Story and Images by Terry Shropshire
DETROIT –Wayne County Commissioner Keith D. Williams is a walking testament to the transformative powers of participation in track and field events, as some of the most dynamic and magical moments of his life can be traced back to the sport. In fact, the transcendent properties inherent within track and field are exactly the reasons the Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Relays Track and Field Meet came into existence. Williams recalls with vivid clarity when, as a teenager, he was in a state of suspended speech when the defining moment at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games exploded through his television set and set his soul afire. It happened when Olympic medalists John Carlos and Tommy Smith punched holes in the air above them — and punched holes through America’s false sense of equality — with the bodacious Black Power salute as the world witnessed. Williams was never the same again. Forty years later, that feeling of exhilaration duplicated itself in another unforgettable moment for Williams: Last year at the Shumake Relays in Detroit, Williams was able to finally meet his childhood heroes, Carlos and Smith, who were instrumental in altering the course of Williams’ life.
Charles Lewis, the track coach and teacher at Martin Luther King High School.
“At that time, I was awestruck, because I remember as a kid, watching Tommy Smith raising that fist, and the significance of that fist. As a matter of fact, they signed my posters. I talked to John Carlos and I tell you, I had a wonderful conversation with Carlos,” says Williams, who was a track star at Henry Ford High School before going on to Eastern Michigan University. “I said, ‘if Robert [Shumake] can put this type of track meet together, then next year, I want to participate and help him.’ ”
More memorable and life-changing moments will be made at the fourth annual Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Relays on Saturday, April 26 on the minted track at Renaissance High School. Thousands of athletes emanating from dozens of high school teams will travel from five different states to participate in the outdoor extravaganza from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Williams acted on his promise to help Shumake. He got Wayne County to appropriate $35,000 to help perpetuate the acclaimed track and field meet. Bob Beamer, a record-breaking Olympian from those same Mexico games, will make his second consecutive appearance at the Shumake Relays as the main attraction. “Someone inspired me as a kid — that’s why I’m coming, to inspire others,” Beamer says from Miami. “I will pass the baton. And hopefully, someone will grab it and take advantage of it. And hopefully, they will use it to be successful in life. They will take that and pass it on to their family and friends and the next generation.“
There is one essential element that Shumake injected into the games that separates it from other interstate meets — and it’s not just because the Shumake Relays coincide with the NAACP Freedom Weekend.
“His main goal is to give scholarships for college,” says Harry Weaver, a member of the USA Track & Field Association and a track coach for Renaissance High School. “Not only are kids competing athletically, but they’re also competing for scholarships so they can go on and fulfill their education promise,” adds Williams. Many of the scholarship winners from previous Shumake Relays will return in honorary capacities to inspire the current crop of talented teens.
THE MIDWEST COMES TO MOTOWN
The Shumake Relays has already been distinguished with national acclaim after only four years. The once-fledgling relays have grown from 200 hundred students from the Detroit area in its first year, to over 2,000 students and more than 60 teams from across the state as well as Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. It is already known as one of the largest organized track meets in the Midwest, with the expressed goal of becoming the largest. Ironically, the person who’s helping Shumake achieve that goal is a man who currently presides over the largest meet in the Midwest. That would be Randy Wagner, the meet director of the Don Mitchell Roosevelt Memorial Track and Field Meet in Dayton, Ohio. “Last year was the first time I went up there, and I liked what I saw. So that’s why I back it 100 percent,” he says. “I love the direction of the meet. I like the type of people he’s trying to get into the meet … and he wants it to be the best one against the best. That’s what track and field is about.”
And that’s why Wagner is bringing the full power of his position to bear in order to help elevate the Shumake Relays. “I try to get teams to come with me. A lot of guys that know me, follow me [and] go where I go, so I try to get teams that are in my track meet to go to [Shumake’s] meet. I’m trying to make his meet the same as mine,” says Wagner, who doesn’t jealously covet the title of the biggest Midestern event. “I don’t’ get caught up in that,” he adds. “There’s enough room for everybody.”
Wayne County Commissioner Keith D. Williams, a former track star
at Henry Ford High School.
LIFE-ALTERING
The sport of track and field has not only altered lives, as in the case of Williams and Weaver, it has helped to literally save lives, as in the case of Shumake, the celebrated businessman, author and philanthropist. Shumake, the son of a single mother, often found himself homeless, living in abandoned houses — sometimes even without heat during the ruthless Detroit winters. It was a time when Shumake was particularly susceptible to the temptations that often reach out from the streets like poisonous tentacles, yanking countless kids into the underbelly of society. But the sport of track and field swooped down into Shumake’s life as if it were riding on the back of angel’s wings. Track and field expanded his horizons. It opened the world to him. It taught him discipline and hard work and it gave him the opportunity to attend a renowned college as a scholarship student. It helped him cultivate the single-minded focus and laser-like drive he would later use to found Inheritance Investment Group, a Michigan-based real estate investment and development firm.
Shumake’s dedication and unbridled enthusiasm for the Relays and kids is extremely contagious and has proven equally inspirational according to his contemporaries and colleagues. “The cause of the growth is the passion,” says Jacqueline “Jackie” DeVose, the president of the Michigan chapter of the USA Track and Field Association. “It’s the passion that everybody has for this event. And I’m talking about the committee itself. Robert’s passion is just unreal. He’s very serious and he hates ‘no.’ Don’t tell him ‘no.’ If he sees that he wants something, he can put it together and he doesn’t want to hear a ‘no.’ The main thing about the event is the passion, and people see that.”
Olympic legends John Carlos and Tommy Smith not only saw the passion, they felt it profoundly. That’s why to the delight of thousands of participants and fans last year they traversed the U.S. continent to bless the Shumake Relays.
Jacqueline DeVose [posing with a student] the meet director for the Shumake Relays and the director of the Michigan chapter of the USA Track and Field Association.
FOR THE KIDS
People sense that Shumake’s concern for youth is authentic. “It’s not ever about the money, because he uses his own money for this event. It’s truly for the kids. Most people say ‘I’m doing it for the kids’, when they’re really not. They are doing it for other reasons,” offers Jackie DeVose.
Retired teacher Harry Weaver concurs wholeheartedly. Weaver who is a member of the USA Track and Field Association, says Shumake proves that he’s for the children. “Unlike the administration in this city, Robert shows that he’s about the children, [he doesn’t] just say that he’s for the children,” Weaver explains of Shumake’s tendency to eschew personal glorification. “Shumake is not a talker. He’s a doer. He gets work done. To him, the work is more important than the talk about his life or any titles.”
And as for Commissioner Williams, he was able to find gratification on another level. “When I got elected, there were three things that I wanted to do; bring economic prosperity to my community, do something for the seniors, and … include the children and the youth. I have accomplished all [of] those three,” he says. “That’s my joy.”
Harry Weaver, track coach at Renaissance High School and member of the USA Track and Field Association.
The Shumake Relays will impact student athletes in ways that will be meaningful, exciting and everlasting, much like it was for Shumake himself, surmises Charles Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr. High School’s track coach. “It gives more students opportunities to experience running in a heat [and] a first class meet, against the top athletes. Some times when we run in the city, you run against the same students over and over again,” Lewis adds. “Detroit area athletes get to run against some of the best in the Midwest. It gives our kids tremendous opportunities, [it] gives them some exposure to the Olympians who come here and the dignitaries [who] come here.”
