Scholarship a perfect gift for his mom
Sprinter Brandon Bing has earned his free ride.
Millions of moms will receive Mother's Day gifts from their children on May 13.
Brandon Bing doesn't want to wait that long. He plans to give his mom, Gwendolyn Bing, her present before the end of next week. It's a present that will save her more than $40,000: a college athletic scholarship.
An all-American sprinter at Cheltenham, Bing recently received scholarship offers from the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers track programs.
Still undecided as to where he will go, Bing plans to sign a national letter of intent to one of the two Big East Conference schools soon.
"This is all for my mother," Bing said. "She has a good heart. I'm just trying to help her out."
Bing can talk at length about how the woman he calls his inspiration and savior helps others. His father, Marcus Davis, was slain 15 years ago in a street crime.
Looking to provide a stable environment, Gwendolyn Bing, already a single parent of three, adopted Anthony Fisher a few years ago when Fisher's home life turned rocky.
Fisher, a Cheltenham senior, is one of Brandon Bing's best friends.
Upon moving into the Bings' Wyncote home, Fisher quickly learned that it would be much more than a permanent sleepover.
Gwendolyn Bing's children - Fisher, 19, Brandon, 17, Asia Dan, 14, and Kai Hammond, 7 - are not allowed to bring home a school grade lower than a B.
"No C's in this household," Gwendolyn Bing said. "It's unacceptable. I know that they are above-average people. And a C signifies being average. They are on punishment until the next marking period if they bring home a C."
A former track athlete at Cheltenham and Martin Luther King, Gwendolyn Bing also demands that her children play three sports, one for each season.
Before this year, Brandon Bing played football in the fall and basketball in the winter, and ran track in the spring.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop," said Gwendolyn Bing, a Philadelphia native who moved the family to Montgomery County seven years ago. "Just because we are in the suburbs doesn't mean that they can't get into trouble."
Until December, "track was just something to keep me in shape for football," said Bing, a standout wideout and defensive back who plans to run track and play football in college.
But when he didn't get any major-college offers for football, Bing set his sights on getting one in track. So he gave up a starting point-guard position in basketball and ran indoor track for the first time.
He also spends two hours every day after practice doing acceleration drills at Velocity Sports Performance. His newfound dedication to track has paid off.
On Feb. 24, Bing won the 200 meters at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association indoor state championships with a time of 21.52 seconds. It was the nation's fifth-fastest indoor time by a high school runner.
On March 10, he won all-American honors with a fifth-place finish in 22.15 in the 200 at the Nike Indoor Nationals.
Bing has the state's fastest outdoor times in the 100 (10.85) and 200 (22.03), but his most impressive performance may be the 49.6 seconds he ran in his first open 400 race of his career, on April 7.
"Right now, I would say his best event is the 200," Cheltenham coach Robert Beale said. "But we really don't know. He triple jumps. He long jumps. He runs the 100 and 200. And now, he runs the 400."
One thing the Panthers know for sure is that Bing will sign scholarship papers soon.
"I can't express in words how proud I am of Brandon," Gwendolyn Bing said. "It's amazing."