Mitchum Foundation Holds Awareness Day

By: Keith Mills

Preston Mitchum Jr. didn't participate in high school sports growing up in Prince George's and Montgomery County, but he is well aware of the role sports play in society.

"Leadership, teamwork, discipline. They are crucial elements in the development of kids," Mitchum said. "A lot of our kids play sports and they are always looking at athletes as role models and our foundation is always emphasizing the athletes that do it the right way"

Mitchum is president of the Preston Mitchum Jr. Foundation, a non-profit organization that addresses the effects of poverty and violence on at-risk youth in the Baltimore area. He is also a graduate of Towson University and a news photographer at WMAR-TV.

Last Saturday at Loyola College, area elementary, middle and high school students took part in the PMJ Foundation's fourth career awareness day, which offered advice, counseling and hands-on skills from professionals representing nearly a dozen industries.

Among the presenters were artist Katia Baskins, Cathy Krotouil of Visuals Graphic Design, Kim Chase of WRBS-FM 95.1, reporter-anchor Roosevelt Leftwich of WMAR-TV, photographer Darryl Mitchell of WJZ-TV, Darren Williams of the Precision Youth Power Program, school guidance counselor Monteece Carter and representatives from the Baltimore County Forensics Crime Lab, the FBI and the United States Navy.

"This is the fourth year we've done this," Mitchum said, "and we've found the kids to be very responsive. Sports, music, art. It's all a part of their lives on a daily basis. We just try and give them an idea of what's out there."

The PMJ Foundation does not offer athletic programs, but Mitchum knows the power sports have on the kids he's trying to inform and educate.

"Ray Lewis, Cal Ripken … these kids can identify with those athletes," said Mitchum, who went to High Point High in Price George's County before finishing up his high school career at Montgomery Blair. "A lot of kids don't have a dad in the house and they are looking for something or someone to identify with."

Students from Lansdowne Elementary School, the Middle River Boys and Girls Club and the James Mosher Little League took part in the forum.

Mike Singletary runs the Mosher program, one of the oldest inner city programs in the country, with an assist from 83-year-old Hubert "Bert" Simmons, who grew up in Tarboro, N.C., and came to Baltimore in 1950 to play for the Baltimore Elite Giants.

"Things like this are crucial for the kids," said Simmons, who is a member of the North Carolina A&T Hall of Fame and was selected by the Orioles in last month's free agent draft as each major league team selected a former Negro League player.

"That was really a fantastic thing," Simmons said. "I got to throw out the first ball at one of the games and 150 kids from our little league program got to go to the game."

Simmons is a also a former teacher and baseball coach at Northwestern High School, working at the Baltimore school from 1967 to '84. He worked with such outstanding coaches as Sam Leishure, Jim Welch, Jim Ward and Ed Novak and was also coach of the former amateur team known as the Johnny Blues.

"Walter Youse (longtime Orioles scout and manager of the Leone's and Johnny's national amateur powerhouses) talked me into putting a team together of black kids in the city," Simmons said. "That was right after Reggie Jackson came to play for Walter at Leone's. The kids in the city really didn't have a lot of opportunity to play baseball. So Walter Youse, Bernie Walter (former Leone's player and coach) and I had dinner one night at a local restaurant and we came up with Johnny Blues."

Kurt Schmoke and Tom Gatewood of City College, Charlie Pittman of Edmondson, Ronnie Briggs of Northwestern, McDonogh's Billy Gardner and Fran and Deke Couch were among the first members of the Johnny Blues.

"Most of our guys went on to play football in college," Simmons said, "but they were also very good baseball players."

Schmoke, of course, became the mayor of Baltimore. Gatewood was a standout wide receiver at Notre Dame while Pittman played for Joe Paterno at Penn State.

Now Simmons helps out with the James Mosher Little League, hoping to add some insight from his more than 60 years of playing and coaching.

"The problem I see today is parenting," Simmons said. "There's not a lot of leadership in the home. The kids are almost parenting themselves."

"That's something we're definitely trying to address," said Mitchum, whose foundation also sponsors community shelter donation drives, back-to-school cleanup days and educational awareness seminars. "We realize the void that is there. Whether the kid is an athlete or not, that part of growing up is crucial."

Issue 3.30: July 24, 2008