Carroll is a life force at street level

Carroll's foundation now helps fund Taylor's violence prevention nonprofit, Unity One, and several like it. They have a strategy: In the hot spots, identify the charismatic gang and neighborhood leaders, the ones everyone follows. Befriend them, gain their trust, help them change if needed, try to get them to take classes that teach everything from mediation to positive thinking. Even pay the ones who are most dedicated, turning them loose to help educate and prod.

Bow Wow is on the payroll. Among the Grape Street Crips, his word matters. On this night, well before we arrived, Taylor had called Bow Wow to make sure we would be welcomed. We were granted entry -- on the streets, a ghetto pass -- but we drove to Watts knowing there are no sure things. At any moment, guns could be pulled, shots fired. Over the last few weeks, we would come to find, four of Bow Wow's friends had been killed near Jordan Downs.

We wound through the streets of South L.A., Taylor's brother, Le'Chein, at the wheel, and pulled to a stop in a foggy parking lot. Taylor got out of the car first, instructing us to wait while he made sure the quartet of suspicious men at the corner knew who we were.

Carroll couldn't help himself. He opened his door and popped out. The guys at the corner spotted him. Immediately, they relaxed. "Pete, Pete, hey Pete, my man!" they shouted.

We stood in a dark courtyard, littered with shards of broken glass. Carroll was quickly surrounded by a dozen people, some wanting to shake his hand, some staring in disbelief, some wanting to tell him a story. The coach heard talk of addiction, jail, police, prostitution and the Bible. He heard about the Bruins and Notre Dame and Neuheisel.

A blue van drove up. Nobody recognized it; most everyone eyeballed it, worried. One beat. Two beats. The van eased away, the air felt a little lighter. Through all of this, Carroll never flinched, never looked uncertain or fearful. Knowing he'd be leaving soon, he sidled up to Bow Wow, who has a calm, all-knowing countenance.

The neighborhood, Bow Wow said, was tense. There'd been a killing, everyone knew the victim and now there were rumors of possible retaliation.

"It's like a black cloud hanging over us," Bow Wow muttered. "But we're glad you're out here, Pete. It means a lot to the people here."

Carroll assured that he wanted to be at Jordan Downs, especially now. He invited everyone to a Trojans scrimmage as his guest. He wanted them to get away from the projects, if only to feel a bit less stress for an afternoon.