2002 William Allen Award Winners
Coach and mentor brings out the best in youth
Machinist Robert Graham, of the 737 Cargo Bulkhead organization, has put in over 250 hours a year for the last three years, coaching for the Youth Educational and Sports Foundation, or YES.
The founders of YES, two men who coached in Seattle's Central Area, were frustrated by the number of young African-American athletes who were exploited for their athletic ability and never supported academically. Coach Robert said that YES was formed with the idea of using basketball as the carrot to reach young men in need of encouragement to go to college, and academic help such as tutoring and access to computers.
He's been working with Central Area youth for twenty years, and he's helped a lot of young people. His team is ethnically and economically diverse. The mother of a team member said, "Coach Robert insists on respect for others among his players, and more importantly, he is teaching them to respect themselves." This year, his seventh graders won the State AAU Championship and qualified first in the state to go to the Nationals in Memphis.
The dream of YES is to eventually have a building of its own with basketball courts, plus a room filled with computers and study tables, where players can study, be tutored, and prepare for college admission tests.