Being around children for the better part of thirty-seven years, eight hours a day, one hundred seventy-five days a calendar year, I have had associations with thousands of students from pre-school through the middle school age. I taught my first six years in the public schools in Oklahoma City (Oklahoma City Public Schools – OKCPS) at Green Pastures 5th Year Center for four of those six, and North Highlands Fifth Year Center for the next two. In the fall of 1980 I began my career as a building administrator in the OKCPS and spent the next twenty-nine years in the District, all but two the principal of various elementary schools. My second stop at North Highlands, this time as the Principal of the school on the north side of OKC now a regular elementary, not a 5th year center. After serving as a teacher there ten years earlier, I was very pleased to go back to the wonderful kids of the North Highlands area. With a student population of almost 400 black students, I got a dream job for a young principal. North Highlands was full of energetic students that had the potential to b great human beings with the proper direction and push from the adults that were in their lives. During that period as the leader of North Highlands (1990-1998) I had the pleasure to have a young man that is now preparing to play in his 2nd Super Bowl this Sunday when his Denver Broncos take on the Carolina Panthers. Besides being a student of high potential in becoming a fine young adult as he mentally and physically matured, he also had the God given talents of being, even at eleven/twelve years old, a great athlete, a world class athlete in due time. Antonio Smith (Tony at the time to the staff at North Highlands) was the most physically mature pre-teen I have ever directed, as a teacher or as a principal.
Antonio was in good company with the other kids he grew up with in that he lived in an area of town that put an emphasis on sports, especially football. North Highlands school was situated in a residential that gave young males an opportunity to lean the sports as little tykes, as they would begin their organized football as very young children. The area has been given a bad rap for the negatives, but for me, I took a pride in working with those families, those kids, that had opportunities that many overlooked. Sure, we had the Bloods and Crips. But to a gang member, some that I had as students, they were human beings too. Yes, the neighborhood had some bad “actors”, but to a family, I never had a parent tell me they wanted their child to be in a gang. And for those that did become a gang member, never, not once, did I have a gang member disrespect me in the years as an educator at the school. And many times I would sit with said gang members to see how things were going and what was happening with their families. Always that would thank me for working with them, and the funny things is that most knew that they were on a bad track, but that was the way it was.
The best thing about Antonio when I was around him as a young man was that he had a sweat heart and in perspective, an was a good natured person. I believe he still is. In working with the young man during his early developmental years, anyone could see that he was an individual that had been taught the difference between right and wrong. Though his heart is heavy today as he lost his father just a day or so ago, Antonio got his moral balance from his mother, a fine woman. She had the task to raise “Tony” and his big sister, who would always look after him and. I will always remember my visits with Antonio’s mother, and with big sister, were a team that molded Antonio in being a righteous person. Antonio had a love of family (as it showed today in the article about his father’s death in the Daily Oklahoman). During my time with Antonio, I had daily interacting with the young man, sometimes for the good that he had displayed at school, often times for the troubled actions that had to be “cleaned up” by me as his principal. He was not unlike most kids but he had something special. Antonio was as strong as any child I had been around and with that he had to find his place in a society, first as a classmate of the friends he would journey with through his education in the OKCPS. A child with a temper at times (not always bad), Antonio was not to by-pass a confrontation, and he would stand his ground if needed (an honorable trait). But he knew his limitations as he knew his strengths and never hurt anyone in confrontation. He reminded me of one of my sons in fact, as he would always be the real deal in letting another child know his feelings on something, and wouldn’t take crap from another child his age. As with my son, who was older and bigger than his classmates, Antonio got respect just for his stature, and to add his communication skills, he was a leader of his peers.
But the thing about the young man was that he took direction extremely well and never disrespected adult authority. He also understood that he had a parent figure in his mother that would not give him “outs” on his behavior. Antonio was in fact grounded in love, compassion, and was surrounded by adults that had his best interests in perspective. Mrs.. Smith was the perfect parent, in that she might not agree with you as a teacher/principal, but the child, her children, would never know, always supporting the school’s decisions. Gaining a respect for authority gave Antonio something that a lot of children are without, that being a sense of knowing that there were adults in his corner, strong, and righteous parent (s) and teachers, that wouldn’t play, but were truthful and could be counted for positive direction. I didn’t keep touch with Antonio after elementary on a personal basis, and I knew of his exploits in high school and at Okla. State, and yes, it wasn’t always smoother. But I never really worried about him as his Mom would take care of him always. His end direction guided by his Mom was key. That is something that is missing with many kids today, and especially in homes where a parent worries more about where they are going to get the next joint, smoke, or bottle, and not the words and actions that might change the lives of their children for the better. Antonio learned that he had adults that had the best interest in his well-being, and that he had to suffer the consequences of a wrongful act, without manipulating a way out of it. Matter of fact, Antonio was blessed.
As for Antonio, he turned to sports and quality of these elementary teams that were called North Highlands, was high, with excellent coaches and some superior little future athletes. Through my total of fifteen years as a teacher and principal of North Highlands, I have had various little guys from age six to twelve that have gone on to play high school (Antonio played at John Marshal High School in OKC), college, and with Antonio, the National Football League. And I mean on a yearly basis. From my 1990 5th grade class alone, a group of 45 boys in a class of 90 with three teachers, I had one student that was an all-conference running back at the Univ. of Tulsa, a starting wrestler at the Air Force Academy, and a kid that got a scholarship at Arizona State Univ. to run track. That kind of young student athlete attended North Highlands on a yearly basis. Some stayed in state to play for the University of Oklahoma, others to attend smaller schools such as East Central in Ada, or as in Antonio’s case, to play for the Cowboys at Oklahoma State becoming an all-league performer.
Antonio, was always respected as a child at North Highland, and was treated as a child, even if he was as strong and tall as a large middle school student. Plus Antonio was respectful toward adults. Often he had to have time to “settle down” but he would always listen to words of advisement and “what could you have done to avoid the situation you were in.” We all, as educators, need to have children work on their listening skills, which in fact, goes along with reasoning skills. Antonio had developed those skills early on. The fact of the matter, Antonio was a great person, one of great potential, and one that you would do anything for to allow him to have future success in life. Sure, as an educator, we should have that feeling for all our charges, but life is life and some kids bring more to the table than other. That is just the way it is. Antonio brought a lot to the table of life yesterday, and even more today.
I am proud of what Antonio Smith as accomplished in his life. A leader on the outstanding Denver defense, Antonio has had a nice eight year NFL career that continues. But even with the great athletes, nothing comes easy. Yes, it has not been a smooth road for Antonio, but he has made it. I remember his first contract he signed in the NFL, one that gave him enough money to buy his mother a new expensive vehicle. I am sure that his joy that day is much more than five super bowl wins. No, Antonio didn’t play much that first season in the League, as he honed his skills for future work as a professional football player. But the first thing he did was honor his mother with that gift. That is what a true son does, honors his mother first and foremost.
I tell people that I had the pleasure to work with Antono Smith when he was developing as a child into a young adult. It’s been over twenty years since I have had words with him, yet as clear as a blue sky, I know what he is made of. Spending time with someone for many years, 175 school days, eight hours a day, allows you to know someone really good. And for Sunday, I want that NFL title for him, one he didn’t get when he played for Atlanta in their Super Bowl year.
Link to the article of Antonio Smith: http://newsok.com/super-bowl-oklahoma-city-native-antonio-smith-preparing-to-play-super-bowl-with-heavy-heart/article/5476834
This is the greatest reward of a teacher or principal…to see our students grow into fine citizens as they work toward being successful at their various endeavors as adults. Next to parents, educators take their turn at the potter’s wheel as we teach, influence and interact with youngsters up through their teenage lives. We lovingly mold with correction and praise the lives who fall under our charge. We spend hundreds of unpaid hours to enrich their lives through extra-curricular activities which provide wholesome fun and training in sports, music and other creative activities–all that contribute to the person each student becomes in adulthood.
Educators are notoriously underpaid compared to most professions that require similar years of preparation as well as on-going required hours of professional training, and some of us work in the challenging inner-city districts overfraught with missing opportunities via poverty, missing parents, drugs and gangs. Here, educators are many times the only positive mentor sitting at the potter’s wheel and sometimes our contributions aren’t enough. But for the majority of vessels we influence, our reward is satisfying and sweet in each productive and responsible life that exits our educational enterprise and sphere of influence.