The Kansas City Star
July 15, 1993
Edition: METROPOLITAN
Section: ZONE/WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Page: 6

Football all-star also has proven to be a survivor Harmon graduate grew up on rough streets of Chicago.
Author: HOWARD RICHMAN; Staff Writer

A hard hit or a quarterback sack has minimal effect on Carlos Gilchrist. He's been through worse.

Gilchrist, who attended Harmon High School and will play for the Kansas team at 7:30 Saturday night in the Metro Dream Classic High School All-Star Football Game at Arrowhead Stadium, has seen violence. In fact, he was part of it.

"I come from the south side of Chicago," Gilchrist said.

"When I was younger I was caught in a gang fight. I got trampled. I went down face-first. They ran right over my head. " That's the reason Gilchrist's upper front right big tooth now is made of gold. He lost the original tooth in the fight.

Tough? Gilchrist seems to have that characteristic on his side. He's a survivor. If not the streets of Chicago, then the football fields of Kansas City.

A quarterback and linebacker, Gilchrist has proved he can take punishment. He missed two games with an ankle injury last season. Steve Harms, who coached at Washington High last season, said Gilchrist should've missed more.

"He was hurt in our game, and he had no business playing," said Harms, who now is the coach at the new Blue Valley Northwest High School, scheduled to open this year. "He started and played as long as he could. By the end he could barely walk. " Harmon won the game 7-6, and Gilchrist might've been the deciding factor, Harms said.

"We were impressed by his character, his work habits," he said. "You could tell, definitely, when he was in there the team played better. " Harms put in a good word to the organizers of the Metro Dream Classic about Gilchrist. Since Gilchrist came from a small league, the four-team Kansas City Kansas League, Harms made sure he wasn't forgotten.

"When his name came up for picking the team not many knew about him," Harms said. "I think they've been impressed with him. " Gilchrist moved to Kansas City in junior high. He never played football until he got here. He saw no need or reason for it.

"I didn't play sports in Chicago," he said. "I really didn't understand football. I really didn't like it. When I'd watch it and I'd see a guy running with the ball through the middle I'd wonder why he wouldn't just run to the outside instead of getting hit. " But once his friends here started football season, Gilchrist said he decided it was the thing to do.

"I enjoy the game," he said. "I try to get better at it every day. " Gilchrist, who will play in college at Fort Scott Community College, said he wants to play well for his mother, Janice, who died last year.

"I don't want to be a nobody," he said. "I want to make something of myself. " He wants to play badly Saturday. Gilchrist attended the all-star game last year.

"I've been wanting to play in this a long time," he said. "I was praying I'd be in it. " Gilchrist said the Kansas team is taking it seriously.

"Practices have been like a game," he said. "Everybody we have is good. I come home sore after every practice. "

Copyright 1993, 1996 The Kansas City Star Co.