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Question Of Loyalty

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By ANWAR S. RICHARDSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 21, 2007

TAMPA - Bucs cornerback Phillip Buchanon and a close friend had been stripped naked and tied up by seven men in ski masks who invaded the football player's home in suburban Atlanta.

As Buchanon lay on the ground around 3:30 a.m. on March 13, 2006, repeatedly being pistol-whipped on his face and body, an assailant shoved a gun into his mouth. A simple demand was uttered: give up $20,000 in cash now or die.

'I said 'Man, homeboy, I don't know who you are, but I'm going to tell you who I am,'' Buchanon said. ' 'I'm Phillip Buchanon. I'm from Fort Myers, Florida. I went to the University of Miami. I played in Oakland. Now I'm playing in Houston.

''I don't have that money, but if you want that money, you can call my financial adviser. I will give you his phone number. I don't carry $20,000 in cash on me.''

Buchanon, one of many National Football League players raised in the inner city, firmly believes his friends set him up. He found it coincidental that one of his friends unexpectedly left his home minutes before the robbery. And a woman who was supposed to visit called to make sure he was home, but she never showed up.

The robbers spent an hour-and-a-half taking everything they could from Buchanon's 6,000-square-foot seven-bedroom home. They took all of his clothes, $1,200 in cash, 70- and 50-inch televisions, jewelry and Buchanon's Infiniti SUV.

They also took something from Buchanon that many NFL players struggle to let go - a desire to represent the 'hood.

It's a dilemma for many athletes. Those raised in the inner city believe they must remain devoted, or 'keep it real,' to friends and family from their old neighborhood. Yet hanging with their entourage can land them in trouble.

'My first few years in the league, I was like 'I'm from the 'hood.' I didn't care. I got love from the 'hood,' Buchanon said. 'After that one incident, things changed.'

The NFL recently has been plagued by off-the-field incidents, including two high-profile cases. As in Buchanon's, many troubles can be directly linked to the player's posse or entourage.

•Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted this summer with three other defendants on federal charges involving dog fighting. Those defendants were his close friends. They pleaded guilty and testified against him, leading Vick to follow suit. He is awaiting sentencing on Dec. 10.

•Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam 'Pacman' Jones was charged with felony coercion after a February melee and shooting at a Las Vegas club that left an employee partially paralyzed. Jones reportedly threw $81,000 in the air to 'make it rain' on strippers with his posse, which incited the chaos.

'I'm a firm believer that a lot of trouble some guys get into is not so much because that's the way they are, but a lot of times it's because of your boys,' said former Bucs quarterback Doug Williams, who was raised in the inner city of Zachary, La. Williams also coached six seasons at Grambling State University and worked with troubled athletes before becoming a personnel executive with the Bucs.

'You hang around with a group and they just egg you on to a certain point. They say 'Man, do you know who you are? You're so-and-so,'' Williams said. 'If I was in this era and had an entourage with four or five boys doing everything I needed done, from washing my car to shining my shoes, going to the club and they're hanging out making sure I get in, and as soon as somebody bumps up against me, they want to fight them ... I don't know how I would handle it.'

Many don't know how. It's a struggle to balance loyalty with personal responsibility, and it's difficult to break ties with old neighborhood friends. The pressure is sometimes self-imposed, but often projected from those left behind.

'There is a tendency for them to look back to the old neighborhoods for support from people they feel comfortable with,' said Dr. Patrick Devine, a professor of psychology at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and a former consultant with the Falcons.

'The other side is, if they try to break out of that, then there is all this pressure that you're some big hot-shot now who is too good for this. It's a social guilt inside of them that, now you've abandoned us. That puts a lot of pressure on them.'

There is also an expectation that the athlete, whose six- or seven-figure salary is widely reported, must financially help everyone who took care of him before he became an NFL player. In addition to being expected to pay family members' bills or treat them to homes and cars, the crew from the old neighborhood is supposed to tag along into a new world of money, high society, women, fame and influence.

'Black people will always feel like we owe them because they feel like they helped us when we were younger,' Buchanon said. 'Then, when you try to let your homeboys have fun and they have too much, it comes back on you. You didn't do it, but it's your fault because you let it get out of hand.'

It's easy to say troubled athletes should cut off bad influences, play football and behave. But while players are seemingly running with the wrong crowd, those friends seem just right to them.

'We think, with that money comes a lot of responsibility, but the difficulty most of us have is we're looking at the world through our eyes, our experiences, and not looking at it through their life and their experiences,' Devine said.

Trust is the main issue. Those current posse members who are now eating steaks and lobster were there when none of them had food. Yet, after an athlete signs an NFL contract, they are expected to disassociate themselves from those that outsiders label as 'thugs.'

'Now you're faced with a choice,' said former Bucs quarterback Shaun King, who grew up in the Childs Park neighborhood of St. Petersburg. 'Do I go with somebody I don't know who is only here because of who I am and what I have, or do I continue to allow these people around me?

'Everybody is saying he should leave the group that he's around, but everybody who is around him now is around him for one reason - because he's an NFL athlete. Period.'

Gary Sailes, an associate professor in Indiana University's Kinesiology department and author of numerous journals about African Americans in sports, said the biggest change that needs to occur with athletes is in their thought process.

'You're asking these guys not to just change, but re-evaluate,' Sailes said. 'You're asking these guys to stop being who they are and let go of all they have known. I'm saying they literally don't know how or know what to do.'

Sailes added that there needs to be a restructuring of values. Others agree it is imperative that athletes learn not to feel guilty for gradually disconnecting from friends who could ruin their name and career.

Dr. Sara Hickmann, the NFL's Director of Player Assistance Services, said her office is offering more programs to help players struggling with their transition. The NFL holds a rookie symposium each year, and the topics include everything from personal finance to conduct.

In addition, Hickmann said the league educates coaches and general managers on how to be more effective with their players and offers counseling programs for players and their wives.

'They have to realize that I'm not just running the streets anymore, and any problems are going to hit the papers or ESPN,' Hickmann said. 'There is a different level of scrutiny that I'm under, and we really encourage players to have those conversations in a proactive way with their friends and family.

'And if these people really care about you, they are going to be able to respect that and want you to succeed.'

Bucs linebacker Cato June began taking ownership of his future in high school when he disconnected himself from bad influences once his football career began to flourish. Some questioned whether June was 'keeping it real.'

'If keeping it real means to continue to do dumb things to keep yourself hindered from the good things in life, you shouldn't keep it real,' June said. 'People always say you should keep it real, and 'Oh, you left the 'hood and forgot where you came from.' You don't forget that. Your experiences identify who you are, but you have to separate from the bad things and embrace the good things.'

June still embraces the Washington, D.C., neighborhood where he grew up. However, he returns to the 'hood with a different mind-set than some of his NFL comrades.

'When you go back and talk to kids, you don't want to be a peer to them. You're not their peer. You're somebody they look up to,' June said.

King, now working as a color analyst for football broadcasts, employs the same philosophy when he talks to kids in the Tampa Bay area or visits friends from his old neighborhood.

'Before you're an athlete, you're a man,' King said. 'You have to tell them we can channel all that energy in another direction and elevate the quality of life in the group, but you have to be a strong person and say that. You have to demand that, if they want to be a part of that group, they have to abide by that expectation level.'

Buchanon knows all too well what to expect from the 'hood. That is why he rarely goes back. Most of his free time now is spent at home. The majority of his old friends are no longer around. Buchanon also lives in a gated community as a safety precaution.

He never will forget everything the boys from his 'hood stole from him, but he appreciates the new life he gained after almost being killed.

'It made me look at stuff a little different. It made me wise up,' Buchanon said. 'It's like 2Pac said - anybody can be touched physically hurt. I realized after I got robbed, anybody can get touched. That's just the reality of the 'hood.'

Reporter Anwar S. Richardson can

be reached at (813) 259-8425 or

arichardson@tampatrib.com.

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