoring four touchdowns,” Adams said. “The first thing my mom told me is, ‘Well, you would have gotten five if you wouldn’t have fumbled the ball.
“If I took a test and I got an 89, I’d get cussed. If I got a 91, she’d say that I should have gotten a 95. If I got a 100, she wouldn’t say anything at all, because that’s what I should have gotten in the first place.”
Adams told the children that because of his family’s situation, he contemplated suicide at a young age.
But he said his whole life changed when a teacher told him three simple words: “You are awesome.”
Those words sparked a turnaround that pushed the standout to college, the NBA and eventually the Globetrotters.
“She said it so much that I started to believe it,” Adams said. “She gave me my first birthday party when I was 12 years old. I went from making straight F’s to being on the Honor Roll my sophomore, junior and senior years and graduating at the top percentage of my class in college.
“All of this came from a teacher who didn’t teach me reading or writing or math. She just told me I was awesome.”
Adams encouraged the students to show appreciation toward everyone and to not be afraid to show love toward one another.
He relayed his message through comedy – jokes geared toward making the students “laugh while they learn.”
“You never know how much those words might mean,” Adams said.
The former Globetrotter capped his presentation in true Globetrotter fashion – basketball tricks.
He showed a handful of the students a few of his patented tricks – even allowing a few kids to try them on their own.
The kids laughed in hysterics as they watched their classmates get tripped up in the abnormal ball handling.
While Adams used comedy to tell his story, Larramore used brute strength to show that dreams can come true.
“You never stop dreaming,” Larramore said. “I wasn’t always this big guy bench pressing 600 pounds. I was so skinny as a kid, I could hoola-hoop inside a Cheerio.”
The former NFL player told the children that his father abandoned his family at a young age.
Despite the obstacles, he said he never “let go of his dream.”
He showed the students exactly how powerful that could be, doing pushups with a small kid, a medium-sized kid and a large kid each on his back.
Each student represented the size of a dream.
“The small dreams are easy – almost anyone can do those,” Larramore said. “But that doesn’t mean the other ones can’t be done. They just are harder and take a little bit more work.”
The former NFL player also ripped a phone book in half. He told the children to envision each name on each page as a time he was told he couldn’t succeed.
“I was told I couldn’t get my dream my whole life,” Larramore said. “But there I was running out of that tunnel on national TV on Monday Night Football with the Buffalo Bills.”
Both the former Globetrotter and the former NFL standout thanked the Mulberry teachers for a job well done.
“Maybe you don’t hear this a lot, but I stopped by today to tell you that you guys are awesome,” Adams said. “I’m telling you that millions and millions of kids’ lives are touched and inspired – not by what Dwayne Wade did or what LeBron James did – but it’s because of what you do. There may be kids getting on your last nerve. And there might be that one kid who you might want so badly to give up on. But I sincerely hope you don’t. Because guess what? That kid was me. And when you don’t give up, that’s when millions of kids’ lives get changed.”
“What you do affects more people than you probably realize,” Larramore agreed. “Thanks so much for being there. A lot of people may take it for granted. Please know that I do not take it for granted.”
The Mulberry students roared with applause as the presentation came to a close.
For one hour, books were closed and blackboards were left alone.
Life lessons were on display – lessons that will stick with these kids for a lifetime.
Former Harlem Globetrotter Melvin Adams smiles as he tells a joke to students at Mulberry Elementary School.
