Sports
The energy prior to the Lady Eagles’ tip off against Hercules High Friday night didn’t seem like a winner-take-all atmosphere.
Hands slapping against plastic, followed by the beep of a digital clock, were the only sounds heard over the constant hum in the Richmond Recreational Complex during the weekly community chess night. Two boys, Ayanius Saucer, 10, and Akai Strong, 8, were looking intently at the board in front of them, pondering every move. As decisions became less obvious, and strategy more important, the boys took longer and longer to decide. When they did, their eyes would get wide and…
On Friday, Lady Eagles head softball coach Amanda Stevens stood outside the dugout during the fourth inning and watched the first game of the year with a handful of fans near home plate. Red tape—Steven’s background check hasn’t been reviewed by the school district—kept the first-year coach from getting closer to the diamond. Tim Logan, Kennedy’s head baseball coach, pinch-hit for Stevens and filled out the starting line-up and acted as the third-base coach throughout the game. “You in the…
The legend of Takkarist “Takk” McKinley began his sophomore year. That’s when Kennedy High’s track coach, Carl Sumler, saw the young Eagles defensive end rush a Piedmont High quarterback, turn around, race 15 yards up field and catch a wide receiver trying to break loose with the ball. But that’s not what impressed Sumler the most about McKinley’s great hustle play. What impressed Sumler the most was McKinley outran Kenneth Walker, Kennedy High’s former number one state track hurdler and…
Ducking under the water, seven-year-old Colin twists his body around in a tight corkscrew, shoots his hands in front of his head and pushes off hard against the pool wall. His slight frame cuts through the water like an arrow in flight—graceful, precise, direct. And then the arrow goes awry: a few yards down his head pops up, his right arm readies for the first stroke and his right leg suddenly juts out of the water too. Like a periscope,…
Lady Eagles head coach Rae Jackson has had enough. And even though his squad battled to a 74-64 victory over Analy High Tuesday night to advance to the second round of the North Coast Section Division 3 Bracket, he wasn’t happy. Soft third quarter play has been a deep thorn the coaching staff’s side all season, and for whatever reason the Lady Eagles can’t put teams away in the second half. Again the Tri-County Stone League champions let an 18-point…
As the clock struck 2:20 p.m. on Friday, 800 Kennedy High students filled the gym to celebrate Black History Month and begin their weeklong President’s Day vacation. The pep rally was full of balloon races, tug-of-war contests, dance moves, catwalks and cheer. Phillip Johnson, the school’s principal, even wore a blue Hawaiian shirt to accent the mood of the day. Toward the end of the celebration, Johnson took a microphone and addressed the student body. As a not-so-perfect hush fell…
With frantic little-kid energy, the Panthers under-10 boys basketball team races around the pavement lot next to the Shields-Reid Park in North Richmond. The kids are fresh from a 42-0 victory over the El Cerrito team, their third straight victory in their youth league. Some of the kids play a pick-up game against their coaches—older boys, brothers, cousins, neighbors—who shout directions and jokes. Around the edges of the court, kids drift in and out of the game, jousting with each…
While the San Francisco Giants are in balmy Scottsdale, Ariz., reminiscing and shaking the dust off their recent World Series trophy, the Kennedy Eagles baseball team has been under Bay Area clouds working hard on shagging fly balls and fielding grounders. First-year head coach Tim Logan said for the past two weeks his team has been practicing nothing but defensive fundamentals. But the ABCs of a 6-4-3 double play have turned into rocket science for Kennedy the past few years….