Tony Jenkins' Real Battle Isn't On Basketball Court

When Tony Jenkins was going to Shattuck preparatory school up in the netherlands of Minnesota, he possessed all the credentials of a genuine folk hero. He was a student leader, ranked at the top of his class, and his basketball exploits kept kids away from the drive-ins on Saturday nights.

But Jenkins is black and for the people in the all-while community of Fairbault. Minnesota, that's all they needed to know.

"Both in school and in the community, I would run into various instances of racism," Jenkins said. "Most people would just insult me verbally, but there were a couple of times that my life was threatened."

Jenkins's experiences both in Fairbault and in his home town of Detroit-"in grade school they just used to pack us into the classrooms"-affected him deeply. Now in his freshman year at Harvard, he feels a firm commitment to forwarding the cause of his people.

"I'm more politically-minded than I am politically active." he said, "but I'm willing to contribute anything whether of my intellect or my finances, to the black mass."

When Jenkins isn't working for the Harvard-Radcliffe Afro Society, he is playing basketball. A 6' 8." center, he led the freshman team in scoring and rebounding, and his addition to the team could mean Harvard's first Ivy League championship.

"Coach Harrison hasn't told me where I'm going to play next year, but I'm hoping to see a lot of action," he said.

He will Jenkins's size and mobility will enable him to fit nicely into Harvard's run-shoot style of basketball. He can play either center or forward; and, as a starter or as a substitute, Jenkins's appearance will give Harvard one of the most formidable front lines in the East.

Jenkins, a very sensitive person, has been affected by those at Harvard who typecast him as the basketball prima donna. "Some of them think that we are all self-deemed heroes," he said. "Just tell them I'm a human being who just happens to play basketball."