A new episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel premieres Tuesday night (March 22) at 10 p.m. ET and one of the show’s segments features ESPN broadcaster and former NBA star Jalen Rose and a tuition-free charter school he founded in Detroit to provide kids and parents an alternative to a public school system that is among the worst in the United States.
“For me, it was ‘How can I try to be a part of the solution?'” Rose told Real Sports correspondent Mary Carillo.
Ten years ago, Rose founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. He’s the president of the school and its chief benefactor. The goal for the institution was to help children who get lost in a large urban school system like Detroit’s, who grow up in a single-parent (or guardian) household and live below the poverty line, without the resources for a proper education.
Please take a look at a clip from the Real Sports segment:
Growing up feeling abandoned, as if a parental figure gave up on his or her child, is an experience Rose can relate to all too well. For those unfamiliar with Rose’s upbringing, Carillo recounts Rose being abandoned by his father, NBA player Jimmy Walker, and the anger he felt over his father not wanting him and living poor.
Basketball gave Rose an opportunity to escape, to transcend his upbringing, though it’s clearly important to him to remember his roots and to give back to his community. He can provide the opportunity for many of his school’s students that basketball allowed for him. Carillo highlights Chanelle Miles, raised by her grandmother who prized an education to build a better life. But Detroit public schools weren’t in a position to help and she couldn’t afford a private school.
Then she discovered Rose’s academy and the former “Fab Five” star at the University of Michigan answered all of her questions about the school directly. With a nearly 100 percent Black student body, Black teachers (many of them male), a Black woman leading the school as principal, and a curriculum focused on the Black experience (in addition to educating on mental health issues, she knew it was the right place for Chanelle, who graduated in 2015 and went on to graduate from Michigan.
Chanelle’s experience and what the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy provided for her and students like her makes for a very touching story that’s worth watching.
“I’m extremely proud. I cannot lose,” said Rose. “Revisit this in like 10 years. It’s going to be young people that are achieving their goals and aspiring to do great things and there are going to be adults that are helping that happen. And I have total faith in this city.”
The latest episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel premieres Tuesday, March 22 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. The show is also available on-demand and HBO Max, in addition to repeat airings on HBO networks.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
