ALL SPORTS GRADUATES GIVE BACK

By STEPHEN HAMMILL

When Tyrone Keys founded All Sports Community Service in 1993, he envisioned a program where kids could find the opportunity to pursue higher education through community service and mentoring.

Fourteen years, $20 million and hundreds of college graduates later, he has achieved just that.
Keys’ kids don’t fit a mold. He stressed All Sports is not a haven for the super-gifted athlete or for any specific minority. One of the tenants of the program is diversity, and it is seen in the students.

Tara Whelan was a Gaither High School point guard in 1999 when she had her first contact with Keys. All Sports helped her get a basketball and softball scholarship to Kentucky State University, where she graduated in 2005.

She returned to Tampa and to the All Sports family soon after. Now a physical education teacher at Middleton High School in Tampa, she also runs an after-school program there, sponsored through All Sports, aimed at young girls.

“We help the girls know there’s somewhere they can go to get good information about colleges and also get good life skills,” Whelan said.
Whelan is writing a formal proposal with the help of All Sports to make the after-school program a permanent fixture at Middleton.

“We’re definitely going to stress the community service aspect,” she said. “You may think things are bad until you see someone who has it worse.”
Whelan represents the third generation of graduate mentors for All Sports. Her mentor was an All Sports alumnus himself, taught by Keys, and now she is teaching her kids the very same lessons, something that makes Keys particularly proud.

“We really don’t care how many yards they’ve run for, how many touchdowns they score or how many homeruns they hit,” said Keys. He doesn’t follow their athletic careers, but rather the time they spend giving back to the community.

“Their natural progression is going to lead them to want to help with someone else’s dreams,” he said.

Satellite programs like the one Whelan heads up currently reside in five high schools, reaching about 75 students.

In choosing students for their program, Keys and the All Sports staff look for kids who would be the first in their family to go to college.
All students must perform community service as part of the agreement, and the staff keeps track of students’ grades throughout the year.
On a recent tour of the All Sports offices, Keys pointed out a computer lab for students or parents in need of Internet access.

“We have a lot of parents who don’t have a computer, and nowadays so much has to be done on one to get into a college,” he said.

Many previously overlooked athletes receive partial or full academic scholarships through All Sports. Non-athletes receive academic or community service scholarships and other types of college entrance assistance.

Keys is a native of Jackson, Miss., where he played college ball for Mississippi State University, earning a place in the school’s Sports Hall of Fame.
His seven-year career in the National Football League featured a Super Bowl win with the 1985 Chicago Bears and a stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After retirement from football, Keys made Tampa his permanent home.

Keys is himself a Carrollwood resident and a former Carrollwood News Person of the Year.

Fourteen years ago, he assisted a young man named Albert Perry achieve his dream of becoming the first in his family to attend college. Keys had helped with a scholarship for Perry to attend Texas Southern University, but did not check to make sure he had transportation to get there. Perry never made it out of his neighborhood, and was murdered a year later.

That tragic event provided the catalyst for Keys to found All Sports Community Service Inc, a nonprofit organization, in response to Perry’s death.
The late Jerry Ulm created job opportunities at his car dealership for two high school students in the summer of 1993, while Keys served as their mentor. From that seed a partnership was born, and there’s been no looking back.

“Our game plan was not to give handouts, but to require students to earn a chance to attend college and to take responsibility for their destinies,” he said.
The program has grown by leaps and bounds, and is now developed around the concept of two tiers and four quarters of a student’s process. The first tier involves the use of personal mentors to establish relationships with the students while in high school.

At that stage, Keys and his staff pre-select those candidates that will pass into the second tier, based on their personal and financial needs.
Once in college, the students are monitored closely to ensure retention. The mentor program works on the premise that many at-risk students have the desire for a higher education after high school, but lack the necessary direction. The mentors guide these students in their transition into college and even track their development through graduation.

Upon graduation, many All Sports’ students come back to the program to become mentors and mentor coordinators themselves.
Keys had a personal mentor of his own in Odell Jenkins, his former coach at Mississippi State University. Jenkins now hosts a satellite program for 15 kids in Jackson, Miss.

Many current and former Buccaneers have given not just their money, but their time. Mike Alstott, Trent Dilfer, Derrick Brooks and Leroy Selmon are just a small sample of the names of players both past and present who have helped, Keys said.

Current Buccaneers safety Will Allen came into the offices one Tuesday and has been coming back every week since. He now takes part in one of the after-school satellite programs at King High School in Tampa.

All Sports alumni include head coaches, NFL scouts, a bank manager, a Rhodes Scholar and a high school principal.

Keys noted how All Sports has become a model program for other cities. Former Buccaneer Santana Dotson has started a similar community service initiative in Houston, Texas.

All Sports funding comes mainly from donations and grants. NFL Charities has donated money, and this year alone, 55 alumni contributed to the program. The staff is small at four, but they get the work done, Keys said.

Comprising the rest of the All Sports staff are Eric “Pink” Floyd, operations manager, Christina Whidden, director of grants and scholarships, and Jasmine Lane, director of the recently added women’s program.

“It couldn’t happen without Pink, Christina and Jasmine,” said Keys. “The QB is nothing without his offensive line.”

Keys attributes much of the program’s success to its volunteers. In essence, the very existence of All Sports stands as an example of what can be accomplished through volunteerism.

“We’re not really giving the students anything,” said Keys. “They earn it when they give back.”

He believes there are two forces in the world, positive and negative, and that young people are faced with the choice early on.

All Sports has volunteer partnerships with the Joshua House, Metropolitan Ministries, the YMCA, the Leslie Peters House and the Special Olympics.

Keys said his greatest reward has come from seeing All Sports students come full circle after college, dedicating themselves to helping others who face similar challenges.

“No one can do everything,” he said, “but everyone can do something.”

All Sports offices are located at 4511 N. Himes Ave., Suite 195. For more information, call 348-3729 or visit http://www.allsportscommunity.org.