BALTIMORE — The Bentalou Recreation Center’s youth basketball program has become a staple in the West Baltimore since it first opened its doors back in 1970.
“When there’s nowhere else to go in this neighborhood, Bentalou was always the place to come and feel safe and have a place to play basketball,” Volunteer Assistant Coach, Kelly Phipps, said.
However, the impact that’s been made at the center goes way beyond what happens on the hardwood.
Coach Paul Franklin, president of the Bentalou Recreation Council, says the game is just a draw for a bigger plan.
“We trick them with basketball,” Coach Paul said with a smile. “When we bring them into the gym, we’re teaching them life.”
Coach Paul has been learning these same lessons at the center since he started coming as a kid in 1974.
“I was able to get my very first job at Bentalou,” Coach Paul remembered. “That was when I was 14 years-old. I worked here in the summers all throughout high school.”
He left to serve in the Navy for 15 years, but something kept pulling on him to bring his services back to Bentalou.
“The whole reason I come back is because it saved my life,” Coach Paul said. “In this neighborhood, there’s a lot of things to get into, but if you have Bentalou you can always lean on, you can tell them ‘hey I have to go to Bentalou I got a game today. I’m an athlete.’ This neighborhood respects that.”
Coach Paul and many others who came after him, spent a lot of their time under the mentorship of the late and beloved long-time Bentalou Basketball Coach, Herman Johnson.
His three rules: “Listen, Remember and No Excuses” still echo throughout the building as they have since the program started.
“Listen to what the older people are trying to tell you,” Coach Paul said. “Listen to what your parents are trying to tell you. Remember what they say. Don’t just hear them. Listen. There’s a difference. And then no excuses. If somebody’s telling you something, just hear it, absorb it, comprehend it and then execute it.”
After Coach Herman died in 2021, Coach Paul assumed even more of a leadership role with the basketball program. He and his coaches admit that influencing the young kids who come in, isn’t always easy, but his calm and collected ways seem to do the trick.
“He doesn’t have to scream or yell for you to listen,” assistant coach, Ernest Evans, said.
If the kids are able to follow their principles, it often means when their annual banquet comes around, they’ll be rewarded among their parents and their peers. Many of the medals and trophies they receive from their coaches have little to do with what they’ve done on the scoreboard. Many of the achievements are related to demonstrating good character and working well with your teammates.
When WMAR-2 News asked Bentalou Player Thamar Sturdavant about what he took away from a successful season where he was named MVP of his team, he had a response that exemplified what this program is all about.
“True friends that have your back,” he said. “Either in school or out of school, on and off the court.”
Coach Paul says they’ve been fighting for something to help grow the center’s tradition ever since Coach Herman died; a new center.
“The justification is 53 years of service to this community,” Coach Paul said.
Basketball sessions with the Bentalou Recreation Center’s basketball program is free of charge. They have a winter and summer league. Nine of the players who were a part of high school state championship winning teams in the 2022-2023 season were Bentalou alums.
They are currently raising money for the "Project Survival" Summer Basketball League. The league is free for kids.
It takes $75 to sponsor one kid, $900 to sponsor a team.
Find more information on the Bentalou rec center’s program HERE.
