Why did Angela Bassett really get a C in 7th grade gym while growing up here?

On Sunday, Floridian published a story featuring my interview with actress Angela Bassett, probably one of St. Petersburg's best-known exports. Looking back at her time growing up here in St. Petersburg made sense, because she's joining the cast of ER tonight with her husband Courtney Vance, in a storyline that promises to be a significant part of the medical drama's final season.

Not long after the story ran, I got an e-mail from someone who claimed to be an old classmate of Bassett's. This person told a story about seeing an interview with the actress in O magazine, where she talked about getting her first C grade in physical education, and how her mother used that grade to teach her that being average was never enough. But the e-mailer had another explanation for why she may have gotten the grade.

Here's the note, with the names omitted to avoid embarrassment. I don't know if it is true, so take it as an urban legend with a twist.

"The year was 1970 in Gulfport, Florida.  School was Disston Junior High - the seventh grade.    On one very hot summer morning, myself...was there along with Angela Bassett, (the Coach), and most of the members of the Varsity basketball team.  We were all out on the black asphalt and dirt playground, sweating profusely.  (The coach) was in the process of trying to get his elite members of the Varsity basketball team in shape for the upcoming season.  He was quite proud of us and would conduct this ritual every day.  Just by coincidence, this regimen always took place when the girls PE class and their female coaches were also on the playground.  (The coach) would start his training regimen by having his "studs" run 40-yard wind sprints, while at the same time using his stopwatch to gauge their great speed.  After having done this for some time and while the girls PE class watched and to some degree interacted both verbally and physically with all of us, the student leader of their group approached (the coach) and stated that she could run that 40-yard wind sprint faster than any of his Varsity players.  Well, this was not something to be taken lightly by the coach, who at the time had an almost undefeated team in the Pinellas County Junior High School League. 

Well, long story short, the runner who boasted she could beat everyone on the field was none other than Angela Bassett.  She not only outran every Varsity player, myself included, she ended up setting a 40-yard record for the school. (The coach) never lived this down, nor did our team.  Needless to say, the guys didn't venture out onto that field again at the same time as the girls PE class -- ever.  Angela doesn't need to explain to her mother why she got a "C" in seventh grade anymore.  Everyone out on that playground knows why it happened.  Angela wasn't average that day, and she never was during her time at Disston.  Maybe she didn't know that all of the female coaches happened to report to (the coach)....I hope Angela's mother sees this and finally knows the true story....

*

Comments

[Simonique]

Thank you for providing this! I read that article as well and its nice to know Angela wasnt ever average.

www.angiebnews.blogspot.com