By Kinslee Braddy
April 22, 2024
As the world of sports continues to evolve, so, too, does the narrative surrounding women’s roles as leaders within the heavily male-dominated field. This shift in power proved a deciding factor for three influential organizations.
Read moreBy Kinslee Braddy
April 16, 2024
Perhaps it is Durham’s vibrant culture or palpable energy that has allowed it to emerge as a hub for numerous sports championships. Whether college championships or minor league baseball, the city’s ties to athletics continue to evolve.
Read moreBy Kinslee Braddy
April 2, 2024
Amidst the vibrant streets of Durham lies a diamond- the heartstring of the community. And at the center of it all lies an unlikely team of entrepreneurs with one goal: creating wow moments.
Read moreBy Kinslee Braddy
February 22, 2024
While planning the third annual Champion Durham Classic high school basketball tournament for the end of 2023, the Durham Sports Commission wanted to make this one different from the rest. Furthermore, they were looking for a factor that would make this tournament memorable for all participants and families.
Read moreBy Jahvaree Ritzie
February 21, 2024
UNC football is looking to better the community.
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 2, 2020
The 1981-82 Denver Nuggets. The 1989-90 Loyola Marymount Lions. The 2013 Denver Broncos. All of these teams have one thing in common: each is the greatest offensive team in its respective league’s history. But before those teams came along, there was the 1965-66 Hillside High School Hornets, also known as the “Pony Express.” “No one […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
Alysia Johnson is not the ordinary teenager who rolls out of bed to attend her last classes as a senior at Hillside High School. Instead, at 17 years old, she wakes up early before school to go to Planet Fitness. Then she goes to track practice after school. And, since that’s not enough, she does […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 27, 2020
Former Chicago Bull, six-time NBA Champion and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan rose from the ground at Madison Square Garden in the first round of the 1991 Eastern Conference Playoffs against the New York Knicks and displayed one of his greatest moments of Air Jordan. Nearly 30 years later, 6-foot-5-inch Southern High School senior guard […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
Northeast Central Durham is no stranger to interactions with law enforcement — but a program that connects youth with police through athletics is attempting to reduce juvenile crime and foster positive relationships between the community and officers. Sgt. Jessica Butler, unit supervisor, said the Durham Police Athletic League not only runs athletic camps, but also […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 10, 2019
In sports, the scoreboard often serves as the judge, jury and executioner — the measure of success or failure at the end of the game. But the Hillside High School baseball program refuses to measure its success only in wins and losses on the baseball diamond. The players and coaches understand that success can mean […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 27, 2019
As the Saturday morning rain pooled in the parking lot, a dozen Durham Police Department squad cars sat parked along the sidewalk leading up to the Holt Athletic Association Gymnasium. To passersby, the outside view may have signaled something was wrong. But within the yellow walls of the gym, cheers and laughter bubbled over, disarming […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 23, 2019
Lamont Liles runs around the gym with the type of excitement a teenager should have. He is comfortable, happy, and without a care in the world as he plays basketball to pass the time until his mother comes home from work. Northeast Central Durham’s Holton Career & Resource Center, located at 400 N. Driver […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 13, 2019
Rashard Lee-Worthy, in just his first year as the head basketball coach at Hillside High School, is building something special. His Hornets started the season by winning their first 19 games, passing, jumping and dunking their way through a tough non-conference slate and a tougher Big Eight 3A Conference schedule. Quickly, Hillside has rallied around […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
March 28, 2018
Plenty of people love to play basketball for fun. Now they can play the sport to help raise money for a good cause, too. Reynolds Chapman is the Executive Director of Durham Cares, a nonprofit that focuses on fostering collaboration, developing leaders and educating the people of Durham to care for their neighbors in […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 28, 2018
Kayla Beasley is a lot of things: three-time North Carolina High School Athletic Association state champion in the shot put; student body vice president; sitting salutatorian in her senior class. But on this Friday afternoon, she’s a coach. The final practice of the week for the Hillside High School track and field team has just […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 14, 2018
When Marvin Bagley Jr. thinks about Durham, his hometown, he sees a city that is both drastically different in some ways but strikingly similar in others compared to the one he grew up in. Bagley Jr., the father of freshman Duke University basketball star Marvin Bagley III, moved his family from California to the Triangle […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
January 31, 2018
Years ago, J-Naya Ephraim bet on herself and now she’s reaping the rewards. And so is the Southern Durham women’s basketball team. In 2012, Ephraim, a seventh-grader at the time, was becoming cognizant of her basketball skills and where the game could take her. So even though it meant leaving her mother and the place […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
November 26, 2017
On a slightly chilly Saturday November morning, bearing the cold and restless with excitement, around 300 Durham elementary students gather at Holton Career and Resource Center Field. Upon their arrival, the students are handed uniforms and begin their warm-up for the long-awaited 2017 PAL (Police Athletic League)’s soccer league. PAL is a juvenile crime and […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 26, 2017
Casual joggers and athletes may get up in the morning to run for all intended obvious health benefits; lose weight, improve self-esteem, and prevent disease. But for North Carolina State University Economics professor Jason Coupet and a few of Durham’s running clubs, exercise is just part of the health equation for an advantageous lifestyle. A […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 17, 2017
Marcus Krah stared at the Hillside High School parking lot, trying to stay awake in the barren, quiet hallway. He knows that everything comes in time — but not everything necessarily comes on time. Track practice ended an hour ago. His last class was dismissed three hours ago. But his ride was running late. When […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 4, 2017
For the past three seasons, Jamal Elliott has faithfully taken to the field during nightly football practice. But last Wednesday, he sat on the sideline and watched his teammates play. Elliott is a senior, four-star recruit running back at Hillside High School in Durham. He has verbally committed to a full scholarship to play for […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
May 3, 2017
“I will make a way out of no way.” Master Derrick Richardson, 9th Dan (9th degree) black belt, has youth in his martial arts class say this often. Richardson, 55, has been teaching kids for about three years through an organization called Champions in Motion. He has appeared in international competitions, magazines like Black […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 20, 2017
If you visit the Westend Community Family Life & Recreation Center at Lyon Park often, you might have noticed a polite man in a wheelchair working with kids who have various mental and physical disabilities. Maybe you have seen him outside waiting for the kids to get there. Maybe you’ve seen him wheeling around […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 19, 2017
Durham is known for its strong Parks and Recreation Department, updated parks and equipment and active community centers, but the Lyon Park Center is proud of its historical record within the Southwest Central Durham area. “This building was built in 1930, and it was just standing for a while. It was a sore eye […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 5, 2017
Curtis, 16, and Isaiah, 14, Powell, brothers and residents of East Durham, grew up at the Holton Career and Resource Center located at 401 N. Driver St. There, Curtis and his 14-year-old brother have made friends, developed their basketball skills, attended youth camps, and most importantly, found a home away from home. Curtis is a […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
November 9, 2016
On Saturday, Oct. 29, the day before the Carolina Panthers defeated the Arizona Cardinals inside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, there were football games played on the Panthers’ practice fields that had an even greater impact on the community. Those games were a part of the season-ending tournament for the Challenger division of the […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
On a chilly Saturday morning in November, two police officers cross the deserted soccer field in front of the Holton Career and Resource Center. But they’re not patrolling the area — together, they lift up a soccer goal on their shoulders and move it along the white lines painted in the grass. Soon, cars […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 5, 2016
In 1985, a group of seven men and women formed what was then known as the National Senior Olympics Organization. After joining up with other groups who were already conducting games for seniors, the first National Senior Olympic Games were held in 1987. The inaugural games were well received with 2,500 competitors. The number […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
Hillside High senior Desmond Jackson, 17, just returned from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he was Team USA’s youngest male competitor in track and field at the Paralympic Games. Jackson competed in the 100m and 200m sprints, as well as the long jump in the T42 category, which is for athletes with single above-the knee-amputation. […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 3, 2016
Back in February, the Hillside High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps hosted a 5K at the school’s track. The event was done to celebrate 100 years of JROTC. The 5K takes place annually to celebrate one more year of JROTC, and it is required that most cadets enrolled in the program participate in the […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 11, 2016
It was a cold, rainy night when David Johnson wandered into The School of Hard Knocks. Twenty-eight-year old Johnson is a Durham resident currently staying at the Durham Rescue Mission. “I was just wandering by when I seen the lights on,” Johnson said, “It’s my first time here, but I’ll be back.” He spent […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
November 13, 2015
Neal Magnet Middle School hosted its first-ever cookout — featuring four athletic events — to cultivate school spirit and raise funds for their athletic department.
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
November 12, 2015
Growing up on a farm on the edge of Durham County, Ken Browning never dreamed of being a football coach. But that all changed during his senior season in 1963.
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
September 18, 2015
A summer basketball league calls to mind the squeaking of sneakers, the sound of the whistle blow, and the swish of the ball going through the net. But for participants in Campaign 4 Change’s summer league, it meant much more. DONS Basketball League (DBL) provides a 12-week summer basketball league during June, July, and August, […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
September 17, 2015
Khris Francis knew something was wrong when he planted his foot to make a cut. The then sophomore running back for the North Carolina football team had just caught the ball on a kickoff return in the second quarter against Pittsburgh, a game the Tar Heels would eventually win 40-35, and darted outside to find […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
March 4, 2015
The roads were lined with walls of snow and the parking lot was relatively empty, only highlighted by a school’s activity bus and a couple large piles of snow. But on Saturday, Feb. 28 the Riverside High School girls’ basketball team took on South Central High School from Winterville, North Carolina, in the first round […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 18, 2015
In the four years Justine Lyon has played basketball at Hillside High School, she has scored more than 1,000 points, captained the Lady Hornets and earned a 3-star rating from ESPN scouts—all while keeping a GPA above 4.0. Not too shabby. But after this season, Lyon will be gone and off to college. Playing her […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 4, 2015
It’s every youngster’s dream to play ball and make it to the next level. Get into college on a full ride. Win the big game on a last second shot that puts your team up as the clock expires. Everyone practices as a kid at the basketball court closest to his or her house. “3-2-1,” […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 1, 2014
Civitans from Raleigh and Durham joined together at Shoeboxed on Broadway Street this past Sunday to raise money for the Special Olympics in their first annual Cornhole tournament: the Corn-ament. Civitan is an International service organization with hundreds of thousands of groups located in 40 nations. But this group, is located in Raleigh and had […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
September 17, 2014
Darius Robinson sits in his cramped office at Southern High School. Behind him, college football recruiting letters from the likes of East Carolina and Wake Forest are tacked up neatly on a bulletin board. “We’ve been a hotbed here in being able to produce student athletes in all sports to go to the next […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 16, 2014
Before his standout high school years and before his Division I playing days, there was Alex Raburn, the seventh grader. Devy Bell remembers seventh-grade Alex Raburn quite well. Even then, Bell — Jordan High School’s baseball coach — noticed something special in him. The youngster approached Bell’s youth baseball camp with a fiery competitiveness, a […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
April 13, 2014
With summer right around the corner, parents in the East Durham community don’t need to look far to find a summer child-care program. W.D. Hill Recreation Center offers a nine-week summer program for the youth who need guidance from their community. The summer program selects 60 children to participate in the camp. Registration began […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
March 19, 2014
Without cheers or a gun crack, runners ready themselves. “Set. Go!” About 50 kids take off to run a lap around Southern High School’s track. It’s day one of the Durham Striders Youth Association outdoor season practice and on this mid-March evening, parents shiver in the bleachers, watching and listening to heavy breathing and the […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
March 7, 2014
Wil Myers wasn’t in Durham for long. Just 64 games. That’s all he needed to spoil fans, to entice the upper levels of Tampa Bay Rays management and to leave a lasting imprint at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Thomasville, N.C., native batted .286 with 14 home runs in those 64 games before earning a […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
The police officers visiting the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club were not investigating stolen jewelry on Saturday, March 1. They were interested in a different kind of stealing: the kind that involves snatching a basketball from an opponent’s hands and taking it to the hoop. Master Officer Erwin Baker serves as a referee […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 24, 2014
The Incredible Hulk, Superman, Wonder Woman — they were never the real superheroes, not to Tristine Johnson. When she was little, she found power in running shoes, hurdles and javelins. She marveled at the men and women who harnessed those items to lead them to victory. Her father was one of them. Johnson jokes that […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
February 5, 2014
Jolene Nagel stood by the net, dressed in a royal blue Duke jacket and holding a whistle in her hand. As Friday’s late afternoon light filtered through the gym windows, Nagel, Duke’s volleyball coach, peered at the attentive faces surrounding her. This was a different crowd, yet a familiar one. “What we’re going to try […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 21, 2013
When Adrianna Poole and her family moved from Ohio to North Carolina three years ago, the timing couldn’t have been any better for the young basketball player. The move occurred in the middle Poole’s freshman year of high school, just before the start of the winter basketball season at Riverside High School in Durham. And […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
October 2, 2013
After sending in the play to the offense of the Durham Titans, coach Greg Greene, coordinator of the John Avery Boys and Girls Club football program paced nervously on the sideline before backing up all the way to the end of the coaching box. Despite having run the table in an undefeated regular season, Greene’s […]
Read moreBy Carl Kenney
September 18, 2013
When eighth-grader Khris Francis began working out in preparation to play high school football, his trainer needed a way to motivate him — a method of pushing the young athlete beyond his limit to bring out the player he had the potential to be. At the time, Francis was stronger and faster than most kids his […]
Read more