<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Moe Smedley's thoughts immediately turned to Zach Randolph when he opened the Monday edition of the Marion Chronicle-Tribune. "One violent night," the headline read. Smedley quickly recognized the names of Otis Donald and Lamar Cannon, who had been killed in a shootout at a motorcycle club early Sunday. The two had been classmates of the often-troubled Randolph, the Portland Trail Blazers forward whom Smedley had coached on Marion's basketball team. Their deaths caused a recurring thought of Randolph to pop into Smedley's mind. "I hope he learns," Smedley said. Basketball has buoyed Randolph above these moments, when poverty and violence grip his old neighborhood. The sport allowed him to take giant steps out of the small industrial Indiana town. Yet one foot has always remained firmly planted in Marion and stood, at times, cheek-to-cheek with tragedy. There was Randolph's brother, Roger, who was arrested after shooting three people in nearby Anderson in 2004. And former Marion teammate JoJo Williams, who was shot and killed in Indianapolis the year before. This week's violence only added to the list. Smedley thinks of incidents such as those and wonders what Randolph will do 20 years from now, when basketball no longer offers him a life preserver. What will happen then if his roots remain so firmly planted in Marion? That's why Smedley hopes Randolph will learn. But not to distance himself from the town that looks to him as an idol. No, Smedley hopes Randolph learns what his status can accomplish, and to use it to help the community. Smedley believes Randolph's return home this week for Cannon's funeral was a step in that direction. </div> Source Interesting to say the least.
