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Upward Bound opened its first regular season on Dec. 22, 1987, against New York State's Rockland Community College (21-3 and a National Junior College Athletic Association division champion in 1987). Many expected a blowout, but Upward Bound stuffed the predictions. Rockland eked out a last-second win, 64-63. Thereafter, Upward Bound went 11-11 against the best junior colleges in New England. In July at the Amateur Athletic Union National Junior Olympics held in Florida's Dade County, it beat all-star teams from Kentucky and Ohio before finally losing to players from the nation's fourth-ranked junior college.
Estelle Christy typifies the benefits of academy athletics. Before joining Upward Bound, the 5-ft. 9-in., 130-lb. guard had labored anonymously for a public high school team with a lamentable 4-78 record during four years. Playing for Upward Bound brought High School All-America honors and inquiries from almost 100 major colleges. "Coach Doss," she says, "really changed my game. I'd never be the player I am now without him."
The academy has winning academic ways too. About 40 girls are involved in CASE studies, 15 in the G.S.A. program. Classes are held Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings, with Doss, Aline, assistant coach Thounsa Kearse and several volunteers from Fairfield University serving as tutors. Star outside shooter Patrina Blow, 17, a poor reader, benefited from a special remedial program. She now reads fluently and is pursued by schools like Rutgers, UConn and Georgetown. Christy and Blow are far from unique. One hundred fifty universities have made serious inquiries about other Upward Bound players.
Joan Bonvincini, head coach of women's basketball at perennial power California State, Long Beach, likes Upward Bound's results. "Bob Doss gets into college inner-city kids who wouldn't ordinarily make it," she says. Chris Weller, the University of Maryland's head coach, agrees: "Upward Bound is simply outstanding."
Upward Bound students are equally enthusiastic. Coleta Brown, 17, sought by St. John's, Florida, U.S.C., and others, says, "None of this could have happened without Upward Bound." Blow concurs, "Bob Doss talks to us a lot about life, not just basketball. He taught me to study as hard as I play."
Doss practices a mean work ethic himself. After the meeting with fund raisers, he critiques game films, takes a conference call from Upward Bound girls on campus visits, and works on funding proposals in his living room. There's a curiously unfinished look here: unpapered walls, some exposed studs, sparse furniture. When a cash crunch hit the academy, he and Aline diverted second-mortgage money intended for remodeling and refurnishing. "Hey," he shrugs, "it'll get fixed someday."
That afternoon, following an airport run to greet returning players, he meets with a distraught girl. Huddled in the Olds' front seat, she tells a sad tale. Her unstable mother has threatened her with a knife. She's afraid to go home, reluctant to call the police. A struggling student, she lacks money for needed books. And she'd like to play for Upward Bound, but fears the humiliation of failure.