http://www.nba.com/pistons/community/bhm_090224.htmlWorth the Wait
Mark Whitsett sat alone on the stage at Henry Ford Museum’s Anderson Theater, his back turned to a hushed audience that included his parents, Detroit Kettering classmates and more than 100 other students from the Henry Ford Academy and Detroit Ferguson Academy. He waited - they waited - for the music to begin and the words to appear on the screen. But they didn’t come the first time he stepped on stage. Or the second. Or the third. “All that waiting got me more eager to do the performance,” said Whitsett, who performed his rap, “The No-Name Brand,” following nearly 30 minutes of technical difficulties. It took far less time for the judges to name Whitsett the grand-prize winner of the “Know Your Black History” scholarship contest, the final act of the fourth annual event hosted by Pistons legend Rick Mahorn and Rock Financial. Whitsett received a $5,000 scholarship while the other five contestants received scholarships ranging between $2,500 and $500. The scholarships, totaling more than $12,000, were provided by Rock Financial, Fathead.com, the Detroit Free Press “Gift of Reading” program and the Pistons-Palace Foundation. “He got more than I what I got for my debut,” beamed Mark’s father, Mark Whitsett, Sr., a jazz musician.
The elder Whitsett saw a unique opportunity to get something else money couldn’t buy: a wake-up call for his son, who apparently had spent more time working on his rap and promising basketball career than his schoolwork. Shortly after the check presentation, Mark Sr. informed Mahorn that his son, the scholarship winner, had a 2.8 grade-point average. “2.8 - that’s it? That’s unacceptable,” said Mahorn, who turned away from a microphone and directed his gaze at Mark Whitsett, Jr., now standing sheepishly next to his father. “Let me do this interview and then we’re going to talk.” As the laptop glitches dropped Whitsett behind the other contestants, the Kettering senior watched what he was up against. He didn’t like his chances. Henry Ford’s Reonna Barnes and Ferguson’s Simwenyi Mohammad each gave riveting spoken word performances. Brandon Omoregie from Henry Ford read a poem, Evelyn Locke from Ferguson profiled pioneering black athletes in a newscast format and Kettering’s Stephanie Crowell let her legs do the talking by performing an original dance. All the participants, along with online essay contest winner Benjamin Howard from South Lyon, were recognized at halftime of the Pistons-Spurs game Feb. 18. “After the other participants, I was scared for a little bit,” Whitsett said. “They were great, especially Reonna. My friend, Stephanie, she was good. I thought she was going to win for sure.”Reonna and Stephanie were rewarded second and third place, respectively, by the judging panel, which included Tuskegee Airmen Frank Gregory and Al King, Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley, Local 4 morning anchor Rhonda Walker, WJLB’s Dr. Darrius, Brian Stevenson from Fathead.com, IBM executive Bill Luse and Patrick McInnis, president and CEO of Rock Financial. Mahorn and Detroit Shock forward Cheryl Ford represented the Pistons-Palace Foundation.
Whitsett wanted his rap to remind students that role models do not have to be the people you see on TV or read about in magazines. “’No-Name Brand’ is the no-name people that inspired the name people that you do know, [like] Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade,” he said. “The no-name brand is who inspired them.” Ironically, Whitsett was now having a heart-to-heart with one of the most well known names in Detroit basketball. A member of the Pistons’ first NBA championship team in 1989, Mahorn is a two-time WNBA champion as an assistant coach for the Shock. Their conversation continued off stage for more than 10 minutes, long after most students had filed out of the theater. “That shows me Rick really cares. I saw a side of him I’d never seen,” said Whitsett, Sr., who has seen Mahorn at The Palace both as a power forward in the 1980s and today as the Pistons radio color analyst. “I’ve been courtside, I’ve seen him. He’s a good guy.” And still a Bad Boy. At that moment, Mahorn approached to give the father a brief synopsis of what he had told his son. “I told him if he doesn’t get a 3.2, I’m going to kick his butt,” the 6-10, 300-pound Mahorn deadpanned. He was kidding, of course. But get a 3.3, Mark, just to be safe.
