Sporting goods company replaces some stolen items after beloved youth coach is robbed, carjacked
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This past weekend, a beloved Chicago youth sports coach suffered a major setback when he was carjacked at gunpoint near his Woodlawn neighborhood home.
A sporting goods company has since stepped up to help.
Ernest Radcliffe, who has coached baseball and football for, and mentored, hundreds of young people, was robbed at 6:06 p.m. Saturday at 61st Street and Ellis Avenue.
Coach Radcliffe was packing up his vehicle for baseball practice with buckets, bats, and uniforms.
"A black Kia sport pulled up, and two guys jumped out - and there was nothing I could do. They carjacked me. They jumped out on me. I didn't see it coming. I didn't know what to do," he said earlier this week. "I couldn't pray. It was just all in one – it just happened so quick."
Radcliffe said all happened in less than 30 seconds. At first, he was grateful his family wasn't present.
Radcliffe said he was also grateful "for my life, because I could've been shot."
His car was later been recovered.
"But, you know, they took a lot of stuff out the car – all my equipment; my bag - my red show bag with all my paperwork," Radcliffe told CBS 2 on Monday. "I was working on some projects, calendars."
Those items are still missing. But after hearing about his situation, Wilson Sporting Goods reached out to Radcliffe – and replaced all the stolen equipment for him.
Anyone who knows anything about this incident is asked to call Chicago Police.