Sports give man discipline to help Louie's Kids

As the nation embarks on a childhood obesity initiative led by first lady Michelle Obama, one young man dove headfirst into the deep end of it in Charleston nearly two years ago and already is making a difference. He is one soldier in a battle that has just begun.

Days before graduation from the College of Charleston in 2008, Larry "Bucky" Buchanan was informed by one of his professors that a man named Louis Yuhasz was looking for someone to head up a new program by Louie's Kids, a locally based nonprofit that focuses on helping underprivileged children who are overweight or obese.

Buchanan, a collegiate swimmer who received a degree in physical education, knew he was interested in working with kids, but it was graduation week -- a time when most graduates take a big sigh and celebrate before moving on into the adult world of work.

Then he got a call from Yuhasz wanting to set up an interview days after graduation. Buchanan accepted, thinking that it would be good practice interview. For someone who had been disciplined through high school and college, Buchanan wasn't taking it too seriously.

"I went to the (Louie's Kids) Web site just once before I sat down with Louis," recalls Buchanan, now 24. "And when I went to the interview, I wore sandals and an untucked polo shirt."

Two men connect

Sitting down at Whole Foods Market in Mount Pleasant, the two men, a generation apart, found common ground in the stories of their fathers, both of whom had physical conditions, and died from those problems, that were largely from their own doing.

At 15, Buchanan lost his father, a diabetic who regularly swigged Mountain Dew, became disabled and got hooked on prescription painkillers. Yuhasz's father was obese and died from a stroke when Yuhasz was 36.

"We met. We talked. We shared our stories," Yuhasz recalls of the meeting. "I went back to my car and wept because I knew it was a divine intervention. I knew this was going to work ... and it has ever since."

An evolving experiment

Buchanan was thrust into being director of Yuhasz's pilot of Fit Club, a 16-week program that involves nutrition education, regular exercise and group therapy, at Mitchell Elementary, a federally recognized Title I school that has a majority of students from low-income families.

Over the past few years, Yuhasz and Buchanan have made changes to the program and included kids from Sanders-Clyde and Memminger elementary, Haut Gap and Alice Birney middle and Garrett Academy of Technology schools. If the effort, which remains in its experimental stages, proves to be a success, it could serve as a model for other programs around the country.

Buchanan's approach is as much about engendering individual responsibility as anything else.

"I think I am where I need to be right now," says Buchanan, whose biweekly paycheck can be as low as $300-$500. "Helping high-risk kids -- that's my calling. ... I don't want them to take the same path as my dad or Louis' dad."

Sharing a struggle

On the surface, Buchanan looks like any privileged suburban kid, which would seem to be a disadvantage for him working with urban and rural poor children and their parents.

He's a handsome, usually clean-cut (He's growing a beard that he vows he won't shave off until a friend returns from Afghanistan.) guy who grew up in Mount Pleasant's Snee Farm, was educated in East Cooper public schools, participated in swimming, soccer and karate, and graduated from the College of Charleston in four years. He's motivated and upbeat.

But life was far from easy for Buchanan and his family, which included older twin sisters and a younger brother.

With his father out of commission and his mother, Margaret Buchanan, working multiple jobs, she often turned to her children to help pay the mortgage and keep their house. Because Bucky starting working at 12 and worked the most of all, she tapped on him a lot.

"He never complained about it," says Mrs. Buchanan. "He thought it was his obligation."

And when he announced that he planned to go to the College of Charleston, he was on his own.

And though he had stopped swimming competitively for years, he walked onto the college's swim team and ended up becoming team captain and getting a full-ride scholarship.

"I'd like to take credit for it (his drive and independence), but Bucky is a self-made man," Mrs. Buchanan adds.

Mentee becomes mentor

But, of course, she can take some credit.

When Bucky was just 5, Mrs. Buchanan enrolled him in karate at Masters Studios of Self Defense in Mount Pleasant because he was "such a mama's boy and needed more self-confidence."

Like a lot of kids, Bucky didn't take to it right away. He'd cry and plead not to go and beg to quit. Mrs. Buchanan urged him to stick with.

And that lesson in tenacity would pay a lifetime of dividends.

At Masters, Bucky found a much-needed male role model in Mike St. Amand, studio owner and instructor.

St. Amand describes Buchanan as "the perfect student" and that by age 12 he was teaching kung fu to other children.

"I watched him grow up at the school," says St. Amand. "I know it wasn't easy for him. He had trouble with his dad, but I didn't know the details. ... Today, he's a legend at the school."

Buchanan took the discipline he learned through martial arts, St. Amand adds, and has applied it to all aspects of his life.

At 24, but mature beyond those years, it's hard to tell if Buchanan is settling into a life mission of helping obese or overweight children.

"I'm a believer in opportunity and knowing when my time is up," says Buchanan. "But I'll always be a part of this. I love it and I want more."

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postandcourier.com.