Jenkins Directs Crimson In Drive for League Title

Sometime after the end of last year's basketball season, Tony Jenkins started thinking about his performance out on the court.

"There were times last year when I was playing like I knew I could and there were other times when I had my problems," he recalled Tuesday night. "After reviewing the season, I concluded that Bob McAdoo of North Carolina and Corky Calhoun of Penn were the best players I had faced and I knew that I could play with them; it was just a matter of proving it."

Jenkins did not spend his entire summer playing basketball. The junior forward worked at Columbia Point as a big brother for eight ten-year-old kids and spent most of his time taking them to various parts of Boston and teaching them the fundamentals of reading and writing.

"I didn't even spend as much time as I have in the past playing ball. Most of my time was taken up traveling around to the science museum, or to parks with the kids. I also spent a lot of time trying to get the kids to begin reading."

Improvised Teaching

As well as using traditional methods to teach reading, Jenkins improvised a few techniques of his own. "A number of kids had a real resistance to reading and in order to help them, I'd try and get them to bring in their favorite records to play so that I could get them to at least begin recognizing the words on the album covers."

Because of the pressures of basketball practice and schoolwork, Jenkins has not been able to spend as much time as he would have liked at Columbia Point this fall and winter. "I've been out there two or three times and the kids have come to a couple of the games. I definitely think our program made some headway with the kids and this is the sort of work I intend to do more of."

One thing Jenkins has been doing a lot more this year is scoring and rebounding. The junior forward has quickly established himself as one of the premier forwards in the East and proved that he can score against anyone when he led the way for Harvard against fourth-ranked Indiana in the season's opener.

Scored Most Outside

Jenkins is currently averaging 16.8 points and 11 rebounds a contest. He has scored most of his points from beyond 15 feet and has one of the finest jumpshots in the league. Because of his shooting style, in which he launches the ball from over his head, few, if any, of his attempts are blocked. In fact, Jenkins seems to score better when defenders are learning all over him.

One of the problems with the Crimson over the past few seasons is that they have lacked a floor leader. This year Jenkins has tried to move into that role during games and in practice.

"Some of my cheering is just natural enthusiasm but also I'm trying to take a leadership role. Guys get satisfaction out of getting a pat on the back after they make a good play."

One of the reasons why Jenkins feels it is important for the team to have leadership on the floor is that the players at Harvard do not spend that much time together off the floor. "At some schools, the ballplayers live together and eat together and are very close. At Harvard that isn't true and I think it's necessary for a conscious effort to be made to get the guys together on the floor."

Before coming to Harvard, Jenkins had not really been challenged on the court. "I went to a military school in Minnesota, which had a very regimented life style and only seven black students. While the competition was not that great (his team was undefeated during his sophomore, junior and senior years), I did have the advantage of being able to practice in a beautiful gymnasium whenever I wanted to."

Question of Discipline

The difference between high school and college for Jenkins has been the whole question of discipline. "In high school, we had to be at breakfast every morning at 7:10 a.m. and we were in class by 8 a.m. Students had required study halls after lunch and military formation after athletics in the afternoon. Everything was planned out for you there; here, there's no one to tell you when to go to class or when to get up, you've got to motivate yourself."

Jenkins is optimistic about the team's chances of winning the league title this season. "I think all the guys know we can beat Penn and Princeton. It's just a matter of going out and playing the kind of ball we all know we are capable of."

And as Jenkins says, "This year I came to play."