November 29, 2016 – Kathy Bergen
Young football players from some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods huddled with their coach in Jackson Park, their white helmets and red jerseys glowing beneath the playing field’s high-intensity lamps.
Champions in their local league, the 13- and 14-year-olds in the Wolfpack team had four days to practice for a regional competition in Tennessee. “I don’t have time to be playing around,” coach Ernest Radcliffe told his team at a recent practice. “If you don’t listen, you go home. Hey, let’s go. One lap.”