ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW KENT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Boys glide down the basketball court glistening with sweat. They practice dribbling, shooting, picks and screens. It's hot inside the New Kent Middle School gym, warmer than the muggy July night outside.
John Linka, 16, Howlan Travers, 14, George Crump, 15, and 14-year-old twins Craig and Corey Patterson don't complain. They're honing the skills that got some of them to the national competition in Cocoa Beach, Fla., in July as members of the New Kent Trojans.
And watching over it all is a cop, Virginia DARE Officer of the Year Danny Patterson. He is director of the New Kent Basketball Club and he pushes the boys never to quit.
``When a big guy's working, reward him,'' Patterson tells the boys. ``Give it up to him. He's going to work a whole lot harder because you're rewarding him.''
It's all about discipline and teamwork, supporting each other, Patterson says, and not about hogging the ball and grandstanding.
Patterson, 40, and father of the twins, and the team's coach, Brian Weaver, 24, were pretty good in their day as basketball players at New Kent High School.
Patterson is now New Kent's school-community liaison officer for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, or DARE. Recently, his peers across the state chose him as officer of the year because of his involvement with the community and school activities, Newport News Police Officer Bobby Kipper said. Kipper is the past president of the state DARE association.
Patterson kept busy even as he cared for a very ill child. His oldest son, D.J., was diagnosed last year with aplastic anemia, a potentially life-threatening disease.
Doctors thought D.J. would need a bone marrow transplant, but he responded better than expected to an experimental drug and is doing well now, Patterson said.
Last year, Patterson taught DARE classes to nearly 500 elementary, middle and high school students. He led field trips, taught driver education courses, aided other faculty members and even helped with the prom. A DARE program he started for fifth graders meets twice monthly outside of school.
He has organized Christmas parades and assisted Special Olympics and Christmas Mother programs.
And he is the founder, director, chief fund-raiser, bus driver and activities coordinator of the basketball club for kids 12-16, said New Kent Sheriff F.W. ``Wakie'' Howard, who nominated Patterson for the DARE award.
Patterson led the 14-year-old team to the AAU Invitational in Cocoa Beach and a third-place finish this year. And he also led the effort to raise the $8,000 the teens and their families needed to get there.
Linka and Travers say they'd probably be sitting at home watching television if not for Patterson.
``Whenever I needed him he was there for me. He would take me places,'' Travers said. ``If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I'd do. He's the biggest treat in my life besides my mom and dad.''
It's what makes the job special, Patterson said.
``Seeing the faces when you're able to do something for a child, ...'' Patterson said. ``We have a lot of students who don't have a father at home.''
He remembers what a difference caring adults and wholesome activities made during his boyhood in a public housing complex in Newport News.
``It was a rough area, ... but we had a great recreation center. Good parenting and a solid recreation program got me on the right track,'' Patterson said.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB