Etcetera With The Woodards

What does it look like when the community that raises you becomes the inspiration for the career you eventually build?

On this episode of Etcetera with the Woodards, Erie native Damian Bounds returns to his roots—at least through conversation—to share an extraordinary journey from growing up in public housing in Erie, Pennsylvania, to becoming a major educational leader in one of the largest school systems in Georgia.

Bounds has spoken openly about growing up surrounded by family and community in Erie public housing, where he says the experience provided him not only with lifelong relationships but also opportunities, jobs, and a scholarship that helped him attend college. Those experiences eventually fueled a passion for working with young people. Before climbing the ranks of school administration, Bounds spent years mentoring youth and coaching basketball through the Boys & Girls Club.

His educational career eventually took him south, where he served in administrative positions in both the Cobb County and Fulton County school systems. He became an assistant principal at Centennial High School before being selected in 2016 to lead Lakeside High School in the DeKalb County School District. At the time of his appointment, district leadership described him as a leader focused on positive school culture, classroom instruction, and student learning.

Bounds later returned to Fulton County Schools and was appointed principal of Elkins Pointe Middle School in 2019. Today, DeKalb County School District lists him among its senior school leaders as Secondary Area 1 Superintendent.

Bounds sits down with the Woodards to talk about growing up in Erie, the influences that shaped him, his path into education, leadership, the responsibility of serving young people, and what parents, students, and teachers need to be thinking about as a new school year begins. The original episode itself centers on his Erie upbringing and practical back-to-school advice for families and educators.

For young people who may look at where they live today and wonder how far life can take them, Damian Bounds’ story offers a pretty compelling answer.

Before Khyl Horton became an Erie basketball legend, he was a kid from the lower East Side of Erie, Pennsylvania, developing a game that would eventually make him one of the most decorated players the city has produced.

On this episode of Etcetera with the Woodards, Khyl sits down to tell the story behind the highlights—and those highlights are serious.

At Mercyhurst Prep, Horton became the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He finished his high school career with 1,886 points, currently listed by the Erie Sports Hall of Fame as the third-highest total in Erie history. He was a three-time All-Metro League selection, two-time All-State selection, a McDonald’s All-American selection, Dapper Dan All-Star Game MVP, and a Keystone State Games gold medalist.

But perhaps the defining moment came in 1991, when Horton helped lead Mercyhurst Prep to the PIAA state championship, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a 58–55 championship-game victory over a Wilkes-Barre GAR team featuring future NBA player Bob Sura.

His game then took him to the Division I level at George Mason University, where he played 48 games and averaged 10.3 points and 5.9 rebounds, including 12.8 points and 8 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He eventually returned home to play for Gannon University, scoring 784 points in two seasons and averaging 16.7 points per game, including a season in which he led Gannon at 19.6 points per game. Altogether, Horton scored more than 1,500 collegiate points.

His accomplishments ultimately earned him induction into the Erie Metro Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

But the numbers only tell part of it.

Khyl talks with the Woodards about where he came from, what pushed him, becoming one of Pennsylvania’s premier high-school players, winning a state championship, making the jump to major college basketball, coming home to Gannon, and the experiences that shaped the man beyond the player. This is more than an Erie basketball story. It’s the story of what can happen when talent, opportunity, toughness and belief meet.

Etcetera with the Woodards — The Khyl Horton Story

This week, Etcetera with the Woodards sits down with Essie Hollis, one of the most accomplished basketball players ever produced by the city of Erie.

At Strong Vincent, Hollis was a high school All-American who exploded for 753 points and a 30.1-point-per-game average during the 1972–73 season, leading the Colonels to city and district championships. And that was only the beginning.

At St. Bonaventure University, Hollis amassed 1,905 career points and 977 rebounds, averaged 17.5 points per game for his career, became a two-time ECAC All-Star in 1976 and 1977, served as co-captain of the 1977 NIT Championship team, and scored 24 points in the championship victory over Houston. He helped the Bonnies win 72 games during his four-year career and was named the team's MVP as a senior.

Hollis was selected in the second round of the 1977 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Jazz, 44th overall, and went on to play for the Detroit Pistons, becoming the first basketball player from Erie to reach the NBA. His career then took him overseas, where he became a major figure in European basketball. During two ACB seasons with Baskonia, he averaged 24.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, including an incredible 53-point game; in 1983–84 he averaged 27 points per game and ranked first in the league in overall player rating.

His legacy has been recognized on both sides of the Atlantic: Hollis was inducted into the Erie Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the St. Bonaventure Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988; his No. 25 was retired by St. Bonaventure, and he was later selected to the Bonnies’ Centennial All-Time Team.