Ernie Graham makes it his business to reach out.
The former Baltimore City high school basketball legend and University of Maryland star has been working in outreach programs for nearly 10 years to warn youths against the dangers of substance abuse. Graham?s most recent program started last week with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County. Every Thursday afternoon, Graham, 47, will be spending several hours at the Aberdeen and Edgewood Boys & Girls Club, counseling kids about drugs and running basketball clinics.
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Don Mathis, the executive director of the clubs in Harford County, said the kids have been excited to work with Graham, who is working with the clubs with help from the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation and a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice?s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
“He has so much credibility with the kids, so we are going to hook him up with 20 kids at [both] our Aberdeen and Edgewood clubs,” Mathis said.
Mathis is hoping Graham?s program will deter young people from getting involved with gangs and drugs.
“We have this mushrooming gang problem in Harford County,” Mathis said.
Graham said he fought all sorts of addictions ? cigarettes, alcohol, heroin and cocaine ? for 22 years.
“I lost out on a lot of opportunities,” he said. “I ultimately contemplated suicide. I could not find a way out.”
Graham prayed for help and found it in a rehabilitation facility in up-state New York. Shortly thereafter, he started public speaking.
“When I got clean in 1995,” he said, “I believed that nobody?s child should have to suffer like I did. … Basketball is a draw. It is a way to attract the children. You have to use honey to catch a bee or a bear.”
Graham?s program in Aberdeen and Edgewood will consist of sessions on basketball and life skills. The life skill portion is designed to teach kids respect for self and others, as well as how to choose friends.
“Nothing is short-term fixes, but I have not heard anything to alarm me,” Graham said. “It is all a challenge. Kids are kids. You try to give them the best you can.”
GRAHAM SLAM
» Graham was on three Maryland state championship teams when he played in high school at Dunbar and Lake Clifton.
» At Maryland, Graham played guard and forward in 1977-81. He averaged 14.5 points per game his senior year.
» In 1996, he went back to his Baltimore City roots and began his substance abuse outreach at Walbrook High and Greenspring Middle.
