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IN MY OPINION
6 Panthers volunteer; kids benefit
LANGSTON WERTZ JR.
When Carolina Panthers running back Decori Birmingham walked on campus at Garinger High two weeks ago, the Wildcats' football team was, as athletics director Claire Gardin put it, "in awe."
"The kids were just so excited to have him here," Gardin said. "They're just in awe of someone coming from the Panthers' organization, coming to Garinger, and helping them get better."
Birmingham, signed to the Panthers' practice squad in November, is one of six players volunteering in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. It's the ninth year CMS and the NFL team have done this.
The players include defensive end Charles Johnson (volunteering at East Mecklenburg), receiver Jason Carter (Hopewell), running back Alex Haynes (Mallard Creek), receiver Travis Taylor (Myers Park) and safety Chris Harris (Ardrey Kell).
The internship runs four weeks, and the players go to their schools for three hours a day four days a week. The pros help in classrooms and weight rooms and even have been official starters during track meets.
"These guys have said, `Once my career is over, I might want to go be an AD or a coach,' " said CMS athletics director Vicki Hamilton. "This gives them some idea of what to expect. It's a win-win for our schools and coaches and for those Panthers players, too."
• One of the true heroes of N.C. high school athletics, North Mecklenburg athletics director Leroy Holden, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award last month by the N.C. Association of Athletic Directors.
Holden was an all-state end at Harding High in 1962 and a record-setting receiver at Western Carolina. He was 460-244 in 25 years as North Meck's boys' basketball coach before retiring in 1999. He's worked at North Meck since 1971.
• Good to see tennis star Serena Williams looking fit and dedicated again.
• TiVo alert: Sunday at 5 p.m., NBC airs "Icons From the Archives" and features Muhammad Ali,Howard Cosell, Hank Aaron and Joe Namath.NBC combed through its footage from programs that haven't aired in decades. The best parts are about Ali. We see the final rounds of his 1977 fight with Ernie Shavers. And of course, Ali talks and talks and talks.
On avoiding the draft: "If America was in trouble, if America was really at war and the country's in trouble and I'm in trouble, I'd be first to fight."
On his education: "I went to 12th grade in school, but actually I have about a ninth-grade education. I don't read that well, but I have common sense. The schoolteachers mainly passed me because I was an Olympic champion. I have common sense, but I am not that learned on paper."
On how he'd like to be remembered: "One who took a few cups of love, one teaspoon of patience, one tablespoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. Then you mix it up and stir it well. Then you spread it over the span of a lifetime and you served it to each and every deserving person you met."
IN MY OPINION Langston Wertz Jr.
