St. Paul officer delivers big assist with 44 pairs of basketball shoes

The kids sat, restless and fidgety, in the old gym at the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) in St. Paul on Tuesday evening. On a big table sat 44 brand-new pairs of white and black Nike Zoom Hyperquickness basketball shoes.

The boys, all 15 and under and on Grassroots Hoops Club teams, knew that the shoes were meant for them, but first they had to sit through speeches by Todd Barnes, director of development for the charter school; Grassroots President Brian Sandifer; St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Todd Axtell and a few others.

The shoe (and basketball) giveaway was the brainchild of police officer Tom Reis, who works off-duty security at the school. He'd popped his head into the gym one day last month and noticed that some of the teenagers were playing in loafers and moccasins because they couldn't afford the often-pricey court shoes.

Reis decided to do something about that, and in less than two days he'd recruited the folks from the Shop with Cops program, who in turn recruited representatives from Nike. The next thing they all knew, there were 40-plus pairs of basketball shoes at HSRA.

About one-third of the kids in the gym Tuesday were from HSRA. Others came from Oakdale, Brooklyn Park, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Hudson, Wis., and even a couple from Redwood Falls.

Sandifer said his program has about 250 kids, including 40 to 50 who identify as homeless. One of his players rides the light-rail train from the time the school day ends until it starts again because he has nowhere else to live.

"This is an outlet for them to get out of their situations," Sandifer said. "The wins and losses don't matter. It's 'Did you have fun?'

"Every last one of them wants to be in the NBA," he said. It's isn't about that, though. "Life lessons are learned in sports. The friendships and the chemistry you have in the locker room on and off the field is the thing."

Reis, too, felt it was important for the officers working security to be as friendly and approachable to the kids as possible and to show them that cops aren't to be feared.

"It's important for us to have positive involvement with the younger kids," he said.

HSRA ninth-grader Louis "Mike" McCaleb, 14, wasn't thinking about all that Tuesday.

"It's good," he said. "I really needed some hoops shoes. They really come in handy."

The high school is building a $2 million facility specifically for Grassroots, which now splits its time between HSRA and Minnehaha Academy.

Art Johnson of Brooklyn Park was one of a dozen proud parents looking on. His youngest son, Jacob, a ninth-grader at Champlin Park, plays on the team and got shoes Tuesday. His middle son, Jeremy, also played with Grassroots and because of it got a full basketball scholarship to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252