There’s definitely power in media when it comes to sharing viral clips, for better and worse. In the case of Strong Vincent High School basketball player David Morris, though, a highlight is being used for good.
A recent video of Morris dunking — and by dunking, we mean totally posterizing some poor kid — made SportsCenter‘s Top 10 plays. According to a local parent, the clip has brought a new level of attention directed at Morris, attention that might get him out of a bad part of Erie., Pa., and into college. Below is a transcribed voicemail sent by the parent to ESPN:
Real quick, I know you probably don’t think it’s a huge deal what you did for a kid in our community the other night. Just to tell you, he’s in a school district where they’re in the middle of the worst part of town – in the middle of a gang war. They have teammates who have been shot – they have a coach’s house that’s been shot at.
But this kid has a chance. And since you got him in the Top 10 he’s had [over a dozen] Division I coaches looking at him including Xavier, Pitt and Cincinnati and this community is still fired up because of what you guys did. Their practice [the day after the game], they had to close the doors because of all the neighborhood kids coming in just to watch David Morris.
At the risk of patting ESPN on the back too much, it is neat to see a deserving kid get more recognition he might not have otherwise received because of a simple highlight clip. Because of it, he might be able to go on and make a better life for himself. It’s certainly not wrong to celebrate that in and of itself. Good luck to Morris. Now that he has the attention of some Division I schools, he might be able to fulfill what is likely a lifelong dream.
(Via ESPN FrontRow)
