Player makes coach glad he offered him a second chance

By JOEY KNIGHT

NEW PORT RICHEY - It was clear he was a ball-handler and breakaway threat.

Mostly, he was a blur.

When sophomore Anthony Jackson wasn't penetrating at will, he was sinking spot-up jumpers from long range or getting the ball out in transition with dazzling fleetness.

Gulf's assistants were awestruck. This diminutive sophomore had taken over the basketball team's tryouts.

And Coach Steve Feldman wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

"I was going to cut him," Feldman said.

Turned out, those helpless Bucs prospects weren't getting burned by Jackson nearly as profoundly as Feldman had been.

Jackson played in Gulf's offseason program the summer before his freshman year, only to enroll at Mitchell. He re-joined the Bucs last summer, then disappeared from the program with nary a word to Feldman.

His sophomore football season had been abbreviated by a lengthy suspension.

Gulf is the third high school Jackson has attended in two years.

"I was like, `I'm done with that. I don't need that,' " Feldman said.

Eventually, Feldman was coaxed into giving Jackson another shot.

Jackson has reciprocated with a shot of his own - right in Gulf's proverbial arm.

"He's worth the effort," Feldman said. "He really is."

The one-time vagabond and perceived problem case has finally found a home - not to mention a groove. Jackson enters this week's Class 4A- District 10 Tournament as the top- seeded Bucs' leader in scoring (13.3 ppg) and steals (84).

Gulf (14-10), which struggled at the season's outset, is 11-4 since the new year dawned.

"I'm just finally getting settled," Jackson said.

"That just translates back to Coach Feldman. He was like, `Nah, I'm not going to give him another shot.' Thank God for his assistant coaches. They were like, `Just keep him. Just give him one more shot, one more shot.' "

Even Jackson couldn't have blamed Feldman for the brush-off.

The fourth of LaWanda Jackson's 10 children, Anthony enrolled at Mitchell for his freshman year when LaWanda suddenly moved into that school's geographic zone.

Struggling with a half-dozen mouths to feed at home, LaWanda, a warehouse supervisor, sent Anthony to live with her mother in Pinellas County, hoping she could better provide for him. When that didn't work out, Anthony moved back to Pasco County, enrolling at Mitchell.

He transferred to Gulf under the county's school-choice policy at the end of the 2003-04 school year, and seemed to be making his mark in the Bucs' summer-league program when he vanished after injuring his ankle.

"I did the same thing I kept doing," Jackson said. "I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. I just kept moving. Different people wanted me to do this and that."

Feldman's skepticism was further reinforced last fall, when it was revealed Jackson had been charged during the summer with driving without a license, and the case hadn't been resolved.

LaWanda Jackson said adjudication ultimately was withheld, and Jackson later revealed he was driving to basketball practice because he couldn't find a ride. Nonetheless, he was suspended seven games from the Bucs football team.

Feldman's confidence in Jackson had long since been suspended.

"I looked at the guy again and was like, `Gosh, he couldn't even finish out his commitment to [then-football coach] Keith [Newton]," Feldman said.

"And all that's weighing on my mind. I was like, `Do I want to invest more time and effort in this kid when he just doesn't seem to finish out anything he starts?' "

When Feldman held an organizational meeting for the basketball team shortly thereafter, Jackson wandered in late, lingering in the back of the room. When Jackson sheepishly approached him after the meeting adjourned, asking whether he could try out, Feldman pounced.

"I'm full of sarcasm, so I was like, `I don't know, Anthony, can you be there on time? Will you be there day after day? Will you let anybody know anything? Will you even show up?' " Feldman recalled.

"He didn't want to hear anymore, so he just kept walking out the door. I thought, `Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.' "

All the while, Gulf's assistants had been running interference, imploring Jackson to try out anyway. Where Feldman's words had struck a nerve, theirs struck a chord.

Show Feldman what you can do.

Keep your nose clean.

Let your talent carry you.

Jackson took the advice, and took over the tryouts. Ultimately, Feldman relented, albeit with conditions.

Jackson had to adhere to a checklist of rules, with a no-tolerance policy attached.

One other stipulation: Jackson would begin the season on junior varsity.

"I thought that would just break him apart," Feldman said. "I said, `You think you can do that?' He said, `I just want to play.' "

No sooner than the two reached their agreement, adversity sent the Bucs into upheaval. Three prominent varsity players were dismissed for an unspecified violation that occurred during the Thanksgiving holiday. Feldman and Jackson had another sit-down.

"I sat him down and said, `You been observing all this, Anthony?' He said, `Yeah,' " Feldman recalled. "I said, `When the door closes for one man, sometimes it opens for another. I'd look at this as your opportunity.' "

Twenty-four games later, Feldman is gushing over the player he once bristled over. Jackson, who was told he'd be gone if he sneezed wrong, "hasn't even caught a cold," according to his coach.

He says he's carrying three A's and three B's in the classroom, a claim Feldman corroborates. He also has been nominated for an annual school award recognizing students who turn their grades - and lives - around.

In the process, the player and his coach have bonded.

Feldman regularly provides Jackson with a ride home from practices and games, springs for the post-practice soft drinks, and serves as a de facto sounding board for a kid whose voice easily can get drowned out in a bustling home.

"Without him, I don't know where I'd be right now," Jackson said.

"Oh, I just can't say how much I appreciate Coach," LaWanda Jackson added. "He's like an angel to my son, helping him out as much as he has."

Feldman says the Anthony Jacksons are among the main reasons he keeps working for the pittance a prep coaching supplement represents. It's why a lot of coaches keep grinding. The rewards come in installments - an improved grade one month, a transformed attitude the next.

But first come the investments of time and tolerance, and suppressing the urge to liquidate it all.

Feldman was nearly overtaken by that urge. Today, he's overtaken by Jackson's transformation.

"I think he certainly has surprised a lot of people, including myself, in the fact he's gone so far in the other direction," Feldman said.