Pat Littlejohn — Safety Liaison for the Community Centers

Pat Littlejohn might not need much of an introduction. It seems like everybody in the community already knows him! As we sat down at Larry’s on Market, there were already several familiar faces in the place who were calling out to Pat just to say, “hey!” This isn’t surprising considering that Pat has been heavily involved in the Akron community his whole life. He grew up here with 6 other siblings and has remained a loyal Akronite from the start. He now works as the Safety Liaison for the Community Centers, and a lot of people know him from his work as the Organizer of Late Night Basketball. After a very successful summer season, the program has recently been renewed for the fall and will kick off on October 21st.

1. Can you tell me about Late Night Basketball and your role in that?

My role is the organizer of Late Night Basketball. I’ve played in night leagues in the past and then ran it back when Akron was first doing this program so it made sense for me to do that again when they brought it back. The program has been a huge success so far. We had 80 players in the league over the summer with a big waiting list. The educational aspect of it has been huge. Some of these players came into it without a job or a driver’s license, having issues with child support among other stressors, and this program addresses all of those things. Even for the ones with jobs, I’d ask, “Who wants to have a better job?” and every hand would go up. This is an opportunity for them to build their lives up, not just with jobs but with kids, family, and community. We have great speakers who come in and cover a wide range of topics.

For example, most of them don’t have a primary doctor and avoid going to hospitals so we brought in a nurse who did blood pressure checks for all of them. Everybody was required to get their blood pressure checked if they wanted to play that night and for those who were on the high side, we hooked them up with resources for following up and how to get with a primary care physician. It’s important for them to find these things out before it’s too late.

2. What are some of the topics that you’ve got lined up for the fall season?

We’ll definitely do the blood pressure checks again. We worked with Summa who got us connected with the Akron Black Nurses Association. They came in to do those and we’ll do that again. We’ll have someone come in from the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office to talk to them about child support. Some of these guys don’t have driver’s licenses because they couldn’t afford child support so their license got taken away. The Prosecutor’s Office will come in and help them figure out how they go about getting their license back and better manage child support. On that same line, we also have Fallen Fathers Foundation come in and discuss parenting skills and how to juggle being a parent with all of their other responsibilities.

Southwest Insurance Company will be there to talk to them about life insurance. Most people don’t realize how affordable life insurance actually is. We’ll have a NRT officer come in. NRT stands for Neighborhood Response Team and they are with the Akron Police Department. That was a really tense discussion last time they came but it was a really honest one that I think the players took a lot from. The officer will talk to them about what to do if you get pulled over and what you are required or not required to do. It really helps to start to repair that relationship between police and the community.

At the end of last season we asked the players what they would have liked us to cover that we didn’t and one of the biggest pieces of feedback we got was that they wanted something about education. This time around we will have someone from Stark State College come and go over how to enroll and what kind of classes they have and that sort of thing.

We are also going to have someone talk to them about how they can become an official. We know these players like sports and it’s really not too difficult to become an official so you can ref basketball games or be an ump and that’s money in your hand, same day which is great. For other job opportunities, we’ll be talking about the Job Center on Tallmadge Ave. They offer all kinds of services from resume writing to interview skills. They also have job fairs. Last season there were a few guys that got jobs through the program. We had a temp agent come and there was a warehouse that heard about us and reached out so a few people got hired from that.

3. What is your favorite part about your job/working for the City of Akron?

I thrive on the change. I started with the City in 1993 when I was 29 years old. I was seasonal back then and then I went to permanent part time, then to a full time supervisor. I’ve worked at 5 different Community Centers. I was the temporary Community Center Coordinator for a couple years and now I’m the Safety Liaison for the Community Centers. I’ve worked with a ton of people throughout the years, and worked during 2 administrations, so there has been a lot of change during all of that time. It’s always something different and I really enjoy that. Working in recreation gives you flexibility that you don’t get in a lot of other jobs or departments.

4. What are some of your hobbies or what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I like sports and working out. I work out 3–4 times a week at the Balch Street Fitness Center. I played basketball and football at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. I also play travel ball in a league called American Old Timers. It’s a bunch of ex-college and ex-NBA players and we go all over from northeast Ohio to Detroit to Pittsburgh. I’ve been doing that for 20 years now.

5. Why did you pick Larry’s to meet?

I love it here. My wife and I come here 2–3 times a month. She loves the burgers and I usually go for the wings. Really good food and they always have games on. The owner also bartends and he is a funny guy; just a great entertainer. It makes for a fun environment. Even my grandkids like coming here.

6. What is your proudest accomplishment while working for the City?

I’m proud of where I’m at. I’ve had a long career with the City. Back in the day I was working as a salesperson and I found out they were going out of business. I ended up being laid off and was collecting unemployment so I was just playing a ton of basketball and that’s how I met Jerry Rowland. He encouraged me to apply for a seasonal job and almost immediately when I started he was giving me all kinds of responsibilities. I didn’t know how to manage a budget, or coordinate field trips, or how to work with kids, or organize summer camps, but Jerry had a lot of faith in me and really just empowered me to learn and I really enjoyed what I was doing. I’ve been here for 26.5 years now. It took a really long time to get here but I stuck in there and I think that’s been a great accomplishment of mine.

7. Is there anything else you wanted to go over?

I just want to thank James Hardy and Mayor Horrigan for continuing the Late Night Basketball Program. There is so much community support for it. It takes stress off these players and gives them so many new resources to better their situations. My ultimate goal would be for this to continue all year long, indefinitely. I’d love to see that happen. I know for the Mayor this is really something from the heart. It isn’t about getting paid for us. It’s about truly helping these young people and if I can help even one person then I feel like we’ve done what we set out to do. I’ve had so many of them reach out to ask when it’s starting back up again and saying how much they got out of it so I’m just excited to see it continue.

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The Late Night Basketball Program will take place at the Helen Arnold CLC (450 V. Odom Blvd.) on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM. The league, which runs from October 21st through December 18th, is free of charge, but registration is required. Akron residents age 18 or older are eligible to sign up, and will then be placed onto a team. Registration is on a first come, first served basis. Interested players can access the application here to turn in to any of the City’s community centers or there will be hard copies available at the centers. They can also be turned in at the Recreation & Parks Administrative Office (220 South Balch Street, 2nd floor). For more information, please call the Administrative Office at (330) 374–2804.