Former Olympian pushes hard to develop student athletes in track and field

Former Olympic bobsledder Sable Otey, who runs a sports development training
program at Briarcrest High School, trains and conditions student athletes for track and
field. From left: Otey, Darrian Joiner, Lyndsey Herron, Jada Okhiria, Regan Casey
and Kynnidi Caffey (background). (Photos by Wiley Henry)

In 2017, Sable Otey pushed very hard to make it to the 2018 XXIII Olympics Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea. She pushed and pushed, but couldn’t summon enough strength or push fast enough to rocket the bobsled out of the gate during tryouts in Calgary, Canada.

“I crashed several times. At the beginning, I just got out-pushed,” she said. Two U.S. teams made it to Korea. Otey and her pilot failed to qualify. Still, she went on to witness the dazzling display of Olympic glory in Korea.

While the memories are still fresh in Otey’s mind, she has not regretted her Olympic experience. Instead, she has refocused her attention on coaching and training student athletes in track and field.

She has a wealth of experience to offer budding athletes training in sprints, hurdles and jumps, including speed development training, strength and power training (without weights), and post injury training.

Sable Otey demonstrates resistance training with Darrian
Joiner, a 17-year-old senior at Briarcrest High School.

“I want to develop athletes,” said Otey, a conference champion at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where she received a B.S. in Exercise Science in 2011. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Education in 2012 at National University in San Diego, Calif.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, Otey ran through a series of exercises at Briarcrest Christian School with a half dozen student athletes in the school’s weight room. She runs a sports development-training program there after school.

“If you give me a kid, I promise you’ll see a difference in 30 minutes,” said Otey, confident of her ability to produce quality athletes.

She wouldn’t get an argument out of Jada Okhiria, an 18-year-old senior at Briarcrest. “She helps me a lot. I see a huge difference from over the years since she’s been coaching me,” said Okhiria, a triple jump and long jump specialist.

Okhiria has played competitive tennis too since she was nine years old and has been active in track and field since the eighth-grade. After graduation, she plans to walk on at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

Okhiria is a jumper, not a runner. Other student athletes like Darrian Joiner and Lyndsey Herron are runners. The Briarcrest seniors work out several days a week after school to improve their athleticism.

Much of Otey’s training includes biomechanics and center of mass to keep student athletes from hurting themselves. “A lot of kids get injured because they are not trained how to run properly,” she said.

Joiner gets the point. “I’m learning how to get mentally stronger and how to condition my muscles for endurance,” the 17-year-old said. “She [Otey] helps me to focus on technique and work on the little things, like form.”

Joiner has trained for the triple jump, the long jump, 4 x 100 meters, 4 x 200 meters, 4 x 400 meters, the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. She has also trained for the shot put.

“But I can definitely use more help,” she conceded.

Herron’s personal best in the 100-meter race is 13.2 seconds. She also runs the 200 meters, the 4 x 100 meters and the 4 x 200 meters. “I want to see if my time is low enough to qualify for a track scholarship,” she said.

Working with student athletes is a synch for Otey. She works them into shape and literally pushes them to do their very best, much like what she had to do herself. Her teaching method comes from her Olympic training.

“She’s teaching me form, endurance and how to get out of the block,” said Herron, 17, who has run track since fifth-grade. “I’m learning how to run long, not lean back, but forward…run on my tiptoes, not my heels.”

While Otey works hard to equip and empower her student athletes, she continues to work out herself. She’s five months pregnant with her second child and still expends energy while maintaining the physicality that made her an Olympian.

Motherhood is important to Otey as well. So is her 14-year marriage to Rueben Otey and their business, Millionaire Millennial Movement, a financial services firm. Otey is the chief executive officer.

That day in Briarcrest’s weight room, the group of student athletes couldn’t believe that their trainer was physically fit to demonstrate the proper way to lift the weight bar.

One of them exclaimed, “…and she’s pregnant too!”

Otey just smiled. She’s used to pushing the limits.

Friends celebrate Eugene Phillips’ birthday with a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Eugene Phillips and Anita Ward-Richardson stop to take a look at one of several
photos of her hanging in a hallway in Phillips' home that he named in her honor.
(Photos by Wiley Henry)

Home is where Eugene Phillips’ heart is and where he feels most comfortable. His heart is also with the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who grapple with catastrophic diseases.

On Sunday evening (Feb. 10), Phillips opened the door of his lavishly decorated home in Germantown to a cadre of special friends who celebrated his birthday over dinner and made a donation to St. Jude.

Phillips, whose birthday was Feb. 12, has raised more than $100,000 for St. Jude over the course of 35 years – thanks to an eclectic mix of friends: doctors, CEOs, entertainers, entrepreneurs, ministers, business owners, social justice advocates, and others.

“It’s a blessing to have friends to donate money to St. Jude in honor of my birthday,” Phillips said.

Willie Bland, wife of the late bluesman Bobby Blue Bland,
relaxes in the room that Eugene Phillips named in honor
of his friend.

Raising funds for St. Jude sparked Phillips’ interest decades ago after longtime community activist Sandy Vogel Lewis escorted him on a tour of the campus. She had served more than 20 years on St. Jude’s board before she died in 2010.

“I was so impressed,” he said. “They [St. Jude] do so much for children and their families.”

Phillips embraced Lewis as a dear friend. She was credited with helping St. Jude’s founder Danny Thomas grow the hospital into a worldwide pediatric treatment and research facility.

“I told Sandy that my birthday would always be celebrated for St. Jude,” he said.

A photo of Lewis hangs in Phillips’ home. In fact, just about every wall in his two-story home is adorned with photos of his friends and St. Jude contributors. The photos are keepsakes, irreplaceable memories, he said.

Some rooms are named in honor of his friends – for example, the late rhythm and blues entertainer Rufus Thomas. His memories are framed in each photo and embody the man that Phillips had happily regarded as his good friend.

“Rufus was so happy. It [a room in his honor] meant so much to him,” said Phillips, recalling those special moments when the entertainer would come over and drift off to sleep on a soft, cushioned recliner.

Another friend and entertainer, the late Bobby Blue Bland, is featured prominently in another room. His eyes seem to glare at the onlooker. His wife, Willie Bland, said her husband appreciated the honor.

“He liked it,” she said. A private duty licensed practical nurse, Bland didn’t hesitate to lavish praise on Phillips. She appreciates their friendship. “Eugene has been a friend of ours for so many years.”

Bobby Blue Bland died in 2013. His voice wails from a recording that Phillips plays whenever he feels a need to relax in the room that he named in honor of his friend. Sitting quietly, he reflects on the good times.

 “When I’m here at home and all over the place, it’s good to have the memories,” said Phillips, noting that the memories will occupy his mind for the rest of his life.

Anita Ward-Richardson and Phillips were neighbors once. She remembers when Phillips first talked about supporting St. Jude. It was around the time when her million dollar selling, chart-topping single, “Ring My Bell,” caught fire in 1979.

She and her husband, Stephen R. Richardson, are frequent guests at Phillips’ birthday celebration each year. Her appreciation for Phillips is evident: “Eugene is such a wonderful person. He’s so kind.”

They came – couples and singles, near and far – to celebrate with Phillips, to fellowship with one another, to support a worthy cause: St. Jude’s children.

Several guests conversed with one another and shared stories. Phillips made them all feel at home. They made him feel special. He was a jovial host.

Zeina Alwfeu and Michael Fahr were present. So were Louisette and Dino Palazzola, Mimi Bell and Sonny McQueen, Doris and Bubba Bridges (comedian Steve Harvey’s mother-and father-in-law).

Other guests included Anita and James Bridges, Janelle and Reginald Eskridge, Gwen Nelson and Roosevelt Boyd, Sarah Schwab, Rick Abraham, Michael Donahue, Gina Roberts, and Dr. Gregory Hanissian.

Rahechelia and Elder Aaron L. Patterson made the trip all the way from Munford, Tenn., about 30 miles outside of Memphis. They have celebrated with Phillips for about four years now.

Giving the host his props, Patterson – who serves as minister of worship at Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ and president of the missions department – said, “His dedication is unparalleled.”

He said the reason for the birthday celebration is to support St. Jude. “And we look forward to it each year.”

New book about leadership lessons includes Memphis State Eight

Dr. Shirley Raines, former U of M president and author of "An Uncommon
Journey," recognizes Bertha Mae Rogers Looney (right of Raines) and Luther
McClellan, two members of the Memphis State Eight, during a book talk Jan. 26
at Novel Memphis. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Nearly 60 years ago, eight black students – known as the Memphis State Eight – integrated the former Memphis State University. Before the name was changed to the University of Memphis in 1994, J. Millard (Jack) Smith, who was president from 1946 to 1960, reportedly said, “No blacks shall be admitted as long as I’m president.”

Dr. Shirley Raines, the affable president of the U of M from 2001 to 2013, had no problem acknowledging the history-making trailblazers who shattered the color barrier in 1959: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson, Bertha Mae Rogers Looney, Eleanor Gandy, Rose Blakney-Love and Sammie Burnett Johnson.

She pointed out two of them among the audience – McClellan and Looney – who came to hear her expatiate on her new book during a book talk and book signing Jan. 26 at Novel Memphis in the Laurelwood Shopping Center.

Raines is a capable storyteller, an effervescent spirit, which is quite evident in the stories she’s woven together comprising the book “An Uncommon Journey: Leadership Lessons from a Preschool Teacher Who Became a University President.”

“The stories are told from the experiences that you helped me live,” said Raines, speaker, consultant and author, interacting with the surrounding audience.

Dr. Shirley Raines autographs a copy of her book for Luther McClellan.

The Memphis State Eight gets a nod in the book. She first recognized the significance of their rightful place in history and hosted a former dinner and reception in their honor on campus in 2006. A historical marker was erected in front of the Administration Building in 2012.

Much of the credit goes to Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., then special assistant to Raines and a longtime luminary over the airwaves at 1070 WDIA. He didn’t want the group to be forgotten and their determination to pursue a college education under dire conditions to be omitted from the annals of history.

“Dr. Raines was really a great president. She was sincere and open to change. And I appreciate her sincerity,” said McClellan, who left Memphis in 1962 during his sophomore year at the university.

“It’s amazing. It’s overwhelming,” added Looney, acknowledging the attention the group has been receiving and the “small contribution” that she said she’d made during that turbulent era in Memphis’ history.

She didn’t want to speak ill will of Smith during his day; however, she did speak favorably of Raines: “Dr. Raines is awesome. It reflects the leadership she gave to the university.”

 “They mean so much to me,” said Raines, recognizing her supporters and others in the audience (including Stansbury) who helped to shape her career as a leader and an academic. She rose from humble beginnings on a sharecropper’s farm in Bells, Tenn., to serving a stint in early childhood education, to serving at the helm of the university as its first female president.

Bells is a quaint city in Crocket County, Tenn., 72.9 miles from her home in Memphis “to be exact,” said Raines, who first eyed the big city of Memphis while growing up in Bells.

“Memphis was always special to me,” she told the audience. “I always wanted to live in Memphis…if the cotton crop was good.”

Born on the farm, Raines’ hardworking parents didn’t quite see the sunny side of an education after high school. Her mother had a 12th-grade education, she said, and her father made it to eighth-grade.

Why write the book?

“I wrote this book to tell my stories, and to inspire leaders, especially aspiring women leaders, who are wondering if they should take their next leadership step,” Raines explained in the book’s preface.

She’s had some invaluable experiences and life lessons on her journey from Bells to Memphis and developed the skillset that would catapult her as a formidable leader tasked with an awesome responsibility. This is the crux of the book.

The manuscript started out at 600 pages, she said, “but my editor said nobody would buy it. So I cut it to 300 pages.” Then she whittled the book down again to about “170-something” pages.

The book starts out with Raines’ formative years and builds from there until she lands the big enchilada at the U of M that naysayers, including her husband, didn’t think she would be selected.

“I was really nervous and really wanted the job,” said Raines, who interviewed with the search committee. “My husband told me that I couldn’t do it. So I had to do it.”

Laughter followed.

She did it her way and set the U of M on a trajectory going forward. She created The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, for example, and raised millions for the U of M Community Health Building.

“It was a great university before we got there, but we made it better,” Raines said unapologetically, owing her success to the life-lessons she learned over the years and her ability to lead the way.

“I always thought Dr. Raines was a great person. But on yesterday (Jan. 26), her stock went up with me,” said Stansbury, who shared the same sentiments about Raines with his radio listening audience.