By: Justin Boone
As a child, Kori Dickerson only had to look one way when crossing the street.
It wasn’t because he had eyes in the back of his head, but that certainly would helped him deal with the gang violence happening all around him in Los Angeles, California.
The reality of Kori’s childhood was that his street, the place where he played countless hours of football with his cousins, and proudly took on the persona of Lakers’ greats during pickup basketball, was the same place he had been shot at, saw friends pass away, and watched drugs being trafficked. It was the dealing that led to his street becoming a one-way, in hopes it would be easier to police.
“It was hard, as a kid we couldn’t really do too much, there was a lot of gang violence and we were restricted, “ Kori explained. “It was rough. It would quiet down and then every summer it just gets rough again. You get guys that come out of jail and start the same things over.”
In a city of Angels, it was sports that guided Kori past the troubles.
“The more I was in sports the less I’m in the streets. As my body started growing and maturing I realized I had a chance to go to college because of my talents and my good grades. I was 6’4, 200 pounds in high school, a good prospect and I passed the SATs as a junior so I had my ticket anywhere I wanted to go.”
He cashed that ticket in at USC, the University of Southern California, not because of the sun that seems to always be shining there, but for his daughter, which he had in high school.
“I didn’t want to go too far away and come back four years later and have my daughter say, ‘Who are you?’ So I had to take care of my responsibilities. Not to mention that’s where my family is at. Every weekend my aunts, my mom, my grandmother we all got together every Friday and Saturday in fellowship as a family. My great grandmother was still alive, so being able to see here every day. You can’t beat that.”
It’s been a one-way street from Los Angeles to TigerTown for Kori, who now makes his home on the Ticats defensive line.
