Professional Documents
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Beasley in NYC
Beasley in NYC
316-268-6278, or e-mail
kseminoff@wichitaeagle.com
BY JEFFREY MARTIN Kansas State’s Michael Beasley three college freshmen were normal distractions (booze,
The Wichita Eagle was chosen No. 2 in the NBA picked 1-2-3 — are just 19. members of the opposite sex)
Draft. To be sure, years and None are legal, although but in a controlled (invite-only
NEW YORK — Last call was years of hard work culminating Thursday guaranteed all are for about 120 people), some-
11:30 p.m., which is unheard in a new professional world — now millionaires. what sanitized setting.
of in this, the city that suppos- well, who wouldn’t celebrate So it made sense for a party Which is how Fatima Smith,
edly never sleeps. that? to be held at the ESPN Zone in Beasley’s mother, pictured the Associated Press
Then again, it shouldn’t have Problem was, Beasley and Times Square, the perfect fami- evening. Soft music, scattered Michael Beasley was full of cheer prior to Thursday’s NBA
been an issue late Thursday most of his high-profile peers ly-friendly compromise. A bar, Draft, but by midnight was worn down from a long, nerve-
night, in the moments after — it was the first time that but a sports bar. Enough of the Please see BEASLEY, Page 4D racking day.
T
he sound is deceiving.
It’s a typical mid-summer day at the Lynette
Woodard Recreation Center in northeast Wichita.
The center’s doors are steadily swinging open with
kids and parents watching Summer Hoopin’ basket-
ball games. Outside, a group of young boys tries to
ignore the sweat descending from their foreheads,
concentrating solely on keeping rhythm as they clap to end their
final football drill before a coveted water break. Next door, at
the Atwater Neighborhood City Hall, a group of young girls
laugh as they learn how to express themselves through dance.
Through all that, a slight “ping” can be heard in the distance.
Anyone familiar with sports would assume that in an area full of
hustling and bustling young kids, it’s a baseball coming off an
aluminum bat.
Not in this predominately black area. The sound is coming
from a man using a hammer down the street. All-black youth baseba
ll
representing northeast teams no longer exist in Wichita. The 1979
Courtesy photo
Wichita’s MEFSEC (no Royals,
Please see BASEBALL, Page 7D Recreation Center), pla w
yed in the Sunnyside Le the Lynette Woodard
ague.