A three-part series on the fate of 59 fifth-graders who were given an extraordinary gift: the promise of a college education paid for by two wealthy businessmen.
Video: Wondering what happened to the rest of the class? Meet all the students and find out who made it through high school, trade school and college with our interactive database. Watch video interviews with Jeffery Norris, Ponloeu Le, Tiffany Alston and other students to hear first-hand how the program impacted lives.
A month after Proctor was offered the job, he stood with Pollin and Cohen as they introduced him to the students. In the audience, Tiffany Alston and some of the girls and mothers giggled. Proctor was cute, they told each other, with his tall, athletic frame, mustache and deep voice.
Jeffery Norris was less enthusiastic. “Someone else to call my mom and complain about me,” he told himself.
Meet the characters
Darone Robinson
An indifferent student and enthusiastic brawler for many years. Pushed constantly by his mother.
William Smith
The adored class prankster whose life was defined by a burst of violence that left him in a wheelchair.
Jeffery Norris
Witnessed his uncle being beaten to death with a baseball bat at 8 and swore he would never be a victim.
Tiffany Alston
A strong student whose mother vowed to scrub floors so her daughter could become a lawyer.
Terrell Jackson
Survived two shootings by age 15. Fantasized about playing basketball for the Bullets.
Monica McIntyre
Gifted cellist who was chosen to thank Abe Pollin and Melvin Cohen when the scholarships were announced.
Rose Johnson
Struggled to support two children as a receptionist and worried constantly about her son Darone Robinson’s safety.
Rudolph Norris
Cousin to Jeffery Norris who, at 8, witnessed his stepfather being beaten to death with a baseball bat.
Abe Pollin
Owner of the Washington Bullets who promised college scholarships to the Seat Pleasant 59.
******
On television that night, the fifth-graders and their parents were featured on the local news. The next day, a photograph of Pollin hugging Monica McIntyre appeared on the front page of The Washington Post. Her father, Paris, was quoted in the New York Times.
In their neighborhoods, the Dreamers became celebrities and almost immediately grew accustomed to star treatment. Special buses took them to school. They got tickets to Bullets games and concerts, and free film from Cohen’s District Photo business. On some days, small groups were escorted to lunch with Cohen and Pollin at their offices, and there were special dinners. At the Capital Centre, the kids gawked at Pollin’s beige Mercedes-Benz in his reserved parking spot and walked down hallways lined with photographs of Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes and other stars.
There were thick turkey sandwiches and potato chips delivered in white boxes at the lunches, and filet mignon was served at the dinners. Before the gatherings, Proctor provided Pollin with a photograph of each guest and a one-sentence description so Pollin could greet them by their first names — “Hi, Tiffany” or “Hi, Darone” or “Hi, Jeffery” — and ask about school and their ambitions.
Jeffery Norris was amazed that a virtual stranger — a white man, no less — would show interest in their lives and embrace them.
Tiffany Alston enjoyed listening to Pollin tell stories about his life, how his parents immigrated to the United States from Russia, how they built a construction company and then he bought a basketball team.
“You can do it,” he told them.
The kids loved inspecting the big gold ring Pollin wore on his right finger, the one he got when the Bullets won the NBA championship in 1978. Pollin, who died in 2009, seemed to pay extra attention to the tallest kid in the class, Terrell Jackson, who already stood at 6 feet by sixth grade. Terrell told Pollin that he wanted to play for the Bullets when he grew up and earn enough money to take care of his Dreamer buddies.
Pollin’s response, one that remained with Terrell into adulthood, was that he should stay in school and go to college, and then he could get a tryout with the team. First, though, he and his classmates had to survive sixth grade.
At William Smith’s house, his mother was terrified that her son failed to understand what was at stake. William was not exactly a conscientious student. With so many restrictions imposed on him at home, the last thing he wanted to do at school was sit in class and pay attention. He dreaded homework. When he didn’t know the answer to something, he says, his mother would smack him on the side of his head.
“This is not a joke!” Theresa Smith yelled at him. “This is serious!”
His mother told him that he would be the first in their family to go to college and that his success would uplift them all. “You’re going to get this right,” he remembers her saying, “and if you don’t, I’ll be knocking your head off.”
Jeffery Norris’s mother also wanted her son to be the first in the family to go to college. But she remained concerned about Jeffery’s emotional well-being. For months after he saw his uncle murdered, Jeffery had been unable to sleep in his own bed, awaking to nightmares of the baseball bat crushing his uncle’s skull. Sometimes, when his mother would go to the bathroom, he would wait outside the door.
She sent him to a psychiatrist, who advised her to talk about the incident only if Jeffery brought it up. When he did, he often asked, “Why didn’t Uncle Terry fight back?” School became the place where Jeffery fought back. The promise of a college scholarship did nothing to change that.
At Darone Robinson’s house, his mother told stories about his three uncles going to college. She had the same expectations for Darone, and she did not hide her fury when he acted up or didn’t do his homework.
“I’m going to push you,” Rose Johnson liked to say. “You will go to school, if I have to quit my job and go with you.”
The pushing and prodding didn’t have much impact. The Seat Pleasant 59 were an unruly bunch.
Their teacher, John Scott Lucas, a onetime amateur hockey player, established a classroom “penalty box” to punish those who were disorderly. Once, Lucas became so frustrated that he slammed locker doors and retreated to the restroom to escape the racket. Several Dreamers recall him bursting into tears.
“My dogs are better trained than you people,” one student remembers Lucas shouting.
The Dreamers were so out of control that Tracy Proctor felt compelled to sit in Lucas’s class to ensure calm. Once, after Proctor had ordered Terrell Jackson to settle down, the boy confronted him in the stairwell outside the classroom and threatened to beat him up.
Proctor grabbed him by the shirt and with one hand lifted him up against the wall.
Tiffany Alston, who was sitting inside the classroom, heard Terrell shout, “You better get off me!”
“You’re going to stay here and listen,” Proctor replied, “and you’re going to do what I say!”
******
All year, Proctor had gone to the children’s homes, one by one, to meet their parents and see where they lived. He had seen the filthy walls and trash in one boy’s house. He knew that, at the age of 11, another boy could not write a sentence. He knew that Rudolph Norris’s stepfather had been murdered, and that Rudolph and Jeffery had witnessed it. He knew that William Smith’s mother was a stickler for propriety, correcting her son if he said, “Uh-huh” when answering a question. “That’s ‘Yes, ma’am,’ ” she’d say. He knew that some of the parents had grown suspicious of Pollin and Cohen.
“What do they want with our children?” he remembers one mother demanding. “I’m sure they’re getting a tax write-off.”
Others didn’t understand that the scholarship offer was not a blank check. Pollin and Cohen were agreeing to meet the cost of in-state tuition at the University of Maryland, but the money needed for books or room and board would have to come from grants or other sources.
After his altercation with Terrell, Proctor summoned the Dreamers to a meeting, during which he reminded them that they had accomplished nothing. All they’d done was be lucky. “You were at the right place at the right time,” Proctor told them. “You aren’t that special.”
As sixth grade ended and they graduated from Seat Pleasant Elementary, the Dreamers created a yearbook, in which Tiffany Alston was chosen “Best All Around” and William Smith was listed as an “Outstanding Orator.”
The students were asked to declare their career ambition, favorite subject and motto.
“Reach for the stars,” wrote one. “Never say, ‘I can’t,’ ” wrote another.
“Keep on dreaming until you reach that special place,” wrote Tiffany.
Darone Robinson’s motto was less lofty: “Try to make it through life.”
Read the rest of the Seat Pleasant 59 series:
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