Providence-St. Mel
TOP SPORTS MOMENTS
Best ever?
(Keith Hale/Sun-Times)
Location: 119 S. Central Park Ave., Chicago
Conference: Chicago Prep
Colors: Purple, gold, white
Nickname: Knights
Enrollment: 594
State titles: Boys basketball in 1985
Behind the name: Merger of Providence and St. Mel, 1969
1. Many old-timers rate coach Tom Shields’ 1985 boys basketball championship team as the best in Class A history. The Knights (31-3), led by Lowell Hamilton, Fernando Bunch, Joe Jackson, Doug Johnson and Illya McGee, won their last four games by margins of 48, 33, 11 and 32 points. In five seasons, Shields’ teams won 141 of 159 games, an .887 winning percentage.
Prelude to glory
2. The all-junior basketball team set the stage for the 1985 state title by finishing third in 1984. The Knights (30-4), led by Hamilton, Bunch, Jackson, Terry Miles and Keith Langston, lost to Mount Pulaski 76-74 in the semifinals despite Langston’s 21 points and a 27-18 rally in the fourth quarter. They beat Lena-Winslow 79-65 for third as Hamilton scored 28.
Girls finish fourth
3. In 1997, coach Billy Garrett’s girls track and field team took fourth in the Class A meet. Junior Nyasha Scott finished second in the 100-and 200-meter dashes to Kristin Owens of Tri-Valley. The 800 relay of Crystal Blanton, Scott, Robin Burnett and Nina Phillips was second, and the 400 relay of Blanton, Scott, Carmita Harris and Phillips was fourth.
Harris sets pace
4. Sophomore Rodney Harris won the 100-meter dash, beating Joe Henderson of Leo, as coach Art Murnan’s boys track and field team tied for fifth in the Class A meet in 1982. Thomas Trice was sixth in the 100, and Donald Washington was eighth in the 300 hurdles. The 400 relay was fifth, and the 800 relay was sixth. Harris went on to win the 100 as a junior and senior.
Durham, Burton & Co.
5. In 1992, Murnan took another boys track and field team to the Class A meet. For the second time, the Knights finished fifth. Theo Durham placed fourth in the 400 and tied for seventh in the 100, John Ball was eighth in the triple jump, Darnell Burtin was fourth in the long jump and seventh in the 110 hurdles, the 400 relay was second and the 1,600 relay was fourth.
WHAT PROVIDENCE-ST. MEL MEANS TO ME
By Linton Johnson: A 1998 graduate and Sun-Times Class A All-Stater, Johnson is with the Charlotte Bobcats. He has played in 143 career NBA games.
Every morning, we had to say a mission statement. It said: ‘‘We will find a way to succeed or make one. Every day, it means something to you that you will never give up or live life with excuses.’’ With that motto, you never stop moving.
I’m a guy who wasn’t drafted into the NBA, had to go back to college to get my finance degree and overcame so many obstacles. But if you keep working hard, you will succeed. That is one of the most essential things I wouldn’t have learned at any other high school.
I took the entrance exam and was below average in language. So Kathleen Sheehan, my English teacher, pushed me. I would finish my work so early, she would give me additional assignments. I got an A in her class. She also pushed me to apply for the Summer Opportunities of a Lifetime program. It was a turning point for me.
I got to go to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. It was the first time I had a chance to go to a school with kids of many different backgrounds. Being an African-American kid who went to black schools was all I knew. The experience opened my eyes. It showed me my life is like a book, that I couldn’t travel on one page.
Billy Garrett, my basketball coach, is the reason I’m in the NBA. He instilled hard work in me and helped me develop into a strong defensive player. That’s why I’m on the Bobcats. And I learned discipline from Paul Adams, the principal. At St. Mel, you had to be punctual. If you don’t have discipline, you don’t know how to handle problems. If you have discipline, you know how to adjust and get better results.
I worked with athletic director Teresa Cullen, who is associated with my camps and my organization, Third Gear Youth Leadership, a basketball camp and academic clinic for kids. It’s my way of giving back to the community and the school.
NOTABLE ALUMNI
• Ronald Banks: Dean, SIU-Edwardsville.
• Kimberlee Burt: CEO, A Child’s Space Early Learning Center.
• Gregory Canty: White House social aide.
• Janetta Cotton: Author, education consultant.
• LaDarius Curtis: Obama outreach coordinator.
• Deila Davis: Access Community Health Network.
• Timothy Ervin: Chicago Knights Foundation.
• John Fountain: Journalist, author and professor.
• Carl Harris: VP, ABN AMRO.
• Angela Johnson-Williams: Educator.
• Sylvia Jones: Producer, Ch. 7.
• Dr. Cassandra Minor: Gastroenterologist.
• Ayanna Minor: Turner Point Consulting.
• Ayeola Minor: Navigation Technologies.
• Roosevelt Moncure: Hyatt Regency Chicago.
• Aleatha Wilson Muhammad: Di’mond Consulting Group.
• Dr. Janice Matthews Rasheed: Loyola U.