Nov. 20--Like any smart quarterback, Phillips senior Quayvon Skanes knows how to stay out of harm's way.
Every weekday morning, Skanes rides the Green Line L near his house on the South Side to school five train stops and a short walk away. Every night, he gets a ride home from practice from his dad, Quincy. Beyond that, the football star isn't exactly running to daylight.
"I don't even come outside unless I have to, that's how tough it is where I live," Skanes said. "I'm cautious. You've gotta be."
He used to live in Englewood before moving to Park Manor, two Chicago neighborhoods where residents coexist among gangs and gunfire. Asked Thursday about steering clear of danger, Skanes pointed to the practice field at Mandrake Park on East Pershing Road.
"I do what I can do out there," said Skanes, who will lead Phillips (12-0) into the IHSA Class 4A semifinal Saturday at Gately Stadium against Marengo (12-0). "Football has helped me survive."
Irony is, a dangerous game offers a safe haven for Skanes and Phillips teammates coping with the daily realities that challenge so many of the city's teenagers. Without getting specific, those around the Phillips program acknowledged a handful of players have dealt with homelessness and pressure from gangs or threats of violence.
If Phillips beats Marengo, the Wildcats will advance to the state finals for the second straight year. Only one other Chicago Public League school ever has reached the football state finals -- Robeson in 1982 -- and none have won it. But evaluating the Phillips program involves much more than wins, losses and championships.
"The coaches taught me how to become a man," Phillips senior wide receiver Donald Gardner said.
Phillips head coach Troy McAllister, a native of Ontario, Canada, helps players navigate their way through one of America's most dangerous cities by striking a balance between empathy and discipline. McAllister makes holding players accountable and loving teammates sound as vital to Phillips' success as blocking and tackling.
"You end up talking regularly about things that are real obstacles for some of these guys," said McAllister, 37. "We say it's all about choices. Do you want to come to football practice and go to school or do you want to stay away and do those different things? You see all these guys out here on a Thursday morning on a day we don't have school and it says a lot about what their choices are."
Like many of Phillips' 90 players, junior defensive lineman Chris Elmore knows of friends who have made the wrong choices. Elmore matter-of-factly recalled a buddy getting shot and killed last year outside Gately Stadium. Another strayed and chose gang life. His tone changed from sober to excited describing former teammates who were gang-affiliated when they joined the team and college-bound by the time they graduated.
"Our program has helped a lot of kids," Elmore said. "We can change the way people stereotype us. We can put all that aside and come out here and try to better ourselves."
All 19 of Phillips senior players are on track to graduate. Skanes earned a scholarship to play at Connecticut. Linebacker Amani Jones committed to Iowa. Gardner can choose from several FBS-school offers. Defensive end Amir Watts also has options.
Consider it was just five years ago when Phillips was designated a turnaround school by the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a nonprofit school management organization. The Wendell Phillips Academy in Bronzeville, a structure built in 1904 whose hallways were graced by alumni such as Nat King Cole, Gwendolyn Brooks and the Globetrotters, had fallen on hard times because of high drop-out rates and low test scores. When McAllister arrived during the first season of the transformation in 2010, only 12 players went out for football.
"We literally started from nothing," athletic director John Byrne said. "We didn't even have a ball in the building of any kind."
McAllister, who played football at Queen's University in Canada, wondered what he had gotten himself into at Phillips. He originally had come to Chicago in 2006 to work as a kindergarten teacher after driving from Buffalo to attend a job fair. Now, the red-headed coach who stands within two victories of making CPS history cherishes most the way he makes a difference in the lives of African-American kids who share a common belief.
"There is opportunity here," McAllister said.
At the end of Thursday's practice, Phillips players took a knee and gathered around AUSL founder Martin Koldyke for a pep talk. As the wind whipped off Lake Michigan, they listened intently as Koldyke echoed that idea.
"What you've accomplished is really something and don't you forget it!" Koldyke told the team. "We're on a mission here at Phillips. This is no ordinary place."
dhaugh@tribune.com
