I grew up in a small town called Darby Township, it sits on the far southwest border of Philadelphia, about a mile or two from the Philadelphia airport. This close knit working class community of about 3,000 instilled the values of friendship and neighborly affection in its longtime residents. We all know each other… We know each other’s Mommas, Daddies, sisters, brothers and most cousins. Whenever tragedy or trauma befalls someone from Darby Township, it causes me angst. I find myself spending days fighting off feelings of deep anxiety or dread.

As I have grown older, my circle of close friends and surrogate family members has expanded beyond Township limits. Sometimes I don’t see or talk to friends for weeks or even months at a time. You know how that goes… Family concerns take precedent, business goals have to be met and, in far too many instances, friendships aren’t nurtured as they should be. But true friendships don’t require constant attention.

Friends are there in a time of need. Friends pick up right where they left off.

Unfortunately, my dear friends at The Fountain of Life Center Church in Burlington County are suffering.

Their beautiful church building, located in Burlington County’s Florence Township was destroyed in a massive eight-alarm fire Monday night. According to reports, the rapidly spreading blaze broke out at about 6 p.m., and more than 150 firefighters from more than 50 fire companies across South Jersey and Pennsylvania struggled to contain the inferno.

After waging a relentless battle for about six hours, the fire was finally contained. The heroic firefighters were able to save roughly 65% of the church complex. The school was slightly damaged and the gymnasium was spared altogether. The fire was the largest in Burlington County since an 11-alarm blaze at a Dietz and Watson plant in 2013, according to the Burlington County Board of Commissioners.

“It’s a devastating loss,” Russell Hodgins, a senior pastor at the Fountain of Life Center, said. “The sanctuary’s just been completely burned… The roof collapsing is a pretty embedded image in my mind. When we saw that drop into the sanctuary, that was a pretty devastating image.”

Hodgins said classes for roughly 300 Life Center Academy students are canceled indefinitely

Unbeknownst to most observers, Life Center Academy has served as refuge for some of the most talented and troubled young basketball players in the nation for more than a decade.

Dion Waiters (Syracuse/NBA) and Traci Carter (Marquette/La Salle/Hartford) both escaped the hard scrabble streets of South Philadelphia and refined their considerable basketball skills on the Life Center Academy campus. LaQuinton Ross (Ohio State/EuroLeague) and Malik Hines (UMass/McNeese St/EuroLeague) left the mean streets of Jackson, Mississippi to learn, live and play at Life Center Academy. Trayvon Reed (Auburn/Texas Southern/EuroLeague) extricated himself from the projects in Mobile, Alabama and landed safely on the Life Center campus. Maurice Williams (Kutztown) and Malik Ellison (St. Johns/Pittsburgh/Hartford/NBA) were also standout performers in the Life Center program. With the lone exception of Waiters who left college as a sophomore and earned over $67,000,000 in his career, every one of these young men is a college graduate.

They are products of the Fountain of Life Church… the church is much more than just the building, it’s the people.

The church, the school, the basketball program… It’s impossible to separate them. When I encountered talented young men dealing with adverse situations, I always knew I could call upon Life Center Academy.

Poor young men from the deep south, in need of guidance and opportunity… Life Center took them in…

Troubled young men from cities like Philadelphia, Trenton and Newark, often with difficult and challenging home situations…

Life Center took them in…

No questions asked other than “are you willing and able to attend church”?

I made my way to worship today with my dear friend Pastor Dave Boudwin, his wife and family. There was no place else I would have rather been. I’m from Darby Township and we support our friends through trying times.

The service and the sermon were uplifting. The sanctuary was filled beyond capacity and the overflow room held another few hundred congregants. Let there be no doubt, through the devastation, the Fountain of Life community of believers stands together in faith.

“The church is not brick and mortar, the church is really the body of believers,” Hodgins said. ” God will help us through this, and I believe the church will be stronger than ever.”

I am a witness. Amen.

In 2010, Buzz Williams, then Head Coach at Marquette University fucked over one of my favorite Philly ballers of all-time. DJ Newbill was in the midst of a fabulous senior season at Strawberry Mansion High School. Like so many others over the years, DJ was my lil’ Bro… The late, great John Hardnett brought DJ to my office in Camden after they decided to transfer him from Imhotep to Mansion following his sophomore season. John was emphatic… “DJ… when it comes to this school shit, listen to Del… Fuck everybody else… run all that shit by Del.”

From that day forward, DJ and I formed a close working relationship. DJ would easily meet NCAA freshman eligibility requirements and he ended up graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree from Penn State University. Mission accomplished… The road was never smooth… It was littered with potholes and speed bumps, but we got there… God Bless John Hardnett.

I asked my good friend and then Georgetown Assistant Coach, Mike Brennan to come evaluate DJ. I was convinced DJ would be an outstanding Big East player. Mike came to town on a Tuesday and, of course, DJ showed out. I forget the particulars, but he bussed dey ass. After the game, I asked Mike what he thought. “I gotta get (Georgeown Head Coach) JT up here next week to see him… He’s definitely good enough.”

“Good shit Mike… I appreciate you Bro.”

I immediately reported back to Hardnett… “Georgetown is gonna offer DJ.”

He replied, “I got (West Virginia Head Coach) Huggins coming in later this week.”

At the time, West Virginia and Georgetown were members of the Big East Conference. John and I were excited, DJ’s recruitment was finally reaching what we felt was a level commensurate with his ability… Da King of Norf was a high major player fo sho!

Saturday morning, my phone was blowing up… I’m getting messages one after another…

“DJ committed to Marquette…”

“Newbill is going with Buzz…”

Huh? Where did that shit come from?

Buzz had gotten hold of DJ on the phone on Friday night and he convinced DJ to commit to Marquette.

Hardnett was livid… “He’ll NEVER play at Marquette!”

A the time, I didn’t understand Hardnett’s vehement objection to the commitment. “Why you say that?”

“Buzz did that to block DJ from playing in the Big East… You had Georgetown come in and I had Huggins fly in, Buzz is being a dick. He doesn’t really want him, but he doesn’t want him in the Big East.”

I actually thought Hardnett was a conspiracy theorist… It all a bit seemed far-fetched to me…

Then, in early May, Hardnett died.

Eventually, DJ Newbill signed a Letter of Intent to play at Marquette for Buzz Williams. In doing so, Newbill forfeited ALL OPPORTUNITIES to play for other teams in the Big East. Hardnett understood this… Buzz understood this… I did not know this rule existed, neither did Newbill.

Then, during the summer, Buzz called Newbill one day and told him he rescinding his scholarship offer. Just like Hardnett had predicted, DJ Newbill would NEVER play at Marquette.

FUCK BUZZ WILLIAMS

I decided then and there I would never root for, help, assist, cooperate with or even be neutral towards any Buzz Williams coached team. In the clip below, I spell out my feelings and attitude toward Buzz.

FUCK BUZZ WILLIAMS

After a year at Southern Mississippi, DJ Newbill went on to have a magnificent career at Penn State. Since then, he’s become one of the finest professional players in Asia.

Well last night… Newbill’s alma mater, the Penn State Nittany Lions faced Texas A&M coached by non other than Buzz Williams. In what can only be described as poetic justice they beat the shit out of ’em!

Penn State beat da shit down Buzz’s legs!

It felt like Hardnett was perched atop the backboard, gently guiding Andrew Funk’s (Archbishop Wood) 30 ft 3-point attempts through the basket. One after another Funk splashed the nets… He made 8 out of 10 3fg attempts and went 3 for 3 from the free throw line. His teammate, All-American guard Jalen Pickett put forth yet another virtuoso performance… 19 pts, 8 ast, 7 reb and 0 turnovers in 40 minutes.

Truth be told, I was giddy with glee watching the broadcast… on at least 17 occasions, I shouted FUCK BUZZ WILLIAMS!

Micah Shrewsberry, Adam Fisher, Mike Farrelly, Mike Green, Josh Townsend, Seth Lundy, Pickett and Funk got DJ’s revenge and it was a beautiful thing.

On behalf of John Hardnett, I want to thank the Penn State basketball program from the bottom of my heart.

Good Guys 76

Texas A&M 59

#WeAre

Written By: James Nelson Stewart “Suburban Guru”

Ganar is a Spanish word that mean to “WIN” and to “EARN”!!!

Ganar Academy the non-profit company is a new organization that was created from the inspiration of Gary “Fudd” Fields Jr. Ganar Academy comes with the mission statement of “We want to change your mind”, came about when Fields thought hard about his background. Fields stated that coming from the environments that we were not adapting to our neighborhoods led to circumstances that led to prison for many of our family and friends (including himself). While in prison, Fields decided that he wanted to change his life and the ways he thought about life in general. The thought process was changing the paths for the way we in the hoods by thinking and operating in a space that was different than reality. The premise of this thought process was finding ways to change the mentality of “OUR” thought process and redefining success while watching that success being achieved in real time. Fields really started this process with his 2 sons (Gary III and Milan) and their friends trying to show them a different way. But with time being sparse and being stretched too thin, he wanted to find an alternative and a more economical way to have the time for this mission. This is where the vision of Ganar Academy started to become a reality and a mission for Gary “Fudd” Fields.

Ganar Academy is a program that will be “education for the youth” with an obtained curriculum based on “relationship education”. Fields is a Certified Educator in the relationship education field. He stated that one major reason for obtaining certification in this Curriculum was the schools in our region were not forgiving to kids that came from the “hoods” of their school districts. Fields maintains that he learned how proper conduct comes from many years of research and life experiences. Ganar Academy will be initially seeking young men from all walks of life with the stated goal of helping those young men navigate through their emotions. Currently there are not enough female staffers to support having young females participate but that is in the immediate future. Entrepreneurship is another key facet in the learning curriculum at Ganar Academy. Fields has developed partnerships with local business entities to provide fellowship opportunities for the students to get hands on learning experiences from business owners. These opportunities will include field trips and college educational visits for the young men who want different options to pursue. Ganar Academy will also be in a Pilot program with some local school districts. The motto of “we are the solution of evolution” will be geared to curtail the violence and the misunderstanding of children and getting to the root of the issues causing the outburst.

Ganar Academy will also host an Athletic Sports Training division of the company. Right now the Sports division will consist of basketball and football. The basketball division currently has a partnership with the excellent Lewis Leonard Basketball Training, headed by retired professional basketball star and current professional trainer Lewis Leonard. Other trainers, including a couple trainers from O.T.T. Training will provide some assistance when called upon. The football and the gaming program will be headed by Marcus Herder & his staff. Fields stated that he was looking to add competitive AAU basketball program along with 7 on 7 football programs to the training soon to the current programs. Not on lost on Fields was adult resources that were needed in the communities such as access to Health Care, Government Assistance, Car Insurance and Homeowners (Renters) Insurance. Moving the academy forward with the adult interaction is always a welcomed resource.

Gary “Fudd” Fields will be hosting an Open House for the reveal of Ganar Academy on Thursday March 9th, at 7pm with the location being the Ambler Borough Hall (address: 131 Rosemary Avenue, Ambler, PA 19002). For more information about the services and possible opportunities, please contact Gary “Fudd” Fields on Instagram @ganar_academy_ or by phone at 215-470-2945