A high school basketball coach and Bridgeport native returned to the city Saturday to mentor kids.

Alan Pettway, 51, is a former high school and college basketball player. He is the coach of the North High School Boys Basketball team in Worcester, Mass. The team recently became the city's first public high school sports team to win a Division I State Championship.

"To see those young men come together the way they did and achieve that goal, it's just an amazing thing to have witnessed,” he said.

Pettway tells News 12 he wants to inspire kids by practicing what he preaches.

"In today's society, the kids are faced with a lot of peer pressure. Peer pressure of joining gangs, doing drugs, selling drugs,” he said. “You just have to be strong and not feed into the peer pressure because it's out there."

"I'm pretty strong and, you know, there's nothing that can stop me and I tell the kids the same thing," Pettway says. "There's nothing that can stop you if you just believe in yourself and stay the course good things will happen for you."

Steve Nelson, Pettway’s lifelong friend, is happy to see him return to his hometown and encourage young athletes.

"He has this stuff in his DNA,” said Nelson. “This man is out in his community teaching young kids and is successful. I think that's the real importance of this story."