pete carroll

As a USC alumnus, I certainly enjoy the fun and excitement the great Trojans Football brought us for the past, who knows, seems like decades, on the field. But I didn't know there's an even greater story off the field regarding their coach, Pete Carroll, until I read it on the LA Times sports section last week:

Five years ago, moved by news of murders near USC's campus, Carroll formed a foundation called "A Better LA", dedicated to ending inner-city violence. He hoped to use the self-improvement thinking he's long leaned on in coaching to help people in poor and dangerous neighborhoods. 

He struggled to gain traction. He didn't have much in the way of relationships with the gang members he hoped to influence. Then Carroll met Bo Taylor, a former gang member who long ago had dedicated his life to turning street toughs to the straight and narrow. Carroll and Taylor grew close. To be truly effective, Taylor told the coach, Carroll would need to learn more about the dreams and fears of people living in forgotten neighborhoods. The only way to do that would be to become a regular at the hot spots. 

So twice a month Carroll leaves his comfy digs at USC, hops in the back of a beaten Camry driven by a former gang member and heads to South L.A. neighborhoods where the snap of gunfire and the anguish of death occur with the steady regularity of a metronome.

Most often, he arrives near midnight and walks shadowy streets with that familiar, electric strut, surrounded by little boys, grandparents, crack heads and gang toughs. He empathizes, listens, encourages, laughs. He talks about jobs and kids and marriage, about perspective and courage, about how difficult it must be to be caught in the madness of the streets.

Carroll's foundation now helps fund Taylor's violence prevention nonprofit, Unity One, and several like it. They have a strategy: In the hot spots, identify the charismatic gang and neighborhood leaders, the ones everyone follows. Befriend them, gain their trust, help them change if needed, try to get them to take classes that teach everything from mediation to positive thinking. Even pay the ones who are most dedicated, turning them loose to help educate and prod.

"I don't go to judge . . . just to show that someone cares," he said. "Just go to give people here a little hope. . . . Get folks to step back and think. Hopefully, get them to change."

I don't know if Pete Carroll is Christian or not, but his deed sure earns my respect and moves me greatly.

* For the full story, go to: http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-streeter20apr20,1,913239.column?page=1
* For "A Better LA" web site, go to: http://www.abetterla.com