Memorable stories of 2020: Basketball coach demands his students score on and off the court | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
January 1, 2021
“We’re not just trying to make them better players, we’re trying to make them better people,” Pulaski/Carmen Southeast High School varsity basketball coach Melvin White says. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Editor’s note: Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service staff pick the stories that still resonate with them after a chaotic 2020.
Unfortunately, because of  the COVID-19 pandemic, athletics have been put on hold in many schools.
Things couldn’t be much more different than last year, when players ran laps and pounded basketballs into the Pulaski/Carmen High School gymnasium, while boys varsity basketball coach Melvin White howled at them from the sideline.
“It’s tough love,” said White, who was a standout basketball player at Dominican High School and a scholarship athlete at Colby Community College in Kansas before deferring his hoop dreams.
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It was a decision he still regretted. Not wanting his players to go through what he did, he pushed them to persevere when things get tough. Coach White was grooming his players to be more prepared for basketball, and also the game of life.
The story about White and his players was the first story I wrote in 2020, and it also happens to be my favorite.
Click here to read the story.