George Floyd Classic honors a man while a community reflects

Hours before Saturday’s inaugural George Floyd Classic, Yates and Duncanville visited the mural of Floyd at 3341 Winbern Street, across from Cuney Homes where the 1993 Yates graduate grew up.

Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody in May with officer Derek Chauvin pressing a knee into his neck, which prevented Floyd from breathing during an arrest allegedly for forgery. Footage of the incident renewed worldwide protests of police brutality, especially against African Americans.

Floyd was larger than life – both figuratively and literally – on Yates’ campus in the 1990s, playing football and basketball for the Lions. The mural is one of the lasting symbols of the profound impact Floyd’s death has on the Third Ward community and Yates High School.

Players and coaches embraced each other upon arrival where the mural is located, took pictures and even met with people from the neighborhood.

Saturday’s game would be another extension of the positive that Floyd’s family and the community hopes to build from tragedy.

“I wore the same jerseys,” said Brandon Williams, Floyd’s nephew who played on Yates’ 2009 state championship basketball team. Williams represented Floyd’s family at the game, speaking to the crowd at halftime of Duncanville’s 102-69 win at Delmar Fieldhouse.

“I actually played at (old) Delmar. I remember George actually coming to the games to actually watch me play in that Yates uniform. It just brings back a lot of memories.”

Williams said the George Floyd Classic, orchestrated by Jim Hicks of RCS Sports, was a no-brainer to support.

Williams said he and his family continue balancing the pain from the loss of a loved one with the uplifting and positive change coming from Floyd’s death. Some of the initiatives from Saturday’s game fall in line with the latter, such as a pledge from both programs to help of-age players register to vote.

There were other accents from the game honoring Floyd, such as each quarter starting at eight minutes and 46 seconds, the reported amount of time Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck. The 46 seconds would run off before the traditional eight-minute periods were played. Halftime lasted eight minutes and 46 seconds, too.

Houston ISD’s COVID-19 policy includes prohibiting fans from attending events inside indoor facilities, but an exception was made for Saturday with a limited capacity of 2,000 at Delmar Fieldhouse. Proceeds from ticket sales go back to Yates and the basketball program. Hicks said the hope is this event becomes an annual occurrence.

Herbert Mouton was in attendance Saturday. He’d known Floyd since their early teens. The two played on Yates’ 1992 Class 5A Division II state finalist football team together. He was in the same graduating class as Floyd and remembers him as a friendly giant whose large hands could engulf a ball even as a freshman.

Mouton and a few of his other teammates created 88 C.H.U.M.P. The organization featuring Floyd’s football jersey number with an acronym standing for Community Helping Underprivileged Minorities Progress is involved in initiatives such as voter registration drives, voter and U.S. Census education and engagement events with police officers.

“Floyd said a while back to one of our other classmates that he would one day change the world,” said Mouton, who donned a red hat with the words “I can’t breathe” across it, the phrase Floyd uttered while being detained. “Unfortunately, it is in the way it is. But I think the situation that we’ve been put in with Floyd will change the world.”

Basketball was secondary on Saturday but not completely irrelevant.

Yates was without head coach Greg Wise, who was self-quarantining from the team after encountering someone with a positive COVID-19 case as to not infect players or assistants and jeopardize the event.

Yates assistant Eddy Barlow assumed head coaching duties. He says this is a younger Yates team still finding its bearings in a unique system, considering the lack of practice time because of the pandemic. Having the state’s top-ranked Class 6A team in Duncanville on the schedule helps in the long run for Yates – a 4A power used to dominating opponents. Yates’ leading scorer in Saturday’s game was returning star and senior Chuks Isitua, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

Barlow, also a friend of Floyd’s, says the team has embraced conversations surrounding the tragedy before, such as what to do if stopped by police officers.

“It could happen to any one of us no matter the age,” Barlow said. “Just knowing how to handle certain situations as an African American man.”

Duncanville, from south Dallas, was already in Houston on Friday night, defeating Spring Legacy 86-85 in triple overtime.

Duncanville coach David Peavy, who is a former head coach at Dekaney in the Houston area, called it an honor to be a part of the first George Floyd Classic.

The visit to the mural and Floyd’s neighborhood may have been his players’ first time being immersed in a place they saw on social media or TV.

“The thing is,” Peavy said, “there’s a lot of George Floyds out there. Right now, he’s the face of this movement but it happens in Dallas, it happens in Houston. It happens all over the country. I’m just glad that these young men and their generation, they’re taking a stand on making changes.

“I just want them to understand, let’s not let George and the thousands of others’ deaths go in vain. Let’s keep this movement going and understand there are a lot bigger things out there than this basketball.”