St. Paul police officer Tom Reis knew the High School for Recording Arts was “nontraditional,” but he still was surprised by the shoes he saw on the court at basketball drills one day.
Reis moonlights as security at the charter school on University Avenue, and he noticed several kids in shoes past their expiration date, and one kid wearing penny loafers. He spoke to the coach about the penny loafers after practice.
“I said, ‘What’s the deal? Why are some of the kids in that?'” Reis said. “That particular kid, he said, only has two outfits that he has ever seen him come to school in, and that’s the only pair of shoes he’s ever seen him in. He doesn’t have basketball shoes.”
It turned out the coach was talking to the right moonlighting cop. Reis has been involved in Shop with Cops, a holiday charity program, from its start, and he took it upon himself to make sure the basketball players had better shoes.
The High School for Recording Arts is a last-chance destination for many students, a place where they can focus their energies on music and transfer some of that focus to academics as well. The school doesn’t have a basketball team, but it hosts the Grassroots Hoops Club, an organization that’s gained a reputation for getting low-income players into college through basketball scholarships. Grassroots players come from Recording Arts and other schools, and many of them are disadvantaged. If they play a lot of sports, their parents have a hard time keeping them in shoes.
Reis talked to Arnoldo Curiel and Jeff Gardner at Shop with Cops, and the effort was underway. Shop with Cops raised $3,800 and got Nike to sell them some shoes at half price. Nike also threw in a bunch of basketballs and water bottles.
Reis and some fellow cops delivered the goods Wednesday evening. About 40 basketball players from the Grassroots Hoops Club gathered in the school gym and waited patiently through a round of speeches to get their shoes.
Grassroots president Brian Sandifer talked about players who lack not only shoes but even a reliable place to sleep. He said he knows of at least one player who spends his days and has his meals at school and then rides the light rail all night until it’s time to come back to school.
Basketball for them isn’t necessarily going to be a career, but for many it can be a ticket to a university or community college scholarship.
With the speeches done, the players stepped up one by one to get their shoes. They tried them on, cradled them in their laps and looked forward to wearing them at a tournament this weekend in Texas. They’re taking Reis along on the trip, and some are hoping to come home with college offers.
Isaiah Powell and Shawn Blanchard, both Central High School students who take part in the Grassroots program at Recording Arts, said they’re hoping basketball helps get them into college. Blanchard said he plays at Central, but he also participates in Grassroots because the coaches take care of players and make sure they have the resources to play in tournaments where they can be spotted by college scouts.
Blanchard said he won’t be able to afford college without some sort of scholarship, but he plans to get in one way or another.
“If I don’t get a scholarship I’m going to go to the Army to pay for college,” he said.