The Well-guarded Guard

"In many ways it's worse for kids now," says Tamara Sterling, Simeon's principal. "The violence is the same, but kids now deal with issues that didn't exist before, like homelessness. We have kids who live on the streets, who don't have food."

Dwayne says, "When we were looking at high schools for Derrick, we looked at how many gang areas he'd have to go through to get to school. We looked at the neighborhoods around the school. We talked about how many friends he would have there who would look out for him." That they chose Simeon--the same school Ben Wilson had attended--wasn't a surprise. It has long been a bastion for Chicago's children. Industrial buildings around the school provide a buffer from the rough neighborhoods nearby. And an unwritten policy ensures that only in rare cases will children from nearby homes be admitted. "That way if something happens at school, a kid can't just call his brother or some friends who are a few blocks away," says Robert Smith, the basketball coach and dean of discipline for boys.

Kids feel safe at Simeon, especially since 2003, when the students moved into a new facility as polished as any suburban school. Last year more than 5,000 kids from all over the city applied for the 400 spots in the freshman class. Simeon's 94% attendance rate is 15 points higher than the average for Chicago public high schools. "Our kids have pride," says Sterling. "It's one reason you will rarely see a fight at Simeon."

Dwayne, Reggie and Allan trust Simeon to keep Derrick safe, but in basketball matters they still demand a lot of control. People pushed for Derrick to play varsity as a freshman, but the brothers insisted he play with his class. "We didn't want to single him out from the other freshmen," Reggie says. Derrick was also not allowed to speak to the media until the end of last season. "Kids start reading about themselves too much and get an ego," Reggie explains. The brothers let it be known that they weren't happy that longtime coach Bob Hambric insisted on controlling the college recruitment of his players. For instance, he wouldn't let players commit to a school until after their senior season. In a convenient stroke of fortune, Hambric retired after the 2003--04 season and was replaced by Smith, who is close to the Roses. "I don't know that Derrick would still be at Simeon if that hadn't happened," Reggie says of the coaching change. Ten of Simeon's 14 varsity players (including Nick Anderson's son) will play for Reggie in the summer, so the team seems as much his as Smith's.

Which is fine with Smith, who says, "The reality is that when you have a player like Derrick, you have to work with his family."

Working with the Roses has it benefits. When the shoe companies vied to get Derrick to their June camps, Reggie and Derrick used that interest as leverage to get five of Derrick's teammates invited as well. "That caused a lot of controversy. People were saying I got money to send Derrick to [Reebok's] ABCD camp," Reggie says. "What I got was more exposure for his friends." And when Derrick announced his decision to attend Memphis, he held a joint press conference with two teammates signing with Wisconsin- Milwaukee. "They deserve a press conference too," Derrick says.

"I think Simeon has been good for Derrick, and Derrick has been good for Simeon," says Sterling.

From the brothers' perspective, it has helped that Simeon preaches the cautionary tale of Ben Wilson to every student. Derrick was told the story as a freshman and was asked to draw a lesson from it. What he came up with ("Don't get in no trouble") was generic and the kind of answer most students give. But since he wears Wilson's number 25 jersey and plays in a gym named after the slain star--and now that he finds himself at the same moment in his career that Wilson was when he was murdered--his answer is much more knowing. "When you are that good, people come after you," Derrick says. "To deal with all that, you need help."

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