Real ‘Coach Carter’ bounces into U-M-Flint

With his story still playing in movie theaters across the country, Coach Ken Carter brought his inspirational message to U-M-Flint.

Ken Carter, the former California high school basketball coach who inspired the recently released film "Coach Carter," speaks to an audience of about 1,000 people, most of whom were inner city children, at U-M-Flint Recreation Center Feb. 10. (Photo by Mel Serow, U-M-Flint)

While Samuel L. Jackson portrays “Coach Carter” in the movie, nearly a 1,000 students from Flint area schools packed into the Recreation Center on campus Feb. 10 to hear what the real coach had to say.

In 1999, Carter turned a struggling boys’ basketball team at Richmond High School, in Richmond, Calif., into All-Star contenders on the court and in the classroom. Each player and his parents signed a contract agreeing to abide by rules of conduct and to maintain a minimum of a 2.3 GPA. When not all of the players lived up to these obligations, they were locked out of the gym and pulled from any basketball-related activities to learn how to “rise as a team.” Academically solid players tutored weaker ones, and the whole team improved their GPAs.

Carter also was a guest speaker at a scholarship reception held that same evening at U-M-Flint’s Northbank Center.

In addition to coaching The Rumble, a championship SlamBall team, Carter owns Prime Time Publishing and Prime Time Sports. He also is an author and the founder and chairman of the Coach Ken Carter Foundation, a non-profit organization, which develops, promotes and provides education, training and mentoring programs for minority youths.

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