Spencer Harold "Sonny" JamesonBorn:
November 9, 1926
New York, NY
Died:
September 17, 1994
New York, NY
Career
1943-44 Dewitt Clinton High School - Brooklyn (High School)
1944-45 Dewitt Clinton High School - Brooklyn (High School)
1945-46 CCNY (College)
1946-47 CCNY (College)
1947-48 CCNY (College)
1948-49 CCNY (College)
1949-50 Waterbury Coppers (EBL-Ct)
1949-50 New York Harlem Yankees (ABL)
1949-50 Cohoes Marras (ABL)
1951-52 Saratoga / Schenectady Yankees (ABL)
Source:
Stats:
He was in the Pan Am Olympics, on basketball team (when Americans of color were not admitted to the US Olympics). Worked for the NYC Youth Board socializing fighting gangs in Red Hook Brkln. Got an MA degree from NYU in Human Relations, then taught Social Studies to high school age inmates in Rikers Jail. He was offered high level positions in the Poverty Program of the 1960s-70s but turned down fame and fortune because he wanted to teach kids in trouble. He had kids accused of crimes from truancy to murder in the same classroom, some almost illiterate others pre-college. He would choose a theme like Joy or Trust... the kids who had very little schooling would cut out pix from old magazines to communicate their thoughts visually, others would write stories or essays, some would paint. The ones who couldn't spell would dictate stories or thoughts into a recorder. A classroom of deep learning despite each kid living in terror, waiting for trial, release or upstate prison.
ReplyDeleteHe was in the Pan Am Olympics, on basketball team (when Americans of color were not admitted to the US Olympics). Worked for the NYC Youth Board socializing fighting gangs in Red Hook Brkln. Got an MA degree from NYU in Human Relations, then taught Social Studies to high school age inmates in Rikers Jail.
ReplyDeleteHe was offered high level positions in the Poverty Program of the 1960s-70s but turned down fame and fortune because he wanted to teach kids in trouble. He had kids accused of crimes from truancy to murder in the same classroom, some almost illiterate others pre-college. He would choose a theme like Joy or Trust... the kids who had very little schooling would cut out pix from old magazines to communicate their thoughts visually, others would write stories or essays, some would paint. The ones who couldn't spell would dictate stories or thoughts into a recorder.
A classroom of deep learning despite each kid living in terror, waiting for trial, release or upstate prison. Sometimes a young man - sometimes white, black, or Spanish - would run up to him in the NYC subway - "Mr. Jameson! You saved my life!"
Thank you SO MUCH for your insight. I love to learn about people like Sonny and their accomplishments off the court. He sounds like a remarkable man.
DeleteJust saw your comment (4 years later) yes, a really fine American - basketball player, father of I think Pamela and Tien Jameson. His mother was half Native American/half European American, his father African American from Alabama's generations of slavery then Jim Crow. His father was too beaten down by society then and left, his mother worked as what I like to call a household manager but in during post depression years, had to leave him alone. He said he got through elementary school thanks to two fairly elderly teachers who bought him clean t-shirts and sat with him after School, despite not being paid for after work time, and made sure he learned to read, write and do math. He was impatient with teachers who would let kids pass despite not learning skills because that was not compassionate, just harmful. He wanted teachers to teach kids.
ReplyDeleteHe found "family" in the Sabres gang that covered 50 blocks of Harlem and included cousins. He became their power behind the thrown - the Warlord.. He was injured and in the hospital when the police broke up the gang, jailed and killed members. Sonny left the hospital determined to transform. Completed high school, avoiding offers to get good clothes (that he loved) by saying "Uncle so and so sent me" because he knew they were probably stolen and he was smart enough to know if he got their great low cost designer clothes, he would owe.
He went to City University of New York (CUNY), became a basketball star. - and because of that same honesty , he did not get involved in a betting scandal. His first jobs were for the NYC Youth Board. His job was to socialise fighting gangs. He would get teens to think "What are the percentages?" and he spoke from knowing what happened to the Sabres. He went on to get a Masters in Human Relations at New York University.and began teaching at the public school in Youth House, but I already gave that info above. He got the job at Youth House because of his deep love of kids and ability to connect: to test him out, he was put in a room with kids with all kinds of problems, all at wild extremes. His evaluators said most applicants for teaching positions fled... instead, Sonny found a good book and sat on the floor reading aloud... soon the kids were gathered around him, listening to the story. Like kids..
Thank you for sharing that!
DeleteThank you so much for this information! I'm Sonny's daughter and I would love to learn more. My email address is kimjameson@aol.com. I would really love to hear from you.
ReplyDelete