Kenwood and Whitney Young Have Always Been Rivals
Whitney Young head coach Tyrone Slaughter (left) and Kenwood Academy’s Michael Irvin greet each other in the handshake line after Young beat Kenwood 75-62 Monday night in the Class 4A Supersectional. Photo by J. Coyden.
One of the best things about Chicago are the high school rivalries that exist around the metropolitan area. Fenger and Carver. Marshall and Westinghouse. Thornton and Thornridge. Mt. Carmel and St. Rita. Simeon and Morgan Park. We are a city where the question people ask each other when they first meet is, “what high school did you go to?” That tells you more about a person than you can imagine and in many ways binds us or divides us. So I was a bit taken back on Monday night when Whitney Young basketball coach Tyrone Slaughter declared in a post-game press conference that Kenwood was not Young’s rival.
“There is no rivalry. They have no state championships, and we have five,” but Slaughter was just warming up. “They have never really beaten us in anything substantive. They have created a rivalry. We don’t see it as a rivalry. As of today, we have shown that we have a superior program with a superior team. Our girls beat their girls in the state playoffs and sent them home. Our boys have done likewise. We are the city champs. There is no rivalry. That myth is over. You have to beat someone to have a rivalry.”
Well damn Ty tell us how you really feel. I guess that loss you took on Dec. 30th at the Proviso West Tournament to Kenwood doesn’t count then huh? Now I know Coach Slaughter is loquacious, talks fast like a street hustler, promotes his program like Don King, is a stylish dresser like Landon Cox was, and reminds me a bit of the late Leon Finney Jr. when he goes into preacher mode at a press conference (all of which I think is good for marketing Chicago high school basketball). However, saying Kenwood and Young aren’t rivals is like saying White Sox and Cubs fans sing Kum Ba Yah together after every game of the Crosstown Classic. It ain’t true and Slaughter knows it ain’t true.
Michael Irvin, who full disclosure is my cousin, also has a big personality. Mike has always had that smile, the gift for gab, fun to be around and hint of arrogance, which are all traits that made him a successful party promoter and businessman. His response to Slaughter’s comments was legendary, classic Mike and I fell out of my chair laughing.
“Tyrone Slaughter is funny and a clown,” Irvin began on Twitter. “Whitney Young was handed to him by George Stanton and Lamont Bryant. I’m starting Kenwood Academy from the ground up. I had two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman on the court and he’s braggin! I took down Ferrari now WY next,” said Irvin, referring to the Ferrari AAU program in which players left Slaughter’s organization to play for Irvin’s.
Okay timeout. Both men go to your corners. Young and Kenwood have been rivals since the 80’s, with Kenwood being the elder school by only 10 years after opening in 1965. The difference now is that the rivalry used to be only over academics and which school’s students could be more boujee and stuck-up than the other. Which school had the prettier girls? Which school had a higher percentage of students who drove cars? Whose students wore more Gucci, Guess, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Polo and Izod to school? Basically, mundane material goods that most of the rest of Chicago high school students couldn’t dream of affording is what these two schools were known for socially in our community. Athletics was never a consideration as King, Simeon, Hyde Park, Marshall and others were consistently beating the brakes off both of these schools.
Young and Kenwood also get their share of resources from the city that keep them as two of the elite schools in the district. Young benefits from being select enrollment, Kenwood benefits from being a neighborhood school but located in affluent Hyde Park. They both have a remarkable track record for academic success, and have thousands of proud, successful alumni. Kenwood can boast a number of recent Gates Scholars and Young is a perennial top five school in the state. Young would probably be first if Jones, Northside Prep and Payton didn’t cheat, or should I say, “benefit from political-school-gerrymandering.” Still no Black students at Payton, a school named after a Blackman. Go figure.
Anyway, it is only during the past couple of decades that Young actually started getting good in athletics. To Slaughter’s point, Kenwood is the shiny new toy on the basketball scene and they have gotten a lot of publicity. Perhaps that is what in part set him off. Kenwood only started concentrating on athletics in recent years under the direction of current Principal Karen Calloway and predecessor Dr. Gregory Jones. Young Principal Dr. Joyce Kenner, to her credit, understood early in her administrative career that athletics is a vital part of the education curriculum and a great way to promote your school, something Lindblom needs to adopt. Even though she can be a pain in the ass to deal with, Kenner has been at the helm as Young has gotten good in a lot of sports: volleyball, basketball, tennis, team chess and have multiple state championships to prove it.
Kenwood won the city football championship this past season for the first time in school history and has one state championship in team chess. Kenwood has also added new sports in recent years like water polo and boy’s volleyball. Calloway has a foundation to build upon now and her personal dislike for Kenner (of which the feeling is mutual and the worst kept secret in CPS) is driving her to make Kenwood competitive all-around. Now that Irvin has taken over the boy’s basketball program, expect them to become a city and state powerhouse in the near future. I have faith Andre Lewis will get his girl’s basketball program at Kenwood over the hump too. He also is a great guy and a really good coach. So things are looking up for the Broncos and it will be nice to see these two great schools competing at a high level on the athletic side.
I was disappointed that this even became a controversy, but I shouldn’t have been surprised given the history of personal beefs between the parties involved. Things got pretty nasty on social media this week with Irvin defending his program from Slaughter’s attack and blaming Slaughter for making things personal between the two men. Irvin was the longtime CEO of the Mac Irvin Fire basketball club, while Slaughter is associated with Meanstreets, started by Harvey native and former NFL player Tai Streets. Both programs have sent countless players, mostly African Americans to college and the pros. Both men should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. And yes, they are heated RIVALS on the club scene, which is what all this foolishness is really about.
I am optimistic that cooler heads can prevail. I don’t want to see kids taking things into their own hands after reading the words from adults and someone gets hurt over the vitriol that was unleashed on social media and in the UnSunny Times newspaper. We have enough of that nonsense in Chicago.
Kenner and Calloway need to end their cold war as well, stop fanning the flames behind the scenes and lead their schools. Leadership starts with telling both of your coaches to chill with the rhetoric. Two educated Blackwomen going at it like this is a terrible look. Kenner makes $171,417 a year. Calloway makes a $153,354 yearly salary. Your salaries are public knowledge and paid for by Chicago taxpayers who would like to see you continue to stay in your lane and educate our children. If you don’t want to do that ladies, then break out the Vaseline, take off the earrings, pick a street corner at 3:15 p.m. and have at it.
Young got the best of Kenwood this year. Congratulations to the Dolphins. I have family and friends who are alumni of both schools (yes they boujee as hell too) and they were thrilled to see these two schools playing each other with such high stakes on the line. Kenwood and Young games back in the day were simply for the social scene, partying and seeing who could out-dress the other. Now the games actually matter.
My message to Slaughter, Irvin, Calloway and Dr. Kenner is a simple one: Stop with the personal attacks, bashing of each other in meetings and in public forums. Be professional African American adults that we can continue to be proud of. Be the EXAMPLE for the students. Let the KIDS settle the rivalry on the court and most importantly in the classroom. You all are blessed to be EMPLOYED at two of the best schools in the city. Put the egos aside. Show humility. It can all be taken away. Trust me.
May the rivalry live on.