People
Cleaning Up on the Court

Willie Davis still remembers how his own basketball coaches influenced his life. In fact, they are the reasons Davis became the coach he is today. Under Davis' guidance, the boys' basketball team at Arthur F. Smith Junior High School in Alexandria, Louisiana, has earned three district championship titles and maintained a 91-14 record the past four years. Davis's efforts are not going unnoticed.

In February, HBO profiled Davis for an episode of Real Sports and he appeared in Sports Illustrated last year. The experiences still are overwhelming for Davis, who also works as the school's custodian. "When I got the phone call from Sports Illustrated, I was stunned," Davis says. "Then when HBO came with all the cameras, it was a great feeling."

Davis played basketball until ninth grade, but he dropped out of school after his father died. He later coached a youth league for 19 years before coming to the junior high. In 1997, the school asked Davis to coach the team.

"Losing my dad at an early age motivated me to help kids," Davis says.

Cribs for Kids

Putting an infant to bed in a crib provides a lot more than just a good night's sleep. It could save a child's life.

That is the philosophy behind Cribs for Kids, a program member William S. Coleman III started to provide free cribs to needy mothers in Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester has one of the highest infant mortality rates in Massachusetts, about 8.4 deaths per 1,000 live births or about 20 deaths per year. Many of those deaths are accidents that occur when items fall on a child who sleeps in a box, on the floor, or in some other unsafe location, Coleman says.

Last February Coleman, a nutrition educator at the University of Massachusetts Extension, partnered with 25 social services and health care agencies to collect 14 cribs and mattresses in 14 days. They received $12,000 in donations before the end of the month. By November, Coleman personally had delivered 175 cribs to needy mothers in the area.

"The question of infant mortality and trying to reduce it is one we have to look at," Coleman says. "Our theory was that the safest place for a baby is a crib."

Coleman kicked off this year's campaign in March with an education program that encourages expectant mothers to seek prenatal care. Coleman and his partner agencies will continue to collect and distribute cribs as needed.

"These are our future students," Coleman says. "So one infant death is one too many."

For more information, call 508/494-0046.

A Late Bloomer

Celia Folkman Amster retires next month after 33 years in the classroom. Not an unusual story--unless you consider that she didn't begin teaching until age 52.

"I've really enjoyed every single day of teaching," says Amster, 85. "I've always had a good relationship with students and their parents." She's currently teaching a student whose father and uncle she also taught. "After a while, you become part of the family," she says. "I feel like his grandmother!"

Amster, who teaches second grade at Lyncrest School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, was New Jersey's first Teacher of the Year. She put the $1,000 award to work in the school's backyard. An eight-acre lot across from the school had become an eyesore, strewn with old bicycle parts and tires. Amster mobilized parents who helped convert the lot to a wildlife center, featuring paths and a bridge over a stream.

In the past 30 years, she's become convinced that kids of all eras are more alike than different. "There were troubled kids 30 years ago, and there are troubled kids now." With the prevalence of the media, students' problems are more open, she says.

Amster keeps very active and plans to do so in retirement as well. Her colleagues who already have retired have convinced her she will have plenty to do. "Most of my friends have said that they didn't know how they ever had the time to work," she says.

Agents of Hope

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Larry Pryce and his English students at Pinconning Area High School in rural Michigan created Project B.E.A.R. (Bringing Empathy and Relief). In three months, this extraordinary effort delivered more than 1,200 new stuffed animals to New York and Washington D.C.-area firefighters, police officers, hospital workers, students, and families affected by the attacks.

"Stuffed animals and letters can't change what happened," says Pryce, a 32-year veteran, "but it did give encouragement to families in need."

The students have since collected more than 1,000 additional stuffed animals for 10 local charities.

"This is the greatest community service effort of my career," says Pryce. "We transformed ourselves from a small town school to an agent of hope and caring."

In a League of His Own

Coaching a team that makes it to one or two state championships in a sport is a significant accomplishment. But winning 54 state titles in five different sports over two decades is a completely different ball game--literally.

This amazing number of state championships belongs to Dave Houle and his dedicated, enthusiastic players. Houle, from Mountain View High School in Utah, reached his 1,000-win mark in February and won his 54th state championship in girls basketball shortly afterward.

"Every one of my wins is special, it doesn't matter if it's the first or the thousandth," Houle says.

As he reflects on his 20 years as a coach for girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, and boys and girls track, Houle wouldn't say he's burned out. But he does admit he is close to moving to the next level, perhaps to a Division I coaching position.

For now, though, Houle is coaching track and thriving on the energy he gets from his students.