Tall tales

Junior guard Roderick Wilmont sat tall on a tiny chair in front of giggly, wide-eyed school children who were in awe of their atypical storyteller, who just brushed through the final pages of "Where the Wild Things Are."\n"What was your favorite book?" a tiny voice from the crowd said.\n"I loved 'Green Eggs and Ham.' But my other favorite book was 'Miss Nelson.' That used to give me nightmares," Wilmont said to a roar of laughter.\nWilmont and the majority of the IU men's basketball team met Thursday evening at Templeton Elementary School to kick off Family Literacy Nights, a program that will bring Hoosier athletes to the school to promote reading.\n"I wish I had someone come and talk to me like that when I was growing up," Wilmont said. "You see guys in the NBA, they go talk to kids and stuff. You never think you're going to do these things. It was a great thing. I really enjoyed it a lot."\nThursday night kicked off the community outreach program, which build a University-community ties by bringing IU's athletes to Templeton.\n"These players are role models for our little ones, and if they can learn about reading and tie it in with sports to make them successful 'go for it,'" said Templeton Principal Cheryl Smith, a former Butler volleyball player.\nA packed gymnasium screamed for the players as they charged in amid the IU fight song. The evening began with introductions and some words of wisdom from the Hoosiers.\n"All of these guys standing here were in your shoes," sophomore guard Adam Ahlfeld said to the crowd. "Your teachers care very much about you."\nIU assistant coach Donnie Marsh and his players, in units of either one or two, were then escorted to classrooms where they read children's stories to smaller audiences, consisting of parents and children.\n"All I have to say is, listen to your parents and teachers," Wilmont said. "Listening gets you far in life."\nThe program began last year when Ahlfeld read to students on "Dr. Seuss Day" as a favor to his friend Maria Gramelspacher, who is the advocate for community engagement in the school's literacy promotion program.\n"Adam (Ahlfeld) was just fabulous in this whole thing," she said.\nThe evening culminated with a meet-and-greet session, where the kids got a chance to get autographs from the players.\n"We're just trying to get these kids fired up about reading," Smith said.