Basketball is more than just a game for Donel Briggs.

His local nonprofit organization, Saving The Youth Basketball, aims to prove that in Columbus, offering youth players a chance to expand their game and their life skills by traveling across the country. His teams compete on the court, but they also take the opportunity to grow beyond the game whenever they can.

Briggs led his team on a tour of the University of Louisville during one of their tournament trips in July 2024, one of three college visits during tournament travels that year. He showed the players the possibilities ahead of them after high school if they keep up their hard work.

It’s a dream Briggs has for all of his kids and a core tenet of STY. It helps create a different path for them than the one Briggs took in his own youth and young adulthood – one that landed him in prison.

“I can see a problem with the youth, especially young males,” he said. “… I went through that hardship so I can try to cause youngsters to not go down that road I went down.”

Education and athletics

Briggs founded STY in October 2022 to establish a community of support for kids through athletics and academics. The program has sent travel teams across the country for tournaments and college tours, focusing on school as well as sports, and teaching kids the life skills they’ll need to stay out of trouble and remain on the right track beyond their school years.

“It’s a lot of fun going to new places, but it’s more than just basketball. It’s a lifestyle,” said Josiah Bluitt, a New Hope High School and STY basketball player. “It helps us become men, as well, learning about life on and off the court. Being with those guys has created a brotherhood. It’s helped us bond together the more we play, and it’s just fun.”

STY has become a way for Briggs to channel valuable life lessons through basketball, to build a community of support, and give kids the tools he didn’t have growing up.

The focus is on the fundamentals of the game and teamwork. Education is at the forefront of the basketball experience, providing study workshops, and ACT prep classes and fostering a system of support between the mentors and the students.

“He teaches us about life and manhood, and he teaches us a lot through basketball and life,” STY player Michael Brewer said. “He taught me how to be respectful. … We’ve seen different colleges, and it’s given us the feeling of what it’s like to play basketball at a college level.”

Briggs stresses the importance of respect and loyalty to his kids, and especially communication as a two-way street.

“I tell every young male that comes through the gym that there’s two key things in life, that‘s observing and listening,” Briggs said. “God gave us two ears and two eyes for a reason, and a lot of times those two things can save you from trouble.”

Briggs’ origins

Briggs grew up near Twin Lake, Michigan, raised by a single mother, and moved to Mississippi as a young man. His father wasn’t around.

Briggs was disillusioned and “turned to the streets,” which eventually landed him in prison for five years for aggravated assault.

“A lot of the youth are misguided because they don’t know who they are, just like I was,” Briggs said. “I was angry because I felt like my father didn’t love me, I tried to fill that void and I filled it on the devil’s time, and it’s either night or day, hot or cold. You’re either going to live for God or you live for the devil.”

His anger gave way to curiosity while in prison, as he began taking classes and attending Bible study. He even found a mentor in another inmate, named Lester Cotton.

“We began to study the Bible and pray together, working in a pre-release course, going to school and playing basketball together, and after a few months, I watched him walk out of prison and go home,” Briggs recalled. “Everything that he was doing, it was because of his faith, and I thought I got to learn more about the God that this guy serves.”

Briggs “made a promise to God” to dedicate his time and faith when he got out of prison to do right by his fellow man. After his release, Briggs worked at Steel Dynamics for more than 10 years, and in that time he started coaching youth basketball and starting STY.

“It’s not just building these relationships with kids. It’s building relationships with families,” he said. “Their parents are just as important because they put their trust in our coaches and our organization.”

STY community

Last month, Briggs was presented with the Ernest Brown Good Change Award at City Hall, honoring his work with STY and the community. He admitted at times he has felt like an outsider, but the award served as a reminder of the relationships he has fostered in his bid to do right by his fellow man.

In a way, Briggs’ own turnaround was due to his relationships – with God, his family and even Cotton, with whom he remains in touch.

“I ended up going to Memphis and stayed a few days with him and his family, my sisters and nephew came over and I introduced them to the guy who helped me begin my walk of faith,” Briggs said. “It was a good moment, and we still talk often.”