<\/div>\nOpportunity triumphed over tragedy today at the McBride Park gymnasium, where the Midnight Basketball program was officially saved by a $30,000 donation from Union Pacific just weeks before the season was slated to begin. Midnight Basketball has been operating since 1994, and looked to be in jeopardy when the 2009 City Budget was released with a $16.9 million deficit. Cuts were going to have to be made, and the future of the program was in serious doubt.<\/p>\n
But the Union Pacific donation will be enough to keep the program running through its 2008 season – which runs from early October to late November – and Program Director Clarence Rhone hopes for a similar donation in 2009.<\/p>\n
“I always believed that this program was too much of a good thing to go away,” said Rhone, who said the donation was “beyond belief.”<\/p>\n
“I want the community and the city to be involved in this program. I want them to know how wonderful it is.”<\/p>\n
An all-star team of city leaders were on hand for the announcement – Councilmember Dee Andrews celebrating a positive step for his 6th District, Parks & Recreation Director Phil Hester savoring a win for his department, Mayor Bob Foster glad that the program won’t be axed on his watch, and CSULB President F. King Alexander offering a supportive hand as a basketball fan.<\/p>\n
“We want these kids to know that they can be a part of a university campus,” Alexander said, suggesting that the Midnight Basketball championship game be played on the floor of the Long Beach State Pyramid. He explained participating in a similar program as a youngster in Gainesville, Florida, calling it “…a good, wholesome competitive activity for our youth.”<\/p>\n
Councilman Andrews, a product of the oft-troubled area and a local sports legend himself, echoed Alexander’s remarks.<\/p>\n
“In my District, you have to understand what a program like this means,” he said, stressing the generosity of Union Pacific to invest in an area desperately in need of positive activities for its youth.<\/p>\n
Rhone knows first-hand. Growing up as a kid just blocks away from McBride, he tells of long hours spent in the gym practicing and watching great players inspire him to continue working hard. As a second-year director of the program and a 17-year coach at Poly High, he hopes to provide the same example to kids that look up to him.<\/p>\n
“They really aren’t bad kids,” Rhone says of the program’s players, who range from ages 17-25. “They just need direction, and they need mentors. They see me and they say, ‘Well, if he can do it…’”<\/p>\n
To help them find their niche and become positive members of the community, the program also features workshops on life skills that players will be able to use in their adult lives.<\/p>\n
“Basketball is the hook,” Rhone says, “But our workshops are the main thing.”<\/p>\n
For 2008 at least, Rhone will be able to continue doing his main thing, and also plans to take the experience one step further. This season, there will be six teams, one of which is made up of firefighters and police officers, connecting kids with law enforcement in a positive way much as the Police Athletic League does.<\/p>\n
“Now we really have the community and the city as one,” Rhone says.<\/p>\n
One of the city’s best community programs keeps youth involved in sports and reaching for the stars. A recent donation keeps it alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/i304.photobucket.com\/albums\/nn191\/LBPOSTphotos\/Sports\/1.jpg\")
A custom basketball made by Midnight Basketball participants for Mayor Bob Foster.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/i304.photobucket.com\/albums\/nn191\/LBPOSTphotos\/Sports\/2.jpg\")
Mayor Bob Foster joins CSULB President F. King Alexander at the podium.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/i304.photobucket.com\/albums\/nn191\/LBPOSTphotos\/Sports\/3.jpg\")
A beautiful mural on the walls of the McBride Gym.
<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"