The following article about our last major fundraiser was written by Terron Hampton and published by The Gazette and is reprinted here courtesy of The Gazette.

Organizations provide opportunities in county

Photo by Jeff Costello/The Star Marquise Green (left) of the BYO Tigers jumps for the ball while fending off Keith Edwards of the Harlem Panthers during a game Sunday in Greenbelt.

What started four years ago as an attempt to reach out to lesser-privileged children through sports has taken on a life of its own -- the brainchild of a Harlem native transplanted into the county who is striving to make a difference in his new home.

"We're trying to keep the kids off of the streets," said Big Youth Organization Track and Basketball Club, Inc. Vice President Steve Harris.

Four years ago, Harris -- a native of Harlem, N.Y. -- decided to start a local chapter of the club to attract youth from the Landover Hills and surrounding areas that were not involved in sports.

The BYO is a nonprofit organization started in 1984 by Thomas Ellis to serve children ages 7-17 that could not afford to participate in traditional Boys and Girls Clubs. In 1999, Terry A.B. Wilson and Harris started the BYOTBC in an impact to continue the organization's efforts.

Harris said he runs "a strange basketball component" in that there are no set teams. The BYOTBC is more of a community outreach organization that plans community activities for the children that incorporate basketball and track and field. The only time basketball or track competitions are held for the children are during fund-raising meets and tournaments.

Every year, Harris has taken a BYO basketball team back to his old neighborhood to play a game against a select team from Harlem's Frederick Douglass Center and for a day of fun for the children and their families.

Sunday afternoon, four Prince George's teams got to play home games against teams from Harlem on the court at Roosevelt. But the teams did not make the trek from New York alone. They brought with them one of the premier novelty basketball teams, the Harlem Wizards, to take on the Maryland Park Police in a fund-raising game. The Harlem Wizards have been playing "show" basketball -- similar to the Harlem Globetrotters -- since 1962 and several basketball legends such as Connie Hawkins have spent time as players on the team.

One of the youth teams in action Sunday was comprised of BYO players. Another was a U-14 team from the Columbia Park Community Center. The remaining two were members of the Interscholastic Basketball League, an elementary school circuit that started last year.

The IBL, which includes teams from 11 schools in the county, grew out of a similar league formed five years ago by Derrick Smith, a physical education teacher at John E. Howard Elementary School in Capitol Heights. The IBL is financed through fund-raisers, grants and donations.

"I knew that Steve Harris had been taking his BYO teams to New York for the past couple of years and I thought that maybe we could take a few teams from IBL since this was the first year of the league," Smith said.

Harris and Smith coordinated with Marvin "Hammer" Stevens, an official at Harlem's Frederick Douglass Center, to make it possible for the Harlem teams and the Wizards to come to Roosevelt last weekend.

Stevens has organized youth leagues in New York City for years and is confident that events like the one last weekend will become commonplace.

"This is great for us at FDC, just to be able to get away for one day of fun," Stevens said. "The rivalry has become so big in just the past four years. When we meet, they treat us with the greatest hospitality. It's going to be an annual event."

The parents of the children involved in BYO and the IBL are pleased with the opportunity provided.

"This has been excellent, as far as keeping the children off of the streets and giving them something to do," said Capitol Heights resident Tanisha Jacob, whose son Devonte' Jacob has been with the BYO for three years.

Upper Marlboro resident Warren Connoley, whose son Warren Jr. played for Kingsford Elementary in the IBL, volunteers for the league as an official.

"I find that it makes me feel good that positive things go on in the community. I'm very excited," Connoley said."