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Change for the better

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Jenkins poses with the 2009 Heart of A Champion Award and his grandmother's funeral program.

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By NICK WILLIAMS

nwilliams@tampatrib.com

Published: June 13, 2009

Updated: 06/13/2009 11:47 pm

TAMPA - A gold AK-47 rifle pendant and a rebellious demeanor once defined Byron Jenkins.

During his freshman and sophomore years in high school he was ordered to in-school suspension almost every week, was suspended a combined 13 times and failed three classes.

His home life didn't offer positive influences. His parents, who separated when he was 2, were incarcerated for most of his life. None of the men in his family had graduated from high school.

At the age of 2, Jenkins' mother was sentenced to five years in prison. He was taken in by his father's mother, Leola, and spent the remainder of his childhood with her, along with two younger siblings, in a five-bedroom trailer in Wimauma. The trailer also housed two uncles and, when he wasn't in prison, Jenkins' father.

Both parents have been arrested several times during the past decade on drug charges and other violations. His father is currently incarcerated while awaiting trial.

Jenkins was heading down the wrong path until a heart-to-heart talk with Leola and the support of his basketball coach helped him turn his life around.

Now, the 18-year-old high school graduate is the pride of his family and Lennard High.

But turning his life around wasn't easy.

During his sophomore year of high school, Jenkins transferred from East Bay to Lennard, which opened in Ruskin in 2006. He carried with him his unruly behavior.

"I was a hothead," Jenkins said. "I wanted to be the class clown."

He was nearing a fourth suspension that school year when Leola pleaded for him to change during the Christmas holiday.

"She wanted me to go somewhere," Jenkins said. "She didn't want me be around Wimauma like everybody else. She wanted me to keep my head straight."

That same year, an instant relationship with Joe Willis, then the Lennard varsity boys basketball coach, provided Jenkins with a newfound stability.

Willis presented Jenkins with an ultimatum - either straighten up or leave.

"Initially, I didn't think he was going to make it," Willis said. "He had all of the false bravado, and teachers told me they didn't like him. I never had a teacher tell me they didn't like a student."

"I just had to straighten up and get my act together," Jenkins said.

A teacher at Lennard, Willis helped Jenkins retake the courses he failed as a freshman. He also molded Jenkins into a key player for the basketball team.

"I think he started feeling like a leader," Willis said. "He started taking that on and buying into the discipline."

The 6-foot-4 Jenkins flourished as a post player as a junior and continued that success as a senior. This past season, Jenkins was the second-leading scorer for the Longhorns with 8.1 points per game, and he led the team with 5.2 rebounds per game. He also set a program record for career double-doubles and became the program's all-time leading rebounder.

Jenkins was given the Heart of a Champion Award at the Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association awards banquet April 1 to honor his turnaround. Weeks later, on April 24, Jenkins was presented the Turnaround Student Achievement Award by Hillsborough County Schools and the Tampa Bowling Proprietors Association. One student from each public middle and high school is honored based on their commitment to improving their lives. Jenkins had improved from a 2.3 grade-point average as a freshman to making the honor roll as a senior.

The honors brought tears to Jenkins' eyes.

"It meant a lot to me," Jenkins said. "I didn't expect an award like that. People saw something else in me that I didn't."

But May 2, Jenkins lost his biggest supporter when Leola died of cancer at the age of 64.

"The last thing she said before she passed was, 'I really hope you get across that stage,'" Jenkins said.

Earlier this month, Jenkins became the first male in his family to graduate from high school. He has received $10,000 in various scholarships and will attend Florida A&M University this fall. He intends to major in civil engineering with hopes of earning a spot on the men's basketball team as a walk-on.

"I know she's looking down on me right now," he said of his grandmother. "I know she's still going to be here in spirit."

Reporter Nick Williams can be reached at (813) 259-7851.

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