Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud of Richmond Monday. Mother Nature would have been thrilled, too, as more than 400 people strolled several blocks of the Richmond Greenway and watched hundreds of volunteers plant seeds of hope and food. Under a warm winter sun folks young and old congregated near the community garden portion of the trail and celebrated the city’s 6th Annual Martin Luther King National Day of Service event. Organized by Urban Tilth, the gathering…
On Friday, the Richmond Oilers boys’ basketball team defeated their cross-town rival, the Kennedy Eagles, 58-44. The game was held at Richmond High and was the Oilers third victory of their last five games. The contest was thoroughly guarded by law enforcement officers, both in and out of uniform. Prior to entering the gymnasium fans were separated into two lines, one for women and another for men, and searched for weapons. Last October the two schools experienced gunshots during the fourth…
With offensive plays called “Gator,” “Black,” “Indiana,” “Shallow” and “5-Out,” it’s easy to understand why the Kennedy High School Lady Eagles average 69 points per game. On Wednesday night the most exciting show in Richmond high school sports took their scoring artistry to another level and defeated John Swett High 84-28. It took only three seconds for the Lady Eagles to score their first bucket of the game. On the opening play, guard Raven Caldwell took the jump ball from…
Erik Lopez is not your ordinary San Francisco Giants fan. By day he’s your regular good guy from Hercules. By first pitch he saves the day as Giants-Wolverine; a five-foot-something wolf-like creature wearing a black and orange Giants cape, mask and foam knuckle blades. The baseball fan-superhero hybrid said his idea to become a “badass character” evolved during the 2010 postseason when he decided to combine his favorite team with his favorite Marvel character. “It’s all about the black and…
On Friday, the Hercules Titans boys’ basketball team marched into the Coach Dolly Felix Gym and defeated the Kennedy Eagles 70-55. It was the Eagles’ fourth loss in a row, dropping the team to last place in the league. The game started out promising for the Eagles as swingmen Charles Smith and Kevin Snowden knocked down several three-pointers. By the end of the first quarter, Kennedy held a five-point lead. But things fell apart for Kennedy in the second quarter when…
On Friday, the day the world was supposed to end according to interpretations of the Mayan calendar, the Kennedy Eagles defeated Stellar Prep High 70-36. Entering the game at 0-7, the Eagles were determined not be turned into winless cosmic dust. Kennedy came out hot and never trailed the entire game. Using their size and speed against an undermanned Thunder team, they regularly went to the line while building a 35-17 halftime lead. One first-half highlight was a thunderous dunk…
Eleven games into the season and sitting five games over five hundred, the Kennedy High Lady Eagles basketball team is still learning what it means to be part of a team—or at least how to play like one. Having just shellacked Vallejo High by 61 points, Lady Eagles head coach Rae Jackson said his team still lacks three key ingredients: focus, discipline and execution. From the opening tip against Vallejo it was obvious the Lady Eagles were stronger and more…
More than $700 worth of power and carpentry tools were stolen from a locked shed at the Happy Lot Farm and Garden run by Andromeda Brooks. Brooks reported the theft to the police Dec. 6. Happy Lot Farm and Garden is a patch of land on the corner of 1st Street and Chanslor Avenue designed one year ago to give residents the chance to grow their own chemical-free food. Prior to becoming a food haven, the 14,000 square foot lot…
Pre-game warm ups at Richmond High’s basketball gym took on a literal meaning Saturday afternoon. The gym’s heater didn’t work. So as the Mt. Eden Monarchs and Richmond Oilers players ran around the gym shooting layups and popping short jumpers, the fans in the stands kept their coats and hoodies on and huddled together. It could’ve been worse. Instead the home crowd saw the Oilers warm it up and play good basketball. The final score was 71-57 Monarchs, but the…
After clobbering the Antioch Lady Panthers by 53 points Friday night, Kennedy Lady Eagles head coach Rae Jackson told his players to go home, eat something good, take a hot bath and to jump into bed. Saturday afternoon would be no different as the Lady Eagles (5-2) play their fourth game in five days. Sitting at 2-9 heading in to Friday night’s game in Richmond, the Lady Panthers were stung from the very beginning by Kennedy’s swarming defense. After one…
When Jose Ponce stepped off the bus at Campolindo High Wednesday night he knew he was going to have a good game. But what the Eagles goalkeeper didn’t know was that he’d have to duel a Cougars player eye-to-eye during a penalty kick. With the clock winding down and the score already 1-0 in favor of the Cougars, a Kennedy defender committed a foul inside his own box. After a brief discussion by the referee about what happened, a Campolindo…
The hottest show in town isn’t Hollywood’s new James Bond movie, but rather the Kennedy High girl’s basketball team. And with an 85-39 defeat of KIPP King of San Lorenzo Monday night, the Eagles didn’t disappoint. Now entering its sixth year as a charter school, KIPP King (4-1) never stood a chance. By half time Kennedy (4-1) raced off to a 20-point lead. Concerned that players were focused more on individual stats than team play, Eagles assistant head coach Tim…
On Wednesday night the Richmond Oilers (0-2-1) lost to the Monte Vista Mustangs (5-0-0) by the score of 2-1. The game was played under a sea of fog as players’ battled visibility and a slippery field the entire night. In the first half Monte Vista came out kicking and took a commanding 2-0 lead. Prior to their contest against the Oilers, the Mustangs had never given up a goal, and had outscored opponents by 13 goals. After 40 minutes this…