Rev. Steve Lantz

Team Respect builds bridges into Overtown — a neighborhood financially drained and mistreated for generations — through the young men of Booker T. Washington Senior High School. It serves in three ways: chaplains who are spiritual influences for high school athletes, mentors who are vocational influences for students, and advocates for school administrators.

The year follows three themes. Respect God meets in large groups in the fall; Respect Themselves works in small groups and one-on-one mentoring in the spring, equipping students to invest in younger kids; and Respect Others takes student leaders on a service trip each summer. Team Respect is in its twentieth year at Booker T., and it is growing its board and recruiting more mentors.

Rev. Steve Lantz has spent 20 years in Overtown ministering with young men at Booker T. Washington, the first high school built for Black students in South Florida. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, married to Lynda, with two children — and along the way he has played football, interned with David Letterman, acted in film and television, and had a TikTok go viral enough to be featured on Good Morning America.

From our records Executive Director of the South Florida based charity, Team Respect, Steve has worked closely with many high school football programs, including Florida high school Miami Norland and Booker T. Washington.