By T. Scott Boatright
Late Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Tatum was known for his love of Grambling.
He was also known for his love of Grambling Laboratory School and Grambling State University.
And he was known for his love of the game of basketball, with his skills honed at Grambling Lab High School playing for legendary Kittens hoops coach Michael Lyons.
Grambling Lab no longer exists, with the Lincoln Preparatory School rising like a phoenix from the proverbial ashes of the old school to the new one featuring a bigger and better gym and basketball court than ever before.
The head coach of the Panthers’ boys’ team, Antonio Hudson, was a high school teammate of Tatum’s before Hudson moved on to enjoy a standout hoops career at LSU.
But their shared love of the game, and more importantly, for each other, never waned, not even following Tatum’s death in 2013 as the result of a car accident caused by a pair of intoxicated drivers in Maryland.
The relationship between Hudson and the Tatum family was shown in a shining show of support and love last week inside the Lincoln Prep gym as Tatum’s family donated a state-of-the art shooting machine for the Panthers’ boys’ and girls’ teams in use practice to improve their shot-making abilities.
It all happened after one of Tatum’s brothers talked to Hudson and asked him what he needed to make Lincoln Prep basketball players better.
“They were some of my closest friends — Michael and his brother Nick Tatum,” Hudson said. “But it was a military family, so they moved after my sophomore year and his freshman year. But after I played overseas and came back to Grambling and Nick’s family was back in Grambling, it was like we had never been apart.
“Growing up, I called him my brother. I would sleep on his couch, and we would wear each other’s clothes, things like that. Their family is a staple in the community. The father, Col. Don Tatum, was once on the Board for Lincoln Prep. And I was talking to his sons and telling them I needed a shooting machine, and they made it happen, all in remembrance of their son.”
A shooting machine allows players to focus on their shot form through constant repetition, rather than having their training being broken up by having to chase down rebounds.
Hudson said the reason for Tatum’s donation was two-fold.
“I think it’s because they wanted to help me out and the school out,” Hudson said. “As for me, I call Col. Tatum ‘Pops’ and his wife (Homer) ‘Mom. But I also know they did it for the community as well — for the betterment of our program.”
Imprinted on the new shooting machine is Michael’s mantra learned from Lyons, words the late Grambling Lab coach reminded his high school players of time and time again.
“Coach Lyons always told the players to ‘do what you’re told, stay focused, and have fun,’ Lt. Col. Tatum said. “Those words are now written on the machine for players to be reminded of Michael’s legacy. Basketball was my love, and it was my kids’ first love, too. They played a lot of sports, but they loved basketball — the strategy and speed of the game.”
Michael Tatum graduated with honors in accounting and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1997 from Grambling State University.
His obituary said his motto as a cadet at GSU was “stay focused and have fun.”
He later earned two master’s degrees, one in business management from the University of Alaska, and the other in military studies from Air University in Montgomery, Alabama.
Michael Tatum served as an Air Force comptroller officer, commander of three different squadrons, and in key staff officer positions at major command levels. At that time of his death in 2013, Tatum and his family had just completed a tour of duty in Korea, and he had recently been assigned to the Pentagon staff as the budget officer to work the Air Force’s military budget sequestration issues.
As he honored Michael the entire Tatum family during the donation ceremony, Hudson impressed on the athletes in the gym to remember the fact that it was a Black family in Grambling that purchased and donated a $15,000 shooting machine to better the current Panthers’ basketball teams.
“In today’s game, you have to be able to shoot 3-pointers,” Hudson said. “And that is something we have struggled with in recent years even while going to state. This is going to be our second year that we have been in this gym. Most schools have had this machine for years.
“And now we have one, too, because the Tatums made it happen for us. They nailed that winning shot for us. They nailed that winning shot for Michael. “I will never be able to thank them enough. But we are going to keep on trying, starting with working hard and trying to show they helped make us a better team — a championship team.
“That would be the best way of all to remember Michael and honor the whole family.”
