By Martin Keith DeWitt
Prison Sports Ministries continues to expand team sports and fellowship opportunities for residents of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
Bill Eppling, General Manager of PSM’s “Green Team,” brought in members of the American Basketball Association’s Delta Valley All-Stars team for a contest against members of the San Quentin basketball program. The team, based in the Contra Costa County city of Antioch, travels all over North America to play other professional teams in the ABA.
“We welcome the ABA and their advanced level of talent and hope to have a long future of competition,” said Warden Chance Andes.
Prior to the arrival of the visiting team, San Quentin basketball coach Jerry “JB” Brown gathered his team and rhetorically asked if their children were to walk through the gymnasium door right now, which version of themselves would they want them to see: the one who came to prison or the one they have become through rehabilitation? By asking this question, Brown set the tone for greeting the incoming opponent.
“If you’re not about change, I ain’t (messing) with you,” said coach Brown.
The color guard performed the national anthem as over 150 residents filled chairs set up on both sidelines and endpins. This game was the most watched basketball game in the San Quentin gymnasium since the “Athletes In Action” exhibition was held during the NBA All-Star weekend celebration on Valentine’s Day 2025.
“Why we do this? We’re trying to rehabilitate, we want to be neutral on the basketball court and fields, to become better fathers, so friends can see a different perspective of this place, of who we are, of who we’ve become,” said coach Demond “Oola” Lewis during the pre-game speech.
The game featured scoring streaks by both teams as the first quarter ended with DVA doubling up SQ 36-18. At half time the score was DVA 65, San Quentin 40.
During halftime resident Jason Jenkins detailed his story of growing up in Watts to parents involved with drugs and gangs. He said as a fifteen-year-old, he avoided temptations until he encountered a gangbanger who rejected him for not being, “in the game.”
Jenkins said at that point he joined a gang and was involved in drive-by shootings, robberies, carjackings, and aggravated assaults. At age 21, he received a 40-year sentence and on his 28th birthday his “friends” gave him a combination of Molly, coke, and crystal methamphetamines that he overdosed on.
Jenkins believes that God spared him on that day and on May 5, 2012 he asked God to save him. Since that time he has been clean, sober and rehabilitating and giving back to his community. He is now an award-winning documentarian that encourages others to follow his path.
The home team hit a cold streak to start the second half but recovered to finish the third quarter with a 91-65 deficit. San Quentin found their shot and closed the deficit to fifteen, falling to the Delta Valley team 116-101.
Rookie DVA player Jamil Harris, 20 from Bay Point, spoke of his first visit to SQRC.
“I was kinda scared because what I heard, but it wasn’t like that, all my people are here,” said Jamil Harris. “I’ll come back to do this again.”
“It could’ve been me in here,” said Harris, “everybody deserves a second chance.”
“I’m loving the experience and energy, I was expecting overly masculine, rough and tough guys but this is more like a family, a very uplifting community,” said Carlos “Los” Mitchell. “My step dad was incarcerated, I wanted to do this to give back to my community.”
Mitchell, 22, from Antioch also attended CCCC as well as Jarvis Christian University an HBCU in Texas.
Mitchell said DVA has seventeen players on the team and they travel all over the USA and Mexico.
“Honestly I have people inside, it was refreshing to see that it was really like I was told,” said Te Nelson. “I played in Tijuana in a big arena, Seattle was cool too.”
T. Nelson, 29, from Oakland attended College of Alameda and Santa Clara University and is in his sixth season with DVA.
“It’s more community based, I didn’t realize how the program was built to help,” said Bret Nelson.
B. Nelson, 30, graduated from Cesar Chavez High School in Stockton and is in his eighth season. He originally started out with the Stockton Trouble ABA franchise but it folded.
According to Eppling, author and former ten-year NBA player John Block will be coming to San Quentin to share copies of his book in the near future.
Sunny Basra: “Talanted right, especially #30 they obviously love basketball as much as we do and it shows”.
T from outside team- “Man real shit (talk) yall got game, yall got hoopers in here. I just think you need to tap into that one last gear, when yall do? Yall gonna be a problem and we’ll have some good battles. Because I’m definitely coming back and I know my brothers feel the same”.