Baltimore’s not always an easy place to know. In Baltimore Voices, our ongoing series of interviews with local true believers, we’ll introduce you to some facets of this town that you might not have seen. This isn’t just the city we live in; it’s the city that lives in us.
Actor and director David Manigault was born and raised in Baltimore. After five years as a personal assistant to music video and commercial director Chris Robinson in Los Angeles, he returned to Baltimore to finish Poet Pride, a documentary about the Laurence Dunbar High School basketball program, where he himself played as a teenager. Poet Pride debuted at Camden Yards and is currently available at www.bigvisionfilms.com. He and his partner Che Evans run Billionaire Films, which produces music videos, commercials, and documentaries. His new documentary, Why Murder? will be out this fall and available through www.billionairefilms.com.
The story of Poet Pride is long overdue. It’s a story about the historic legacy of a great powerhouse high school basketball team. In the fifties, it was Coach [Bill] “Sugar” Cain who sparked the Dunbar legacy. The team was playing in gyms then with no audience. Sugar Cain won the first MSA [Maryland Scholastic Association] title. Then Skip Wise really put Dunbar basketball on the map when they beat DeMatha, which was number one in the country, back in 1973. It goes all the way up to Bob Wade coaching [N.B.A. star] Muggsy Bogues, up to Pete Pompey coaching [N.B.A. star] Sam Cassell. People will see that for everyone who made it from Dunbar, someone who was never recognized paved the path. Even though Muggsy Bogues made it, you had another point guard teach him how to steal the ball. Even though Sam Cassell made it, he idolized Skip Wise. I was privileged to do this because of my relationships in the community. Dunbar is like a family—I went there, my mother went there, her parents went there. That’s the reason I was able to reach out to Muggsy Bogues, Skip Wise, [N.B.A. star] Reggie Williams.
People will see that sports brings us together in multiple ways. I’m a big advocate of growing up playing sports. It gives you exposure to much more diversity. When I played amateur sports at AAU [the Amateur Athletic Union], we traveled to Texas when I was eleven. We traveled to L.A. when I was thirteen. We traveled to Florida when I was fifteen. Unfortunately those coaches and mentors aren’t around anymore. I just turned 30, and some of the avenues that were open to me aren’t open anymore. A lot of programs have folded. We need to start putting back incentives and programs for our kids. Right now they have nothing to do, so they’re just going to do what they see on TV. Politics have shown what it can do to the city, but what’s missing right now is a voice or outreach to the youth.
One thing I’m doing is my upcoming documentary Why Murder? Me and my partner Jermaine Barnes came up with that as a slogan for nonviolence. There will be the documentary and a crime-prevention DVD for kids on the street. Why Murder? will be real-life testimonies, interviews with people living all over Baltimore in high-crime districts. What we have here is a mentality of aggressiveness that’s very limiting. You don’t have a lack of talent, you have a lack of hope.
Baltimore is like a diamond in the rough: it’s still a diamond. We’re like sleeping giants, this small city that has a big impact on people, issues, topics, movies, all kinds of things. It is a great city overall. We have a lot of great landscapes, great places, and some of the best food in the world.
Posted in: Baltimore Voices1 Comment
you need to get your fact right. during the 50’s Coach Cain had the basketball teams that were the top of the city because I know that as fact becuase I was a student at Dunbar from 1953 – 1960. when we played Patterson Park high school at the colesium in west Baltimore on north Monroe street. That was the event of all time because for the kids who could not get to the game it was play by play on WWIN radio station. Furthermore, that game produced Joe Pullium who was a guard and excellent baseball who was drafted by the Orioles as a second baseball. The teams that are named couldn’t hold a torch to those guys playing then. I can give you so more first that Dunbar had in sports. The first swimming team I was the manager. The first Color Guard in the Band.I was the Sgt Major of it. If you want some history talk to the peopel that were there at the time, i.e. ME and others Bill Tinkler, drafted by the NY Giant football team, Excellent guard on the basbetball court and great hands as a splint end in football. Talk to us old guys that were down in the ditches.