Thursday, Jan. 7, 1999

Coaches form winter hoops league here

League's volunteers aspire to be role models for young

By SYLVIA R. LONGORIA
Staff Writer

   Coach Aaron Bonds sometimes finds it impossible to carry on a conversation in the hallways of Calallen High School.
   Teen-agers call out to him from every direction, raising their voices above the din as students scrambled from one class to the next.
   "Hey coach, how are ya?" "Happy New Year, Coach" "Coach, gotta talk to you after school. It's important."
   What's the secret to the camaraderie?
   "Integrity and responsibility," said Bonds, a track, cross-country and freshman football coach there and a sponsor of Calallen's Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "They need to see your face every day. But the most important thing is that they have to feel they can trust you."
   That philosophy brought Bonds together with other local coaches for the fifth annual winter basketball league being held at Coles Elementary School. The other coaches are: Clint Guenther, a freshman girls basketball coach at Calallen; Art Green, a special education instructional aid with the Kingsville Independent School District; Bobby Joe Brooks, a Miller High School alumnus; and Darryl McDonald, a physical education and eighth-grade girls basketball coach at Haas Middle School.
   The winter league, a spinoff event from a summer basketball league held the past 15 years at the T.C. Ayers Youth Center, begins Jan. 16 and continues for six weeks.
   The league is open to boys and girls ages 7 to 12 from throughout the city. But Bonds, who has organized the winter and summer league referees for years, hopes to attract a large number of participants from around T.C. Ayers.
   "We want to be positive role models for them. It's about helping kids not only on the court, but off the court."
   When asked to referee, McDonald needed no convincing.
   As a boy growing up in the Hillcrest area, McDonald was fortunate to find a mentor and friend in John Thomas, then a Solomon Coles High School coach. Thomas had coached the Green Hornets to Prairie View A&M Interscholastic League state football championships in 1948 and 1960.
   McDonald, 38, credits Thomas with helping him realize his lifelong dream - to be a coach.
   "I remember him for what he was and what he stood for. Off and on the field, he always gave us pep talks.
   "He was a real religious man - prayer was a big part of his life. Just by knowing him, he instilled that in you. And he practiced what he preached."
   Like Thomas did throughout the 1960s, McDonald hopes he and his comrades can steer today's youths toward positive choices.
   "Thomas knew how to get the best out of us. If he were here today I'd tell him he very much made a difference."
   For information about the league or to volunteer, call 884-9552. Sylvia R. Longoria can be reached at 886-3718 or by e-mail at longorias@scripps.com