By Marshall A. Latimore DES ITE A ROUGH START IN HIS FIRST SEASON, TSU MEN S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH DANA FORD IS E CITED, READ AND FOCUSED. EXECUTIVE EDITOR Cover Story www.nashville.stayonthego.com Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 11 Editor’s Note: This article was originally published online on Nov. 9. Since its originally publication date, Ford has led the Tigers to a 12-4 (3-0 OVC) start. Already, the Tigers won twice as many games as last season, Ford’s first season at the helm of the program. Strewn along a desk covered in pa- perwork and neatly sorted stacks of books, a worn copy of Ben Carson’s “Gifted Hands” and John Wooden’s “The Greatest Coach Ever” immedi- ately catch one’s gaze. Alongside these gems, atop another stack of books is a small green leather-bound Gideon Bible. On the cabinet behind the desk are several framed family portraits, each revealing various points in the evolu- tion of the family featured in them. In the center of it all, talking on his of- fice phone with one hand, his knee braced against the desk while rearing back in his swivel chair, a smiling Dana Ford acknowl- edges the presence of people coming in and out of his office then quickly diverts his gaze down into the smartphone he is cradling in his other hand. After a few hearty laughs, he ends his call, quickly apologizes then places the smart- phone into his top desk drawer. In an instant, Ford straightens up in his seat and switches into head coach mode, al- beit still cheerful, but ready to go into detail about his excitement of the upcoming sea- son of Tennessee State University’s men’s basketball, which kicks off with a road game scheduled Nov. 13 against Loyola Univer- sity Maryland in Baltimore. ‘Used to being youngest.’ At 31 years old, Ford is the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I basketball. Now heading into his second season, he’s looking to turn things around with a crop of new recruits, along with returning top scorer Marcus Roper and returning top rebounder Demontez Loman. “I’m used to being the youngest,” he says with a toothy grin. “Hopefully, though, I can one day be the oldest.” Overall, Ford is pleased with the progress his young team has shown in recent practices. “It’s been encouraging because guys are getting better every day,” he said about the team last week during a practice. “We are starting to execute a little bit better. We are getting our rotation intact, and that’s help- ing with a lot of the execution.” Ford faced a tough first season, guid- ing the Tigers to 5-26 record. Last year, he inherited a team with only one returning player. “It was pretty hard,” he admitted. By contrast, this year Ford has five returning players, including three who were starters in 2014-15. To improve his chances headed into this season, Ford and his coaching staff have recruited across the country and even internationally. Two players, the returning Christian Mekowulu and freshman Samson Oyedi- ran, hail from Lagos, Nigeria and London, England, respectively. And with a bit more experience and more depth among his squad, Ford is confident his Tigers will exceed expectations, despite being seeded sixth in the East division of the OVC preseason poll. “Not only was this a rebuild, this was a total rebuild,” Ford said in an Oct. 20 OVC Media Day conference. “But now, we have things in working order. We feel now is the time where we can see where the program really is.” Ford has passed his excitement along to his players, who themselves are anxious to prove their talent on the court. Such is certainly the case for Keron DeShields, a redshirt senior from Baltimore, Maryland, who transferred to TSU from University of Montana last year. Per NCAA transfer rules, he sat out the 2014-15 season. Before coming to TSU, DeShields, a shooting guard, had just played three sea- sons at Montana under head coach Wayne Tinkle, where DeShields helped lead the Grizzlies to Big Sky Tournament Champi- onships and NCAA Tournament berths in 2012 and 2013. “I’ve won my whole career,” DeShields said. “I want to finish my college career as a winner. A modern-day Mayberry Ford, who grew up in a “very rural area” in southern Illinois, is a self-proclaimed “good ol’ country boy” and the youngest sibling of three sisters and two brothers. His maternal grandmother raised him in the village of Tamms, Illinois, which, according to the 2010 Census, has an ap- proximate population of 1,042. Tamms, consisting of a total area of 2.33 square miles, is known statewide for the now closed Tamms Correctional Center, a super-maximum correctional facility oper- ated by the Illinois Department of Correc- tions until 2013. “The closest Wal-Mart and McDonald’s were both 30 miles away,” he laughed. “There are no stop signs. People still sleep with their doors unlocked. It’s a modern- day Mayberry.” Ford started playing basketball at the age of 3. “Illinois is a basketball state,” Ford said. “That’s all we had to do. It started opening up so many doors for me.” He later attended Egyptian Senior High School, where, as a guard, he broke the school record for points scored by the end of his final season. Averaging 22 points a game, he was named First Team Class A All-State Illinois and a two-time conference player of the year. “Even now, I still love the game. I always have.” For Ford, pouring himself into the game he loved throughout the years also shielded him from some very adult issues. At an early age, Ford saw first hand the lifelong impact of domestic violence. Basketball provided enough of a distraction to many of the more violent acts against women in his life. For this reason, today Ford is an active and vocal opponent against domestic violence, an act he believes happens far too often in collegiate and professional sports. Ford and his wife, Christina, founded the Rebound Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to help women and children rebound from domes- tic violence. Together, the Fords raise funds and provide women and children in the metro Chicago area with opportunity to take full advantage of their second chance by providing transitional housing that will offer peace, education and empowerment to end the recurrence of domestic violence in their lives. Locally, Ford serves on the advisory board and as a mentor for the Nashville’s YWCA’s MEND program, a prevention initiative that seeks to engage men through mentorship in order to become a part of solving the region’s high rates of domestic violence incidents. “Domestic violence is a man problem,” he said. “I grew up around domestic violence. We hear about it in sports all the time. I feel an obligation to use my voice to speak out about it.” Ford has played basketball since the age of 3. He played through high school and in college at Illinois State University. TSU head basketball coach Dana Ford, gearing up for his second season at the helm, takes a call and checks e-mail on his smartphone. STAYONTHEGO PHOTOS / ROBERT SHIELDS Cover Story Cover Story www.nashville.stayonthego.com Thursday, March 24, 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 9 STAYONTHEGO PHOTOS / ROBERT SHIELDS Minding Her Business ver the last 15 years, women-owned firms in the U.S. have grown by one and a half times the rate of other small enterprises and now account for almost 30 percent of all businesses. Further, one in five companies with revenue of $1 million or more is woman-owned. In Nashville, that trend is evidenced and supported through a large number of women only, woman-owned or women-led organizations. From the Mayor’s office to perhaps even the White House, women have indeed positioned themselves to run the world. Over the next few pages, get to know some of Music City’s successful women in business, starting with a talented trio poised to scale their companies internationally. By Marshall A. Latimore EXECUTIVE EDITOR ver the last 15 years, women-owned firms in the U.S. have grown by one and a half times the rate of other small enterprises and now account for almost 30 percent of all businesses. Further, one in five companies with revenue of $1 million or more is woman-owned. In Nashville, that trend is O travel www.nashville.stayonthego.com MAY/JUNE 2016 • STAY ON THE GO MAGAZINE 25 Travel By Michael MJ Johnson SOTG TRAVEL EDITOR Thailand is a destination just mys- terious enough to be exciting, yet just familiar enough to be inviting. Here is my own adventure: After a quick visit to China—and The Great Wall—we found ourselves on the beaches of Pattaya, Thailand. From the moment we touched down we could feel the infectious beats of trance music parading through the city. The first two nights were a blur. Our $30-USD-per-night 5-star hotel directly on the famed Walking Street was the perfect jump off for a double dose of vibrant clubs, spontaneous street parties, and a weeklong nationwide waterfight for Songkran (Thai New Year Water Festival)! EXPENSES Round Trip Flight from ATL: $800 via Air China (Long Layovers in China) Accommodations: • Hostels: from $15/night • 5-Star Hotels: from $30/night Food: • Traditional Thai cusines: $2 USD per meal • Fancier Restaurants: $10+ a meal VISA: • Thailand: Free 30 Days with U.S. passport • China: Free 72-hours with U.S. passport For Booking/Info Contact: Lori Johnson Butterfly Kiss Travel (615) 970-8290 www.butterflykisstravel.com How many more times can you visit South Beach Miami? Like, seriously? How...many...more...times? That passport has been sitting in your drawer collecting dust since the day you got off the ship from Jamaica. You’ve relaxed and cruised. Now is the time to explore! Let’s push the envelope! Thailand o ers eclectic mix of ancient, modern CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE COURTESY / TOURISM THAILAND, MICHAEL MJ JOHNSON MICHAEL MJ JOHNSON, TRAVEL EDITOR
root_recruit
kazukiikeda
bitkey
tsubura
sony
ds35mm
kintone
gfht1
%201.png){kind=avatar}
yoriss67
designer_no_pon
touyou
chikuwait
addyosmani
sarafernandez
rmw
jmmastey
axbom
gurzu
chriscoyier
marcduiker
reverentgeek
aarron
nikkihalliwell
