Temple's Pierce sees bright future after tough past

"There was no way Bernard was going back to Lower Merion, and staying at Glen Mills is something we spoke about," Tammy says. "I personally didn't want him going back to Lower Merion because I understand how adults can sometimes treat children. Bernard was constantly blamed for a lot of things that he didn't do. I'm his mother, and I'm not the my-child-can-do-no-wrong parent. Bernard wasn't always the perfect kid. He would drive me up a wall for some of the silly things he did and not think. But he wasn't a demon, either. If some of the things said about Bernard at Lower Merion were true, he would have been sent to prison, not Glen Mills. He did a lot of growing up there."

Temple coach Al Golden was well aware of Pierce's history, and still was willing to make a commitment to him. The Temple staff contacted Cubbage, "and a lot of people at Glen Mills, down to the custodians," Golden says. "What we found out was that Bernard learned how to be a man, and how to make better decisions. We heard a lot of the same things, that Bernard was a good kid who made a mistake. We were willing to give him a chance here, because we felt he made a decision not to go down the path he seemed to be heading. We don't sugarcoat things around here. He and his family understood the kind of support he'd get from our staff and Temple. We trusted that he was changed. He trusted in us. We have no regrets on our part."

There's a vision now that was once absent for Pierce. What he's been doing each week is nothing Tammy hasn't seen before. Her son always has done amazing things on a football field. According to Pierce and the people closest to him, he is more selective about his friends ("I've gotten rid of the knuckleheads in my life," he says), he listens, he notices things he didn't before and he's going to class, getting decent grades.

"I still tell myself to be more mature, because I know what it was like going down the dangerous path I was leading," Bernard says. "I have my mother and grandmother to thank for that. They were always there for me when a lot of people I thought I could trust and depend on weren't. I think the biggest difference in me now is that I see a bigger picture out there. I used to be someone who didn't have any morals, who used to think I could do anything I wanted to do."

He still can - on a football field.

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