UNSCRIPTED: PURPOSELY Mindful, YOUTH Inspired

Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer

During the time that I’ve been a writer for Ink Spot, I have always prided myself in my ability to find interesting topics and individuals that are making and keeping our city the way that it’s become, which in my opinion is one of the Midwest’s Top Cities to live and recreate in. For that to happen, I need willing people to allow me to spend time with them probing their thoughts, passions, and strategies for the direction that they see our city going, and how their talents will influence decision-makers to make our climate better. I’d like to introduce you to Willie Burton who among other things is not only a Captain for our city’s Fire Department but is also the Founder and CEO of River City Sports. Willie stopped by to share his dreams, goals, and aspirations for several topics that we discussed over lunch and revealed some exciting things coming up for Metro Youth Football in todays UNSCRIPTED.

UNSCRIPTED: In my researching of you, I found that you’ve been involved in many things in our community. You were a dual sport athlete at Snider High School, went on to attend college at Bowling Green State University and received your master’s from Manchester College. You went on to become a member of our FWFD, and currently are the Founder and CEO of River City Sports. Share a little about some of your influencers growing up in our city...

BURTON: “Thanks for having me coach. My influencers have played a major part in who I am today and that's the main reason I do what I do today. They taught me to get involved in young people's lives and help them grow and develop to be the best version of themselves. For me it started at home with my grandparents, my mom ( I grew up in a single parent home) and my Uncles Terry and Reggie and my cousin Reggie Watson who introduced me to sports at an early age. I also think of all my youth coaches (Metro) and playing for the Omega Colts. who were positive male role models for not only me, but for other members of my family and friends. People like Larry Cox, and Brenda Robinson had a major impact on me growing up, then when I got to high school, I think of the great coaching and life lessons that I received from Coach Isaacs (Snider) and Coach Bush (Snider). We looked at our coaches and teachers that we had in school as role models, and people we could aspire to be like. They all played a major part in what I wanted to do, or where I saw myself as an adult. Having men like Donovan Coley (Rescue Mission) and people like yourself being positive Black males who were doing good things for our community was something that made a huge impression on me and has continued into my adult life.”

UNSCRIPTED: How has your background in athletics helped you in your career in firefighting and fueled your passion to be in youth sports?

BURTON: “Athletics has contributed greatly to where I am in in life right now. My involvement with athletics now is because I don’t see (especially with youth sports) athletics serving its intended purpose which is to teach life lessons. That's what athletics has done for me, and why I’m being mindful of what discipline, hard work, dedication, and sacrifice does for young people. I was fortunate enough to play on some good teams and win a State Championship at Snider High School (1992) and looking back over all those years, I remember it like it was just yesterday because of the bonds and friendships that were created during that time. Athletics brings out the best in you individually, but for me it's the teamwork that is most important and it has transferred over to my professional career in firefighting. As in athletics, there is a lot of hard work that comes from working in fire service and the sacrifices you must make in this job are enormous! In my earlier years with the department, I was away from home for 24 hours at a time. Along with that comes missing Christmas, birthdays, kid’s games, and many other family moments, but for me, it was all for the sake of helping and serving our community, so in my mind, it was worth it.”

UNSCRIPTED: With all that you’ve accomplished, there’s still more coal in the fire. Share your most recent or upcoming project(s) you’re passionate about…

BURTON: “I'm an advocate for student/athletes and want young people to understand that to keep balance in their lives, they must go together if they want to be successful. I preach this daily to my teenage son (Braylon). Our motto at River City Sports is” Part Time athlete Full-Time student but to answer your question, the most recent role that I’ve accepted is with Metro Youth Sports where for the past two years I’ve been the acting athletic director. This is a crucial time for us at Metro Sports as we are celebrating our 50th Year being a part of the SE side of Fort Wayne. I know what Metro football did for me as a youth growing up, in McCormick (bricks) and if it wasn’t for some of our early metro pioneers’ names like: Tharnell Hollins, Tom Macon, Archie Lundsey, Preacher Pilot, Jerry Wilson, Jon Autry, Charlie Woods, Prince Chapman and the man who started it all Jim Winters I’m not sure where many of us would be. I owe it to them to carry on the legacy that they’ve started. Some 50 years ago!”

UNSCRIPTED: Metro Sports has been huge for our community. Now that you have a more intrical part of where it goes from here, what can we expect to see?

BURTON: “Metro sports has a long-standing tradition of following through with their mission which is to provide social support for Southeast Fort Wayne and help our youth grow not only athletically but academically as well as socially and spiritually. I want to help us uphold that mission and improve in areas of academic support along with offering other programming (other than just football and cheerleading) which has been our standard items for the past 50 years. I want to have a more hands-on approach to reaching our youth with the programming we offer.”

UNSCRIPTED: The SCIENCE of youth sports sure has changed since you played, what are your biggest concerns about youth sports in today’s society, specifically Fort Wayne?

BURTON: “There is so much that young people have to deal with in society today that it fueled my passion to start River City Sports along with partnering with Metro Sports. Instead of continually talking about the issues, let’s put some things in place to address them. To me, the 2 key pieces that must come together are parents who support us and hiring great people to coach our kids! For me, as someone who has been placed in a leadership capacity, if you want youth sports to be successful, we must get both sides to cooperate and communicate effectively, for us to have a positive impact on young people.”