Coach Bob Jones, Jr. Interview by John Krall, Keylen Kenney & Xzavier Rodgers

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Play/Pause Coach Bob Jones, Jr. Interview by John Krall, Keylen Kenney & Xzavier Rodgers

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My name is John Krall. I’m 12 years.

My name is Keylen Kenny. I’m 12 years old.

My name is Xzavier Rogers and I am 11 years old.

We interview Bob Jones.

We interview Coach Bob.

Coach Bob on June,

June 22nd,

June 22nd, 2016.

I was born in 1969, February 21st. My childhood, I would say it was pretty good. I don’t have many negative things to say about it. My parents were married till I turned 6 years old. At 6 years old, they separated. I have three sisters and a younger brother. My father, he wasn’t in the home, but I knew where he was. I didn’t realize how much that would affect me as a man today, but it did have an effect on me. I have good friends that I grew up with, guys that I’m still friends with today. I have 30 and 40 year relationships with some guys. My mother, she was definitely influential on me doing good things in life. She would always tell me I wasn’t allowed to be afraid of people, and I shouldn’t be afraid to try new things.

Garfield influenced me to want to play sports, do well in school and have a sense of pride in any and everything that I’ve done. There were guys that I looked up to, Rich McCord. They worked in this building actually. This was an old YMCA outreach building. So Mr. McCord, he was the outreach worker, and he worked with a lot of the kids. And he was always honest, up front, and he stressed that we were always doing the right thing. Some of the changes I would like to see in this neighborhood is one: we have a school for the young people to attend, whether it’s elementary, middle or high school, I believe every community should have a school or should have a hub of some type where youth and families can meet. If it’s not a school, I believe we need a recreation facility, and I’m hoping brothers and sisters emerging will be the organization to furnish that and provide that to the neighborhood.

I live here by choice. I can live anywhere. I believe I can live in the suburbs outside of the city. I could have moved away. I chose to be here in this neighborhood because one: I wanted my children to be a part of the true fabric of where the birth of a lot of cultural and influential things take place, and I believe it takes place in the city. I wanted to have them here so they wouldn’t be shocked or surprised by transitions that take place in today’s society and culture.

I had a child when I was 13 years old. The fortunate thing was I have three older sisters. During my years of middle school and high school and even college, my three sisters helped me out. When I had summer employment opportunities, I couldn’t go buy tennis shoes. I had to buy Pampers. I couldn’t buy the latest shirt. No, I had to buy a shirt for my child. My family helped out tremendously, but it woke me up quick.

I graduated from Waynesburg College. I have a bachelor’s degree in public administration and a minor in public management. Going to college did affect me in a good way. Growing up in Garfield, most of my friends are African American. Once I went to college, I went to school, the majority of the folks were white kids, but they were from rural areas outside of the city, so it just opened me up to a larger world.

Brothers and Sisters Emerging was developed and came into fruition back in 2008. I was talking with a friend about some of what we were doing around football and basketball activities, and we had conversations and discussions around advocacy and supporting youth and families in the neighborhood. The gentleman by the name of Mark Charlton, he actually came up with the name. It wasn’t until 2010 that we received an opportunity to develop a strategic plan from the PACE Foundation and that was a road map that we would be able to follow to do additional programming. So in 2013, we were given an opportunity through the Allegheny County Department of Human Services to receive a contract to provide after school and summer programming the same time we received the grant from the Heinz Endowments African American Male Mentoring Initiative to do male mentoring. So they put us in a great position to be able to service youth and families in Garfield.

I have dreams and aspirations. One is that you guys do well in school and you graduate and you go on to college and you become a successful, productive citizen one day. I want Brothers and Sisters Emerging to be an organization that’s a leader, and we become the experts in youth development.

I believe folks don’t tell the truth out of fear. So I’m not afraid of anyone. I’m not afraid of anything outside of being incarcerated, and I was afraid of my mother growing up.

Loyalty. You can’t exchange loyalty for anything if you’re a friend, you should be a friend to the end. You should always know who your true friends are, and more importantly, you should be an upfront and open friend to your friends. You gotta be humble. You gotta understand it’s you’re not the do all the be all and everything. You gotta have faith in the higher power and be real with yourself and everything else around you. So it’s necessary for me, I believe, to be humble because the job is not done. Stay focused. Don’t be down on yourselves. We all go through some difficult times and hard times. We’ll bounce back. Get through it. Don’t stay stuck in a bad place. Don’t stay down.

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