Athletes try to sidestep situations that lead to violence

Mike Privott is a hard-nosed linebacker who doesn't back down on the football field.

He terrorizes wide-eyed running backs and greets them with a whack.

His message to them is simple: Come my way and you're going to pay.

Off the field, Privott takes a different approach to confrontation. 

"I try to avoid it," said the senior at Lake Taylor High in Norfolk.

Violence has become part of the routine at some schools and in certain neighborhoods. Fights break out over simple things and sometimes escalate into gunfire. Since March, three high school football players have been shot. Two died.

It was only a month ago that Privott's school hosted a "Stop the Violence" night. Titans coach Hank Sawyer tried to spread the message that kids need to walk away from confrontations and not get caught up in the violence.

Two weeks later, Rashawn "Peanut" Finney was gunned down.

Finney, an 18-year-old senior and wide receiver for Norcom High in Portsmouth, was shot seven times at a party. He died Sept. 26. The night before the shooting, Finney had helped lead the Greyhounds to a 26-0 victory over Deep Creek.

"It does make me fearful and it makes you cautious about places you go," Privott said. "I feel fearful because no one wants to die. I want to live."

Police, parents and city officials point to gangs as the reason for the violence. Recently, Norfolk postponed two football games for fear of gang activity. Last month Portsmouth police charged a student at Woodrow Wilson High with attempted murder and gang participation after a student was attacked in a school bathroom and choked unconscious. Neither school system informed parents of gang activity.

Students, though, are aware of what has been happening in school hallways and on city streets. The athletes interviewed for this story said it's a mix of gang activity, jealousy and basic teenage behavior that turns deadly because of egos, quick tempers and easy access to guns.

"People just don't care anymore," said Willie Williams, a linebacker at Green Run High in Virginia Beach. "You go to a party now and something goes down, even if you had nothing to do with it, they might come looking for you. So I stay far from it."

Williams, a 17-year-old senior, said he straddled the fence between being a student-athlete and hanging out with the wrong crowd, but said he has come to a realization.

"I was being naive to the fact that all the other nonsense in the streets ain't good for me," he said. "You have to stay on the right path and out of harm's way so you don't end up dead."

For some, the right path means changing their habits to avoid trouble. They don't go to parties; don't venture out alone; don't hang around shady characters; and don't let others provoke them.

"You have to choose who you hang around with wisely," said Lake Taylor junior linebacker Travis Williams, who is being recruited by many big schools, including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, UCLA, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. "And if you go anywhere, make sure you have someone close to you with you. It's become dangerous out there."

The night before Finney was shot, Norcom coach Larry Archie warned his players, as he does every day, to be safe. He knows that many of his players live in neighborhoods where gangs are prevalent.

"I can tell them to be careful where they go and who they're around but when they leave me, I can't control what they do," he said.

That same concern follows Green Run coach Shawn Wilson. He said he gets nervous for his student-athletes any time his phone rings late at night.

"I have my guys for three hours in practice and I may see them passing by in school. But once they go home, a lot of them live in single-parent homes and many of them are raising themselves. Next thing you know, they're out there in the streets and the street's got them."

Norfolk police said they haven't seen a rise in violence or gang involvement, although City Council members called on the city manager last week to hire a gang czar.

"As a city, I think our violent crime rate is actually down a couple of percentage points from last year," said Chris Amos, public information officer. "I mean, we've got a lot. We're not living in denial. We have too many, but we haven't seen a spike this year compared to previous years.

"Having said that, there's still a problem, a recognized problem."

On the night of Finney's shooting, Demontray Ryland was sitting on his porch. Demontray's father pulled into the driveway and asked his son if he had heard the news.

"What news?" asked Demontray, a junior at Norcom. His father told him that Finney had been shot. They drove to three hospitals trying to find him.

Demontray said he wasn't with Finney that night because he had stopped going to parties. He said he realized that there's nothing there but trouble. The parties, he said, have the usual music and dancing but oftentimes they include drinking and drugs. Problems come about when cliques disagree.

"I don't fear for my life, but I do realize that any day could be my last," said Demontray, who turned 17 on Friday. "I took (Finney's shooting) very serious. I realized that it can happen any place and at any time. I'm a little more conscious where I go now, who I am with and how I act.

"I don't think anything can be done because you're always going to have gangs and it's going to be pretty hard to get rid of guns," he said. "So I don't know what can be done."

Portsmouth Detective Kenneth Gavin said last week that he did not know whether Finney's shooting was gang-related but that Finney was a leader in a local gang.

Desiree Finney, Rashawn's mother, said the police are wrong. She said she tried to shield her six children from violence.

"You try to watch who they hang around with and where they go," she said recently. "I tried everything, including not letting them go to parties, to the skating rink or anything. You're just scared for them. You know, I thought I did everything the right way."

Linebacker Privott did not comment on Finney's death or the questions surrounding it. He knows from experience that friends can be a powerful lure.

The 18-year-old senior lived in Park Place, one of Norfolk's more distressed and crime-ridden areas, before he moved out.

He saw how people struggled. He saw how some of his friends joined gangs out of fear or as a way of feeling a part of something. He got mixed up in things that he now admits he shouldn't have.

"When I left, one of my friends got arrested for attempted robbery. I knew that could have been me if I didn't get out. Some people called me a sellout but I was just trying to do something positive. And when I moved out of there things got better."

Instead of hanging in the streets, Privott focused on school and football. Last season he was named Eastern District Defensive Player of the Year.

This spring, he made a verbal commitment to play football at the University of Louisville.

"Going to Louisville will give me a chance to get out of the area and out of the city," he said.

"Right now, there's not a lot of good going on, and it's getting worse. That's why I'm trying to get out. I just want to make sure that I live to see that."

Larry Rubama, (757) 446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com