If a teacher tells a kid not to drink or take drugs, the kid might yawn, shrug or walk away.
But when Bob Kohl of the Ride-n-Grind “Too-Rad Trick Team” jumps on his stunt bike and executes a back flip with no hands over the top of a 5-foot ramp, the kids jump up and down, clap and scream: “Just say no!”
“If I did something like that, I’d bust my head,” said Jonnette Prud, 13, one of 200 pupils at Locke Elementary School, 2845 N. Newcastle Ave., who attended a performance on a recent Friday.
That was not the only message that got through. Jonnette said she learned “you shouldn’t do drugs because it’s bad for you. I don’t want to damage my body because I love myself.”
Kohl and the trick team perform their unusual anti-drug-and-alcohol program for pupils in the Chicago area.
The team definitely shuns the “authority figure” approach.
Mary Kaye Ream, 18, the group’s emcee, dresses in black: a snug miniskirt, cowboy boots and a shirt that sets off her platinum blond hair.
Kohl is Ream’s husband. The 22-year-old stunt rider has a long ponytail, a cross dangling from an ear, and favors baggy shorts.
“We’re a more positive message,” Ream said. “Officer Friendly comes in and says, `This will happen. This will happen. This will happen. You’ll end up dead.’
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“We come in and say, `This is what happened to us and our friends. This is what can happen to you. But let us show you what you can do if you stay away from drugs.’ “
Depending on the kids’ ages, the team offers a “soft show celebrating drug-freeness” or a “hard show” laced with personal experiences.
The recent performance was closer to a “hard show” for the 4th through 6th graders.
Ream spoke about her friend Melody, a high school junior and student council vice president who died of an overdose.
Ream also told of her drug addiction, which she says almost killed her. It is a rough story, and the kids were visibly shaken by it.
In fact, some school officials have said it is too rough.
“I’ve had a principal pull the microphone out of my hand and say, `Enough of these horror stories. We don’t have a drug problem in our school,’ ” Ream said. “Afterward, the kids came up to me and apologized for the principal and said that half of them probably do drugs.”
The name Ride-n-Grind refers to bicycling (riding) and skateboarding (grinding), even though no skateboard tricks are done.
“A program like this is much better for (the students),” said Locke parent volunteer Barbara Allen. “It’s not structured. It’s what they want. They’re not sitting in a classroom. It’s not a teacher doing it.”
Ream and Kohl charge $375 for a one-hour show, $500 for two shows.
“You are required to scream,” yelled Ream as she turned the rap music to a deafening volume. “You’re not in the classroom!”
As the kids howled, Billy Gawrych, 19, of Chicago used his bike like a pogo stick and hopped around the gym.
Kohl then jumped his bike over Gawrych, who was lying on the floor with his bike. More screams. The two then took turns flying up the ramp and hovering 6 feet in space before plunging down the other side and, in some cases, accidentally slamming into the gym wall.
Kohl, who grew up in Glenview and attended Glenbrook South High School, is considered one of the top professional bicycle trick riders in the country. He is one of only two riders to accomplish a no-hands back flip, and he won a recent dirt-jumping competition in Phoenix, Ariz., said Brad McDonald, editor of Ride Magazine in Anaheim.
Kohl says he has the scars to prove it. After a recent show, he lifted a trouser leg to proudly display the marks on his knee and ankle.
Kohl and Ream are marketing the show from their one-bedroom apartment in Glenview. They have staged 30 or 40 shows since last April, but they are not yet making big-time money. Kohl works part-time with United Parcel Service to make ends meet.
Ream and Kohl participated in 200 shows with a Southern California biking group known as Team USA before returning to Chicago in December 1991. They tried to open an outdoor skateboarding and bicycle-riding center, but it didn’t pan out.
They then called Gawrych and formed the Too-Rad team.
Gawrych, who sings in a rap group, jumped at the chance to get involved.
“I really like what we’re talking about,” he said. “If someone older goes in and talks, the kids are like, `Yeah, yeah.’ But we’re their age. They respect you for your riding. And once they respect you, they listen to you.”
The group will pitch its message at the upcoming World of Wheels show March 19-21 in McCormick Place.