The Fellowship of Afro-American Men Youth Basketball Program celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, and the 2023-2024 season is gearing up to be a blockbuster.
FAAM kicked off the season with additional funding, thanks to a new partnership with Northwestern University that will provide FAAM a total of $100,000 over four years. This collaboration will benefit more than 200 FAAM participants, providing enhanced opportunities in STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – learning within the sports context, alongside enriched academic and mentorship support.
Further, a novel initiative has been introduced for the 2022-2023 season allowing FAAM players to retain their uniforms for the first time in the organization’s history. FAAM President Omar Brown, who is also senior vice president of community and impact for the Big Ten Conference, emphasized the significance of this gesture, underlining its impact within the community.
“We want our participants to walk away with their uniform, because that’s a very big deal, and part of the world we live in now,” Brown said. “I mean, how meaningful is it to a kid to be able to keep that uniform and even reflect on it next year, or in two or three years? I hear adults all the time still talking about ‘I was part of this team, I was part of that team,’ arguing about who was the best back when they played.”
This season, FAAM has 14 boys and four girls middle school teams, as well as cheerleaders. The teams feature NBA and WNBA team names – such as the Pistons, Lakers, Spurs, Knicks, etc. There is much pride and history on and off the court, with parents and grandparents in the bleachers who themselves were FAAM players back in the day.
“The competition is real, and I have no doubt the chatter on Mondays at Nichols, Chute, Haven and King Arts about the games is nonstop,” Brown said.
While Evanston-based, FAAM draws from the North Shore, Skokie and Rogers Park, with a diverse population of players coming from varied racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
“There are wealthy kids and there are kids getting free and reduced lunch that play, and I like to say that FAAM is the only place in Evanston where it’s truly diverse in race, gender and skill level,” Brown said. “At the high school, only a select few can make the basketball team. Here we have violin players who get to play ball with kids that will later play at the high school level. Everyone is in the same league, getting the same training and structure. That is truly unique.”
FAAM history
According to Brown, FAAM was created after a budget crunch in 1968 left District 65 without funding for sports.
“As it’s been told, a group of Black men wanted to provide sports for young African American students in organized structure and fill the gap that was caused by the budget crunch,” he said. “So, they started a basketball league with four teams to start.”
Among the founders was Bill Logan, the longtime Evanston police chief who retired in 1987, as well as Gene Bell, Andrew Rodez, Howie Barksdale, Ray Sanders and Henry White.
“The main focus was always on being role models and using basketball to really help young boys become men,” Brown explained. “They were about supporting the community, and 55 years later that’s still what we do, except for now we’re bigger and it’s all races and genders.”
Another important distinction, Brown emphasized, is that FAAM is 100% volunteer, with approximately 75 adults of all ages who serve as coaches, scorekeepers and administrators.
“We have all of these people volunteering each year who tell me that this is how they give back to the community,” Brown said. “But I also make sure the coaches understand that whether they recognize it or not, they’re all public figures. I said in the volunteer training, ‘People will know you as a FAAM coach and how you represent this league and its history and what you do says a lot about both.’”
While there is a $250 fee, which includes $50 in fundraising tickets, to participate, Brown said the league offers many scholarships. There is also Pancake Day – scheduled for Feb. 10 in 2024 – the annual and much-anticipated FAAM championship game, which raises funds to support the organization.
The FAAM draft
The boys team selection process mimics an authentic NBA draft. The players come together at the beginning of the season on a Saturday in the Fleetwood-Jourdain gymnasium and each kid has a number, either eight, seven or six, based on the player’s year in school. The players participate in drills – including right-hand layups, left-hand layups, relays, shooting drills – and a scrimmage.
“From there, it works like the NBA draft, with the team who had the worst record last year getting the first pick and you keep going down and there’s a series of rounds,” Brown explained. “This year we took it up a notch and as every kid got drafted, we took a picture with the coach and the uniform to say, ‘You’re part of this team.’ So, every player gets a moment at the draft where they get the spotlight, just like the real NBA draft.”
The girls team selection has operated a little differently, and that has to do with ensuring support for middle school girls, Brown said.
“Middle schoolers on the whole are going through a lot and tend to be more self-conscious, and so to create a more inclusive process, we don’t have a girls draft, but we attempt to build teams that are equitable and competitive,” Brown said.
Instead of drills and a draft for the female players, the coaches host practice clinics and then divide the girls into four equal teams who play two scrimmages as their first games to alleviate any pressure.
“We work the girls team selection that way to help ensure there is equal distribution of players based on grades ” Brown said. “Also, we have the girls play the first two games each Saturday, and the reason we did that is that we want to create an environment that supports middle school girls. It sometimes becomes a lot when strangers and boys walk into the gym. There are a lot of emotions going on, so we have the girls play first, always at the same gym, and that really helps to build camaraderie.”
Famous alumni
There are many FAAM alumni who have gone on to careers within sports, including in the professional ranks. A few names: Naquan Jones, who played football at Michigan State University and in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans; Patrick Baldwin Jr., who now plays in the NBA for the Washington Wizards; and Austin Brown, who is one of the top NBA agents and works for Creative Artists Agency.
“There are 20-somethings right now who can say ‘I played against an NBA player,’ which is incredible,” Brown said. “But I also remind people that Patrick Baldwin Jr. never won a FAAM championship. Some of these kids don’t compete beyond eighth grade. It’s important to know that we are not a feeder league, our participants come in with all skills levels, and so it’s really about FAAM creating an experience that our kids, our volunteers, and our parents will remember long after it’s over.”
FAAM games are played on Saturday mornings at Chute, Haven and Fleetwood-Jourdain. FAAM fans welcome.