Monday, June 28, 2021

Moses and basketball’s “Promised Land”

 

Moses and basketball’s “Promised Land”


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    During his time at Plymouth State, Jean-Pierre was a lightning-quick guard who once scored 53 points in a game.

  • Moses Jean-Pierre, shown recently in Kigali, Rwanda, is helping to promote basketball in Africa. Courtesy photos


A social media devotee, I recently saw a Facebook post from Kigali, Rwanda, authored by former Plymouth State basketball star Moses Jean-Pierre. He was there doing work for the NBA-Africa hoop league — of all things and of all places.

Intriguing.

A subsequent FB message to MJ-P led to a phone conversation where Moses shared some pretty cool b-ball news. But before sharing the hoop gouge, a bit of history …

In the beginning

As a Plymouth State University sports information director three decades ago, I once produced a promotion piece highlighting Jean-Pierre’s hardcourt exploits. It was entitled “Moses is Leading Plymouth’s Basketball Panthers to the Promised Land.” The flyer had a photo and listed Jean-Pierre’s accomplishments, awards, and stats.

A favorite MJ-P memory was of a home game against the University of Southern Maine where Moses scored his team’s last 21 points in regulation to force an overtime from which the Panthers emerged triumphant. MJ-P finished with a record 53 points.

I particularly loved Jean-Pierre’s bounce passes. When opponents would double-team MJ-P, no-look bounce passes to teammates would set up pretty scores. So while Moses was certainly a scorer, he was also a team player.

Moses would indeed lead the Panthers to a “Promised Land” when Plymouth advanced to the ECAC Finals in 1994.

The son of Haitian immigrants, MJ-P grew up in greater Boston and graduated from Cathedral High School — where he is enshrined in the CHS Sports Hall of Fame. (He’s also a Plymouth State Hall of Fame inductee.)

Moses went to Maine Central Institute for a post-graduate year where he caught the attention of Plymouth State coach Paul Hogan, who convinced the six-foot speedster to come to “The Home of The Panthers.” The rest is history, a history which included a record 2000-plus career points.

Now director of athletics and head men’s basketball coach at NHTI-Concord, Hogan recalls MJ-P fondly.

“Moses could dominate a game at both ends of the court,” recalled Hogan. “His defense was exemplified by quickness and ball pressure. Offensively, his ability to penetrate and push the ball was extraordinary. He was an easy player to coach but incredibly hard for opponents to strategize against. And most importantly, Moses loved to win.”

MJ-P went on to play professionally in Turkey and Britain and was on the NBA’s radar screen when a knee injury ended his professional hoop aspirations. So Moses redirected from the hoop world to the entertainment world. He developed new skills in the areas of booking and promotions and eventually became road manager for comedian Michael Blackson. He also co-owned an Atlanta lounge for over six years. But while you could take MJ-P out of basketball, you couldn’t take basketball out of MJ-P.

Going international

So that history segment brings us to Kigali. How did Jean-Pierre come to make that Facebook post from an African venue so distant from Boston, Plymouth or Atlanta?

“I’d returned to New England a few years ago and saw that fellow Plymouth State grad Eric Wilson was doing some sports outreach to Haiti focusing on rugby,” explained Moses. “I wondered if maybe basketball could be included in the mix. I sent him a message and eventually, we partnered up.”

The result was Hoops for Haiti, an international sports initiative in MJ-P’s parents’ homeland that not only supported basketball in that impoverished nation but also created a potential conduit to bring Haitian hoop aspirants to America to pursue their basketball dreams.

Moses’ entrepreneurial inclinations also led him to create JP12 Sports and Entertainment, which among other things involves scouting for basketball talent — an endeavor for which MJ-P is particularly well-suited, given his basketball skills and feel for the game. He later contracted as a scout for Zambia’s Unza basketball team that competes in the NBA-Africa league — which is sanctioned by FIBA, the international basketball governing body. Moses is helping to strengthen the loop’s NBA ties.

Jean-Pierre met league president Amadon Gallo Fall of Senegal at a hoop event at a Brooklyn Nets facility. Like MJ-P, Fall had played American college ball — at the University of District Columbia — and soon Moses was involved with NBA-Africa itself. Hence the Facebook post from Kigali.

While many associate Rwanda with the horrific genocide associated with the 1994 civil war there, Moses lauded the state of the country today.

“Kigali is now a clean, modern city,” explained Jean-Pierre. “And there are definitely players with NBA potential playing in Africa.”

MJ-P added that traveling to and from Kigali involves patience and endurance but that he enjoys his new role as an international basketball ambassador of sorts.

“Fortunately, most of the people I deal with speak English,” he said.

Sports bring people together from all nations. Subsequent friendships and business relationships increase cross-cultural awareness and appreciation while countering the currents of conflict and prejudice. Every player that Moses brings from Haiti or Africa to America — the Promised Land — becomes, like Moses, an international goodwill ambassador.

And the more such goodwill ambassadors we create, the better our world becomes.

One bounce pass at a time.




Educating Ed on Easter

 

Educating Ed on Easter

As a legislator, columnist/blogger, educator, and quasi-raconteur, I enjoy back-and-forth regarding sports, politics, movies and more. But I generally avoid getting into religion. Still, as someone who feels that vibrant religious communities with their associated values and activities are important parts of a healthy society, I sometimes get “cognitive dissonance” about avoiding the topic.

Some might call it “conscience.”

Which brings me to a friend I’ll call “Ed.” He’s a non-believer with whom I have conversed about religion. Being a former Marine, I once asked Ed if he believed Marines had esprit de corps.

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“Of course,” said Ed.

What does it mean?

“French expression meaning “spirit of the corps,’” replied Ed. “A common feeling of pride and purpose that motivates a group. Sure, Marines have it in spades.”

Can other groups have it?

“Sure. Teams, clubs, organizations. If they have good leadership and common goals.”

So you believe in this esprit, or spirit? Even though you can’t see or touch it?

“Yes,” laughed Ed. “Of course.”

Can a religious group also be animated or motivated by an esprit de corps, like Marines or teams or clubs?

“Why not?” said Ed.

So what if religious folks claim they’re motivated by a special esprit de corps that they refer to as a holy spirit?

Ed is silent. Having already acknowledged the existence of an intangible esprit, he won’t use the English word for it. He saw where I was going. To admit the existence of a Holy Spirit — which is what some religious folks refer to as an animating esprit that inspires them—is essentially to admit the existence of God, in that some Christian doctrines describe the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, or God as spiritually active in the world.

Without listing names, there are many transformative figures throughout human history who, clearly inspired by a certain esprit (Holy Spirit?) have provided humankind with lessons, parables, belief structures, and inspiration to live good and productive lives. And happy ones too.

Countless surveys and research document that the religious are more generous and happier than non-religious. With exceptions of course. But the data is out there. Google away.

I ask Ed to consider the incredible good work that programs like Catholic Charities do around the world – effectively and efficiently. What do atheist charities do? Might Ed be happier if he donated wherewithal or energy to one of the many wonderful religious charities?

“I pay taxes,” says Ed. “The government does a lot of good work.”

Of course.

“And I don’t need to go to church for a spiritual experience. I can get that by climbing a mountain.”

But isn’t that a bit narcissistic? Isn’t there strength in numbers and value to being part of a group or community animated by an esprit/spirit to do public good and help people?

Ed laughed.

But at least he didn’t get personal. A challenge for some of us when we summon up the nerve to talk about religion or values is that we must brace for personal criticism.

“Who are you to talk about this stuff, given all your foibles, flaws, and sins? And what about all the hypocritical religious people who do bad things?”

Sigh. Some require an unattainable measure of perfection from the inherently imperfect before engaging about religion — a measure not expected from others.

But we drift away from our historical religious roots at our own peril. Witness the growing coarseness, alienation and violence that seem to accompany America’s increasing secularization. New Hampshire is rated as the least religious state. It also features about the highest rate of substance abuse. A correlation?

History is replete with religious conflict. True. As well as plenty of anti-religious violence. After the horrific French Revolution, Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral was converted by the secular to what they called a “Temple of Reason.” After the horrific Russian Revolution, official atheism shut down the churches. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ridiculed religious influence, asking “How many divisions can the Pope deploy?”

Funny thing though. Notre Dame Cathedral eventually returned to religious splendor. And churches are now open all over Russia – even if some are closing in Concord. The Holy Spirit can be ridiculed, quashed, or denied, but it’s apparently eternal as it provides hope and inspiration for individuals and communities to pursue kinder, gentler paths.

Easter Sunday is April 4. A chance for Ed to pick out a church and perhaps witness some real “esprit” first-hand!