A TEAM ON A MISSION

Duke football players learning needs of community

Even football players need role models.

Tim Ball always had his dad and older brothers to look up to, but he says he knows a lot of kids aren't so lucky.

That's why Ball, a 6-foot-1-inch, 225-pound linebacker for the Duke University football team, wants to be someone kids can look up to at the Durham Rescue Mission's shelter for women and children.

Ball and more than 90 of his teammates were just that on Sunday, when Coach Ted Roof brought the team to the Rescue Mission's Good Samaritan Inn at 507 E. Knox St. to share lunch and some football tips with kids who live at the Inn.

The lunch and play session, which Rescue Mission co-founder and executive director the Rev. Ernie Mills said has become an annual event spanning several years, began as a learning exercise for the team's freshmen.

The success of the event convinced Roof and Chris Combs, the team's assistant strength-conditioning coach, that going to the mission was a good way to educate the team about the needs of the Durham community.

"This is a win-win situation for us," said Roof. "It's certainly part of our mission to positively impact both the Duke and Durham communities. It's really important for our players to meet people who are working really hard just to help themselves and to realize how fortunate we are to have the opportunities we have."

That message seemed to register loud and clear with the players, several of whom hunkered down at child-sized picnic tables to chow down with their new fans.

"All kids need a good role model," said offensive lineman Bryan Morgan, who added that he was glad to participate because he missed volunteering with his old team back in Alabama.

"I'm glad that all of us are here and it's not just four or five of us. We all need to be here together as a team because we're a team in everything that we do," Morgan said.

Offensive Guard Zach Maurides was eager to share his love of sports with the kids, who he said he thought could benefit from the kind of hard work and ambition athleticism encouraged.

"Athletics are such a wonderful thing because it provides opportunities to individuals from all walks of life," he said.

Jennifer Carr, whose husband, Rich Carr, works for the Mission, brought her three boys Cody, Conner and Carson to the Good Samaritan Inn to take part in Sunday's festivities. Carr said she admired what she said was the players' obvious devotion to the day's cause.

"They just have really good attitudes," said Carr. "I'm not trying to get them to talk to my kids, but I turn around and they're interacting with them. It's just really great."

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