'Never too late' to Graduate - Great story about Robert "Spider" Gaines - super mid-70's Kennedy of Richmond Hurdler/Footballer

July, 2006
State HH Champ (1st 3 13.3 in that contest) and the personal "big comeback!"
  

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Never too late to Graduate - Great story
about Robert "Spider" Gaines - super mid-70's Kennedy of Richmond Hurdler/Footballer

July, 2006
State HH Champ 1975 (1st 3 13.3 in that contest)
and the personal "big comeback!"

photo by Don Gosney
Robert Gaines (left) and rival Dedy Cooper (right)
Cooper set Nat'l Record 13.2 in the 110mHH in the Friday Prelims
at the 2005 State Meet in San Diego - Gaines took the Finals in 13.3, with
Cooper next at 13.3, with John Peterson (Saddleback) also 13.3 in third!!
Gaines went to Richmond Kennedy, Cooper to Ells of Richmond

Link to Original article Contra Costa Times

It's never too late to graduate

By Jay Heater
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Former Richmond resident Robert "Spider" Gaines spent years experiencing the mean streets while "drinking and drugging" his way to oblivion.

Despite surviving some harrowing situations as part of the local drug culture, his most frightening experience was walking into a classroom at Seattle Central Community College in the spring of 2005.

"It was very scary," said Gaines, who was a can't-miss football and track prospect when he left Kennedy High School for the University of Washington in 1975. "I saw all those youngsters, and I felt like an old man."

Now 48, Gaines walked across a stage at Husky Stadium on June 10 to pick up his bachelor's degree in sociology.

"I've won a state championship and a national (junior) championship in track," said Gaines, whose specialty was the 110 high hurdles. "I went to the Rose Bowl (1978) with Washington. I traveled around Europe to run track. But man, walking across that stage ... whew! I started crying.

"I came back and got my degree. A lot of people don't come back. It was the most gratifying thing I've accomplished."

University of Washington academic coordinator Rod Jones, an El Cerrito graduate who also returned to college later in life to obtain a degree, is on a mission to convince young athletes to get their degrees.

"The gates are not open to everyone trying to get back into a university," said Jones, who left Washington without securing his degree after being drafted by the New York Giants in 1987. "I don't want to give names, but I had a friend who went to the University of Washington with me. We both went with high expectations. I eventually was drafted while he got involved in drugs and alcohol.

"He was dropped from the university. Six or seven years after I left college, I heard that he was on drugs bad and needed help. To this day, he has tried to get back into school and has been denied."

If an athlete does get back in school after a long absence, it can be a much different experience.

"It definitely opens your eyes, going back to school without all the perks," said former Cal basketball player Randy Duck, who is awaiting his grade in a just-completed Spanish class to finish his degree. "I don't think college basketball players are living in total reality, the way they are catered to. Coming back was tough. It teaches you things that matter the most."

Both Gaines and Jones were drafted into the NFL and left Washington before earning degrees. Duck, who was at Cal from 1993-97, left school to play professional basketball in Europe.

Duck was able to carve out a living from athletics. Not so for the others.

Gaines' career evaporated just after he was picked in the sixth round by Kansas City in 1979. He tore ligaments in his knee during a pickup basketball game at Eastshore Park in Richmond about a week before training camp.

"My dream was shattered in one dribble," he said.

Gaines, who now lives in Seattle, spent a year on the Chiefs' inactive list, then made an unsuccessful attempt at earning a roster spot with the 49ers. He played for the B.C. Lions in the Canadian Football League but never reached the monetary plateau he thought was a sure thing.

"We're taught as kids -- and especially if you are black -- that sports are the only way out," Gaines said. "That's how you get your bling, bling. It's how you make money."

Too late, he realized that his biggest mistake in life was not taking advantage of his educational opportunity at Washington. He worked security in the East Bay for years but remained bitter about his lost opportunity.

That bitterness sent him spiraling toward alcohol and drug abuse. It ended in 2004 when he went to Seattle to see his daughter, Breianna, graduate from Roosevelt High School. What should have been a wonderful moment turned sour.

"I was drinking and I was kind of messed up," he said.

Breianna's disappointment in her father's condition sent him into a drinking and drug spree back in Richmond. But looking around at his fellow drug users, Gaines came to a decision.

"I decided it was time to change my life," he said. "I decided to go back to school."

Gaines enrolled in a Tacoma, Wash., rehabilitation program, then sought help from Jones, who set it up for him to take one semester of classes at Seattle Central Community College before re-entering Washington in the summer of 2005.

"It took me a semester to get used to being a student again," Gaines said. "I had to comprehend things, and I needed the basics. I also had to learn to type. So many things had changed. Everything is done on a computer now."

Jones also had to deal with the unfulfilled dream of athletic prosperity. He wasn't happy toiling in warehouses when he could have capitalized on his education.

Even so, it took some prodding for him to return to Washington to earn his degree.

"(Former Washington quarterback) Warren Moon invited me to Gertrude Peoples' retirement party," Jones said. "At the party, she said to me, 'Rod, this is your chance. You've always been avoiding school.'"

Peoples, who was a special assistant in the Washington athletic department for 35 years, was right.

"I didn't have football to save my butt, and I was very nervous," Jones said. "But she told me I would be all right. I enrolled the following Monday."

Three semesters later -- winter 2000 -- Jones had his degree.

Jones started to tell his story to other athletes at Washington, explaining the importance of finishing their degrees. Sarah Winters, an academic coordinator at Washington, heard those stories.

"It must have touched her heart, because she said that I really needed to be (working) at Washington," he said.

In 2000, Winters changed jobs, and she recommended Jones to take her place. "I almost cried," he said.

He has worked with Husky athletes since, trying to make sure they don't repeat his mistake.

"I try to change kids' attitudes about academics," Jones said. "Not all these guys are going to be academic All-Americans, so I try to meet them halfway. I try to convince them to do things like talking to a professor after class instead of leaving early, or perhaps meeting with a professor once a week so you don't fall behind. With just a little effort like that, I've seen guys go from a 1.0 (grade point average) to a 2.0 or a 2.5. To me, that is satisfying."

Gaines said it can be tough reaching young men who have their dreams set on making millions in athletics.

"I don't know necessarily that there was anything anyone could have done to reach me," he said. "School wasn't high on my priority list. I wasn't a failure as a student, and I always tried. My instructors knew me as a good kid. But I never went to any tutoring or counseling even though it was there. I had to go work out, to get ready for practice. I had to be rested up."

Duck said he probably should have redshirted as a freshman.

"For my development as a player, as a person, it would have been better for me," he said. "Coming in from Texas, I was overwhelmed. But I was a proud kid, and I wanted to do it all on my own. If I had redshirted, my degree would have been finished. I had that allure of playing right away. I was on a team with Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray. I wanted to be in the mix."

All three preach balance between academics and athletics when counseling young athletes.

"There weren't as many mentors when I was in high school as there are now," Jones said. "I try to tell not only the good stories, but the hard stories and the sad stories. I tell them the reality. The only thing I heard when I was a kid was that I was the best tight end anyone had seen. No one told me about the importance of getting a degree."

Duck, who lives in Walnut Creek and gives private basketball lessons, never has had trouble finding a job he enjoys. Even so, he said his degree will be invaluable.

"It's a sign, a symbol, that I don't leave things unfinished," he said. "People want to know that if they invest in you, you will follow through. The people I am dealing with are very big on that."