USD Magazine, Summer 1996

By Trisha J. Ratledge

T In a world seemingly filled with fallen "heroes"-disreputable celebrities, disgraced politicians, scandalous sports figures there's hope, and it's right next door. Every day, countless average folks get up and perform heroic acts. Maybe these people aren't curing cancer or winning Nobel Prizes, but what they are doing is every bit as important. They are changing lives through simple but profound acts: a game of basket– ball in an underprivi– leged neighborhood, a pint of bone marrow donated to a terminally ill patient, a home opened to children in need. These are the true heroes to celebrate.

NEXT DOOR

U SD senior David Fizdale readily admits to being an addict. Given that his boyhood home was on the same South Central L.A. street as the headquarters of a notorious gang known for drugs and violence, this comes as no surprise. But his addiction is sport, not vice. Fizdale is, in his own words, a "basketball junkie." And unlike illegal addictions, this one literally saved his life. When he was 11, instead of hanging out with two of his friends one day, he decided to play basketball at the park. While he was shooting hoops, his friends were gunned down, ending their short lives. "That's when I knew (gang life) wasn't for me," Fizdale says 10 years later. "I saw my two friends lying out in the street and it wasn't worth it." Basketball continued to save his life regularly after that day, which is why he now sports a tattoo on his arm that celebrates his ticket away from gang life: a basketball with the words "Hoop Life."

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