Area coaches, players hope to make a difference after Build the Bridge event at Pro Football Hall of Fame

CANTON — A rainbow of multicolored jerseys littered the field outside the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday morning as coaches and players from nearly 30 Northeast Ohio high school programs chatted before the Build the Bridge program got started. It was an emotional sight for Cleveland Heights assistant Kahari Hicks, who created the program in hopes of turning the tide of the racial divide that's been devastating the nation. "When we saw the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and all the racial tension on every side, we just said we had to do something to try and bring people together," Hicks said. "Some of my white colleagues at the high school level and collegiate level said, 'What can we do?' I said, 'We need to get together.' That's where we came up with the idea of Build the Bridge. Bring majority white programs and majority African-American programs together and let them just eat together, talk about race and play a game together." Hicks announced the initiative and said the response has been overwhelming. By Tuesday's kickoff event, over 70 schools had reached out and he'd received interest from programs in New York, Illinois, Iowa and Washington. "We're getting people from everywhere, and it's growing," Hicks said. "I can't even begin to explain how pleased we are with the progress and it just shows you that there are a lot of people out there that really want to make a change … and it's going to start with the young people. "If you look at every school here, it doesn't matter what your race is, all that matters is the color on that jersey. You have Beachwood, and all that matters is the black and gold. You have Columbia, and all that matters is the green. You have Olmsted Falls, and all that matters is the blue and the gold. You can't worry about what your skin color looks like, you play for that jersey." A handful of Lorain County schools were quick to reach out to Hicks, including Avon, Columbia, Elyria, Elyria Catholic and Lorain. The Pioneers were unable to attend due to transportation concerns and the Titans couldn't bring players for the same reason, but the other three programs had a coach and two players in attendance. "I think it's a great program from the perspective that it's trying to bring kids together from different communities and different walks of life so that what you can ultimately see is that we do have differences," Avon coach Mike Elder said. "That's obvious and I don't think the intent is for us to ever not see color or not see individual differences, but it's to respect each other's individual differences." Rainstorms caused the program to cancel the outdoor activities that would have been one of three stations for groups to rotate through, so one group toured the first floor of the museum, the second group toured the top floor and the third group met in a conference room to have a discussion about racial issues. "It's the most important piece, really. It was enlightening is what it was," Columbia coach Jason Ward said of the discussion session. "We talked a lot about stereotypes, we talked a lot about just the word ignorance and how ignorance is really what leads to fear and hate, and how do we educate ourselves on each other. Along with that, how can we facilitate positive experiences between black and white, and I think what is great about this is it's not a hashtag on Twitter, it's not a statement in the newspaper … this is us taking action, this is us being proactive, this is us putting our money where our mouth is." Elyria Catholic quarterback Steven Navalinsky, who attended with teammate Sean Decker, said there were tough moments during the discussion. "Just a lot of (Black players') experiences with refs, other white teams and how they're treated when they go to away games," he said. "That's just bad to hear about. It just sucks." Navalinsky believes football can be key to helping kick-start a solution and he felt Tuesday's event will also reap benefits in the future. "When you're together as a team, you build a bond and you just want to win games. It doesn't matter what skin color you are when you're between the lines. It just doesn't matter," he said. "I think it's great that they're doing something like this and I think eventually there will be a lot of change." Elder, who attended the event with Eagles captains Mason Bingham and Niko Pappas, said he grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Warren, played college football at the University of Mount Union in Alliance and has coached in multiple environments during his career. "Stereotypes are real, they're out there," he said. "We talked a lot about how when I got to Avon 13 years ago everybody labeled us a suburbia school, so we were going to be soft. I've been a coach at an inner city school and we had to be undisciplined. I've been a coach at an Appalachia school and we were slow. Stereotypes are just that, they're stereotypes and they're something we need to eliminate." As a player who embraced Black teammates and as a coach who cared for Black players like they were his sons, it's been hard for Ward to watch some of the racially charged events occurring across the nation the past few months. "So much of what we emphasize as coaches is love," said Ward, who brought players Joe Governale and Lukas McKee to the event. "You play with love in your heart and what we're seeing on the news every day is a lot of hate. That's what's tough, that's what's hard. In all sports, not just football, you get so much more out of it when you play with a full heart, when you play with a love for your teammates and really when you play with a love for your opponents. "When you don't see those values move into the real world, it's upsetting to say the least. But again I think the more that we can get Black and white together and have a positive experience with one another … the payoff for the Build the Bridge program may not happen until these guys are adults. It may not happen until they have kids and they can say, 'Hey, I remember this Build the Bridge and I had the best experience with a lot of Black players. Even though we only had one on our team, we got to spend three days with Beachwood and I got to see firsthand how alike we are.' "So, yeah, hopefully this will transcend into the real world at some point." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.