Former Markham Park Elementary student and ‘spitball’ target returns to talk about prevention
DeAndre “Dragon” Taylor has vivid memories of being bullied at Markham Park Elementary School. So, when he had a chance to return as a Harlem Globetrotters player to talk about the subject, he embraced the opportunity.
“I was new in the third grade,” Taylor told students about his early experience at the school. “Someone kept shooting spitballs at me. I wanted to fit in and I was afraid to tell the teacher, at first.”
But Taylor eventually complained to the teacher. The result: The bullying stopped.
On Monday, Taylor, joined by teammate Anthony “Buckets” Blakes, used the story as part of his presentation for the team’s “ABCs” of bullying prevention program.
With “A” standing for “action” and “B” standing for “bravery,” Taylor said it takes action and bravery to tell a teacher about bullying. Blakes talked to students on how they can use “C” for compassion to someone who’s being bullied.
Blakes, a Phoenix, Ariz., native, also provided a little history lesson about the Globetrotters on how the group started in Chicago in 1926 as an all-black team because of discrimination.
He said the team was invited to play the all-white Minnesota Lakers in 1948 and 1949 in championship games and won both times, which helped lead to Globetrotter Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton signing with the New York Knicks as one of the first black NBA players.
Taylor, 28, and Blakes, 41, also showed off some of the Globetrotters’ stunts by displaying passing, dribbling and basketball spinning moves with a few students and teachers.
Taylor and Blakes are in the Chicago area preparing for four upcoming games with their teammates.
The Harlem Globetrotters will play doubleheaders at the United Center on Dec. 28 and at the Allstate Arena on Dec. 29.
Markham Park Principal Tiffany Rucker said the Globetrotters organization reached out to her to host the event and she jumped at the chance on relatively short notice.
“I’m always looking for a way to deter negative behavior,” she said about the anti-bullying program.
The visit also provided a little nostalgia for Taylor, who reunited with fifth-grade teacher Cory Williams.
“It brings back memories,” Taylor said about the visit. “It feels like I’m back home.”
Taylor, now 6-foot-4, is starting his fourth year with the Globetrotters and sports a 45-inch vertical leap as a dunking sensation.
He had played basketball for Northern Michigan University and for the NBA’s D-League.
Taylor said he practices about four hours a day on his own to master Globetrotter stunts and about eight hours a day while in training camp.
“It takes a lot of practice,” he told the students about being a Globetrotter. “When I first began, I didn’t know one trick.”
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