As much as folks love to look down their noses at people from this place that we call Gary, Indiana or more affectionately we call “The G.” They’re always forced to recognize the strength and resilience of those that come from the city on Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana.
On Thursday night another kid born in “The G” made us all proud. Darius Garland, son of former Gary Roosevelt superstar Winston Garland (Class of ’83), was draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the fifth overall pick. Darius left Gary after the sixth grade to move to Nashville to attend Brentwood Academy.
However, once you’re from Gary you’re always reppin’ it!!! Ole boy went down there and put on the full clown suit complete with the water spittin’ flower. He started varsity as an eighth grader and eventually led them to four straight Tennessee State Championships. He was named Mr. Basketball three times before being named a McDonald’s All-American in 2018.
Deciding to stay at home in Nashville he signed with Vanderbilt to become the highest ranked recruit the program has ever signed. He only played five games for the Commodores before tearing his meniscus. He decided at that point to park it on the side of the road to prepare for the NBA draft and the rest is history.
Darius is now an NBA player ready to do big things. He’s another remarkable example of the love that comes out of a place that most people love to write off. Welcome to the club of college graduates, athletes, singers, dancers, artists and role models that come from The G. We applaud your efforts and your sacrifice to show other young people that all things are possible. Won’t he do it?
Welcome to the list of trailblazers from Gary, Indiana! All most people know is that the The Jackson 5 and Janet Jackson are from Gary. However, there was the singing group called the Spaniels (Good night Sweetheart), Deniece Williams and then there was the lil’ homie Jesse Powell hurting them in the R&B game in ’90’s.
Don’t sleep on the first black football player to be drafted into the NFL in 1946, George Taliaferro! Then there was Fred “The Hammer” Williamson who retired from the NFL and destroyed the game with the “Blaxploitation” movies with Jim Brown and Pam Grier. Dick Burnett won an NBA Championship with the Knicks back in the early ’70’s. I know you’ve heard of Joe “Moose” Gates of the Chicago White Sox. Tom Harmon was the first player to win a Heisman Trophy at the University of Michigan. We can’t forget about Darius’ ole man, Winston, who played 7 seasons in the NBA too.
Then there’s Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, who won the 1994 Naismith College Player of the Year Award and he was the cats that changed the rookie pay scale forever. His son Glenn Robinson III won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2017.
We’re even doing work in the WWE!!! Queen Sharmell is holding us down and she’s the former Miss Black America too! Her brother Ronald S. Sullivan, my valedictorian of the Class of 1985 at the Velt, was the first black Dean of the Winthrop House at Harvard University. He’s also a former Law School professor there as well. Sullivan “has fought to get more incarcerated people out of prison – over 6,000 – than arguably anyone in American history.” He’s a global leader in combatting wrongful convictions and in advocating for criminal justice reform.
Everybody and their Uncle LeRoy watched the New Edition story and didn’t even know that Buddy Lewis, the guy that introduced Bobby Brown at the beginning of the movie, was from “The G!”
Now don’t get it twisted, Buddy has been in Hollywood for decades writing for Jamie Foxx, D.L. Hughley and he’s been a script writer for Tyler Perry’s House of Payne. That’s G.I. representin’!!!
Everybody was lovin’ the hair styles, the old school shags, the high top fades and even the Bobby Brown Gumby hair cut in the New Edition story right? Well the dun doing all of the hair was Gary’s own Conrad Hilton! We’re out here and we aren’t goin’ anywhere. We’re like Bebe’s kids. We don’t die we multiply. I could name all kinds of folks that came out of the these streets of Gary that are putting in work despite the odds but we’d be here all day. However, you get my point.
So I’m happy to add Darius Garland to the list of folks that I’m proud to say are from Gary, Indiana!! Good luck to you my young brother and I’ll be running into you on a regular basis in these NBA streets because the Cavs are in the same division as the Pacers. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
