SoCalHoops Local News

LA Metro: Late Nite Hoops
League, A Success Story--(Aug. 11, 1999)

When we start writing about guys who play in local rec leagues instead of which college is after some hot high school prospect, well, you know it's a slow news month.  So what?  It's time once again to cull through the local newspapers to see what others are writing about, and one of the things we found is a nice piece written by one of the LA Times' own staff writers, Kevin Hunter about Terence Smith, a man who made it out of the gang life through basketball and is on his way to becoming a teacher.  Nice story.

Not everyone who plays hoops as a kid will make it to the NBA.  The odds are that most players won't. The NCAA estimates that a high school player today has a 1 in 20,000 chance of playing beyond high school, and indeed, the vast majority of players will not play in college either.  Indeed, many kids in the inner cities won't even make it to college, let alone play for one.  There are gangs, drugs, chronic poverty, and so many other variables that affect so many young lives, and we'd say the odds are far better that a young man growing up in South Central LA will be in a gang than he will be in the NBA. 

Lots of good people are determined to see that young people in the inner city make it out of the gang life, and some have found that the best way is through hoops.  This is one of those stories. Most of you probably missed the story in the Times, but it's a story worth telling, and a lot of people in the area know about the Late Nite Hoops League at Harvard Park.  The League is now 10 years old, and it's still going strong. There are hundreds of leagues at rec centers all over the country, but this one is right here in SoCal, in our own backyard.  Here's the article, written by Times staff writer Kevin Hunter: 

Terence Smith is an example of someone who didn't let peer pressure or temptation get to him.  Living in the heart of South Central Los Angeles, he narrowly escaped getting involved with gangs or drug dealing as a teenager.   Smith, 29, started playing in the Late Nite Hoops League at Harvard Park when it first started 10 years ago as an outlet. Although he was never directly involved with gangs, Smith saw the league as something to do with his free time. 

Now as the league celebrates its 10th anniversary, Smith can be called one of the pioneers and role models of the league. And just like 10 years ago, he still enjoys the fierce competition it provides two nights a week. The aspiring math teacher wants to take some of the experiences he's learned and pass it on to the next generation of youths in the area.  "We were playing basketball one day at Algin Sutton Recreation Center," Smith recalled. "Ed [Turley] and Charles [Norman] from the Central Recovery and Development Project came in and said that they were forming a league with a lot of neighborhoods as far as the Bloods and the Crips were concerned.   "He asked us if we wanted to get in it and we were kind of leery at first," the 29-year-old father of two continued. "Everybody knows that the Bloods and Crips don't get along and we were from a Crip neighborhood." Smith took a chance and decided to play after finding out not everyone in the league had gang affiliations. 

After graduating from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, Smith was in and out of college and worked at various jobs.  Unemployed and needing to pay the bills, Smith had been tempted to become a drug dealer. He said he could have made as much as $800 a week as a "middle man," but he never took the bait. Having brothers and friends involved in gangs was all the motivation he needed to just say no.  "I got a chance to see it all," Smith said. "Even though I wasn't in it, I was around it '24-7.' That was one of the reasons I never got into anything like that." Smith knows today he wants to make a difference in the lives of others and feels the best way to do that is through education.  He had worked for various construction companies and now lives in Los Angeles Mid-City area after moving from the childhood home in South Central on 81st and Figueroa streets. He plans to attend L.A. Southwest College this fall to continue taking classes toward a degree in education.

Smith can be considered one of the league's success stories. He was a person who almost took the wrong path to possible destruction.   "Terence has grown tremendously as a person," said Norman. "He's one of those guys who has reached a point in his life that has made all of this worthwhile. He could be considered as a role model to other kids in the area as someone who can have an impact and do something with themselves." Smith looks back over the years to when he signed up to play in the Late Nite Hoops League and realizes so much has changed.   But, Smith thinks it may be time to pass on the torch to younger players.   "I'd like to see them come in here and play and get off the streets," he said. "For me, I'm grateful to Ed and Charles for always being there for me and to the L.A. Clippers for being the only team in L.A that has supported us since the beginning.  "The help and support that we've received hasn't come just from basketball. These guys have helped us come a long way and grow together as a community."

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