Alum Hooks returns to create 480 Club, help students through coaching
Watkins Mill High School alum Joe Hooks with some of the many students he has mentored.
From playing every sport the community can offer as an average kid from the block, to becoming the neighborhood hero for all adolescents in the Montgomery Village area, Joseph Hooks has depicted the meaning of a selfless humanitarian for his community.
Born and raised in Montgomery Village, Hooks started his humble journey playing football around the neighborhood before joining the Montgomery Village Chiefs and eventually playing for Watkins Mill High School. “The moment I saw all the tough love, work and guts; I knew it’s where I belonged,” Hooks said.
Hooks ended his high school career in 2003 as a two-year varsity letterman and team captain; 4A all journal selection, fifth in 100m, sixth in 100m regionals, and 4x200m state qualifier before committing to play football at Shepherd University.
But after college, it looked like the dream was ending. His dream of playing for the Washington Redskins had not panned out. Hooks was teamless for the first time in his memory. So, Hooks returned to where his love of football began. “The day I came back to South valley and saw all the kids with bug eyes and energy, it revived me to remember what I was taught and give what I know now,” Hooks said.
This was the birth of Coach Hooks, who returned from his gridiron glory to help rebuild the feeling of community brotherhood that sparked his love of football. He joined the Watkins Mill football coaching staff in 2013 and made it his personal mission to become a mentor to the players here. “He was a great impact on my life.. [he] made sure my grades were on point while getting me faster and stronger,” junior Daquan Wims said. ,
Wanting to make even more of a difference, Hooks branched off to build his very own strength and conditioning program called the 480 Club. “The name comes from the amount of minutes in a month the youth would have with me to put in the work,” Hooks said. “[The] 480 club is just a platform to level out the training field…. a non-profit for 16 student athletes to be equipped with gear and academic standards to train and prepare for the next level free of charge is my goal.”
Hooks’ methods get undeniable success. In 2014, Hooks lead the Montgomery Village 14-ultimate team to a State Championship and for 2015, the same team qualified to play in the America Football League National Tournament in Orlando, Florida. While building his championship team, Hooks raised $3,000 to replace the outdated weights in the Watkins Mill weight-room. “Giving back has made me more motivated to be more to give more. I’ve started to seek wisdom because every leader was once a good follower,” Hooks added.
Hooks is now in the process of organizing a community shoe drive. “I really felt I had nobody at times in my life, and I don’t want [any] youth to feel that way if they know me or the other coaches around me who feel the same way,” he added. “My goal for shoe drive was to let kids know someone cares.”
Looking toward the future, Hooks hopes to someday become a head coach or athletic director to “put the culture in place to get kids out of the village to see the big world and picture.” But Hooks is thinking broader as well and wants to be where he can “make more impact on the community where needed, to give and gain more options to stay out of trouble.”
“My goal for myself is to never settle, to leave a legacy and be happy with how I left my community, not how I found it,” Hooks added.
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