By Seth Berkman
Minutes before tip-off, Ruth Lovelace finally found an open seat inside “The Cage.” Lovelace knew this was not going to be a typical game, as her Boys & Girls basketball team was playing rival Lincoln at the West 4th Street Men’s High School Tournament in Greenwich Village on July 16. Fans stood three-deep behind the caged fence that surrounds the court, as scouts, local newspaper reporters and even Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest stood inside, trying to get a glimpse of the action.
Lovelace had only seven players, meaning freshman guard Wesley Myers would have to play a bigger role than usual. Myers quickly turned the ball over trying to dribble behind his back and Lovelace’s team fell behind by double-digits in the first quarter. Lovelace never reacted to the poor play, but sat quietly, watching to see how Myers would respond to the early miscue. Eventually, Boys & Girls found their groove with Myers running the offense at the point and the team came back for a 72-70 victory.
“I was really happy for Wesley,” Lovelace said after the game. “To play well in that atmosphere means a lot. He had one turnover, but he was so poised afterwards.”
Some players had commitments to summer jobs and one player who was late, Leroy Fludd, was coming from Coney Island. But that was no excuse for Lovelace.
“Yeah, he knew,” Lovelace said when asked if Fludd accepted responsibility for his tardiness. “I told him after the game, you come late and pick up two fouls right away, it’s nobody’s fault but yours.”
Stressing accountability in one’s life and preparing her players for intense situations on the court has been Lovelace’s blueprint for success during her 17 years as boys’ basketball coach at Boys & Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Nicknamed “Mother Love”—she is the only female boys’ coach in New York City—Lovelace provides year-round guidance to her players, who are consistently among the most highly recruited in the city. Instead of going on their own in the summer, most of Lovelace’s players will spend the off-season staying close to home, building their reputations by focusing on academics and by playing with their high school teammates in local tournaments. Together, the team develops chemistry and the results show in the winter.
Public Schools Athletic League rules prevent Lovelace from coaching her players at summer tournaments like West 4th Street, so assistant coach Elmer Anderson leads the team. Normally, players like Fludd, who has received interest from Louisville, Oklahoma and USC, compete solely in front of college scouts at Amateur Athletic Union tournaments and sneaker-sponsored basketball camps during the summer. Lovelace allows her players to compete for outside teams, but feels players have a tendency to pick up bad habits at AAU and at summer camps.
“I think it’s huge,” said Fordham University head coach Tom Pecora of the benefits of having a team play together year-round. “As coaches, it’s easier for us to watch kids play together as opposed to a camp where they’re playing as individuals. When there’s good chemistry, you can really get a feel for what a player is capable of.”
Ron Naclerio, head coach at Cardozo High School in Queens, said Lovelace has accomplished a difficult but beneficial task by having her players commit to an off-season program that lacks certain perks.
“It’s almost impossible to keep these kids focused, because they’re getting wined and dined,” Naclerio said about athletes playing away from home. “There’s also no educational component. AAU is just giving them trips and they’re getting conned by seeing all the college coaches watch them play and thinking that’s what it’s all about and it’s really not.”
In 1994, a 25-year-old Lovelace was in her second year as a physical education teacher at Boys & Girls when principal Frank Mickens installed her to resurrect a struggling program. Since then, the Kangaroos have never missed the PSAL playoffs and won the 2010 PSAL “AA” championship.
Lovelace’s players understand their commitment to the team does not end after the winter. In return, the players receive guidance from a staff that is always available.
“Sometimes, the human nature of being a woman, some things are more important to me,” Lovelace said of her relationship with her players. “You gotta watch out for them because they are still kids and you don’t want to see them misled.”
Lovelace’s players appreciate that earnestness, especially when it comes to recruiting. They trust that Lovelace has their best interest in mind.
“I always tell Coach first,” said Fludd. “I know she’ll do the right thing.”
“She’s being identified by them not as a woman, but as a coach,” added Anderson. “They get nurturing—she’s like Mother Love—it can be tough love, but at the end, there’s nothing but love. The kids respect that.”
Jon Alpert, who followed Lovelace during the 2007-08 season for the ESPN documentary, A Woman Among Boys, noticed how being a female and Bedford-Stuyvesant native has helped Lovelace with her players.
“There were players that were homeless, players who had never seen their father outside of jail, players from immigrant families,” Alpert said. “Coach Love was from the same neighborhood and understood how to deal with that. She convinced the players that she had their best interest at heart and they responded in a way that was very productive and inspiring.”
Anderson pointed out that every graduating player from last year’s team is attending college. “Our record speaks for itself when it comes to kids moving on,” he said. “We ask certain questions. The college coaches know our reputation and they know there is not going to be any mumbo-jumbo or lip service with us.
Before every practice, Lovelace holds study halls and has her players attend mandatory SAT-prep courses.
“They’ve done a tremendous job monitoring the kids in school,” said Pecora, who has recruited Lovelace‘s players. “That’s what all young men need.”
Prep stars often lack such trustworthy figures in their lives. For every LeBron James, there are more tales of players with high promise, poor guidance and failed expectations.
Last August, Jeremy Tyler made national headlines when he dropped out of high school to play professionally overseas. Tyler quit Israel’s Maccabi Haifa in March after averaging 2.1 points per game. Tyler lost his college eligibility and is no longer projected as a first-round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Lovelace would do anything to protect her players and make sure they don’t make similar ill-fated decisions. That love apparently extends to any young person she meets.
In the closing minutes of an earlier game on June 18 at West 4th Street, Boys & Girls was pulling away in what would be an 84-73 victory over the Rebels, a team of players from various high schools in Brooklyn. During a timeout, a Rebels player tore off his jersey and walked towards the exit. Before he could leave, Lovelace pulled him aside and calmed him down as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“That,” said Anderson “is just her personality.”
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