Roy Exum
I believe that one of the biggest mistakes any group of two or more people can make is to have a television nearby when they eat. There is a great need for television, be it the Nightly News or ESPN, but nothing impedes conversation during breakfast, lunch or dinner more than a blaring TV. And, lordy, in this day of texting and Tweets I believe we need to talk to each other more than ever before.
Show me a family that doesn’t talk and I’ll predict problems on the horizon.
Show me a football team that doesn’t talk, and get to really know one another, and I’ll guarantee at least two losses a season. This lesson was brought strikingly home to me over the weekend when I read a story about Johnell Thomas, who today is the captain of the Vanderbilt football team and two months shy of earning his diploma.
I do not know if Vanderbilt has a big screen TV where the athletes eat but most college teams do. I believe when that happens fellow teammates don’t talk – or bond -- as they have for centuries. Johnell’s Vandy teammates adore him. Rob Lohr, a tackle from Pennsylvania, describes Thomas, a defensive end, as “always smiling, doing the right thing. I’m lucky to be his friend.”
But Rob told Nashville Tennessean sports writer Jeff Lockridge a very interesting story. It seems that late this summer the players were lounging around – sans TV – and somebody suggested each guy talk about his background and tell his teammates something they may not know. Mind you, Johnell has been at Vandy since 2008 but just now, in his senior year, he spoke quietly. Said Lohr: “It’s a crazy thing to hear. It sets you back. I’m flabbergasted that he is where he is.”
In Lockridge’s beautifully-crafted piece, the writer described how Thomas grew up totally destitute in Orlando. With an older brother in jail and a younger one in constant trouble, he lived from one seedy hotel to the next – and worse -- with his father, a single parent. There were constant eviction notices and Johnell will never forget sharing a sofa with two brothers in a pay-by-the-week hotel near the Citrus Bowl stadium. He was darn-near eaten alive by the bedbugs.
His dad did the best he could. Sometimes there wasn’t money for electricity and Johnel studied by candles or flashlight. With no way to cook, there was one sandwich for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a cooler. Thomas told his Vanderbilt teammates about begging for food for his younger brothers and that finally the bottom dropped out -- he literally had nowhere to go.
In his sophomore year, his line coach at Boone High couldn’t watch any longer and took Johnell into his house. The man, Pete Kearney, told the Nashville writer, “I brought him into our family with no background knowledge, but I just knew. He’s a special individual. My two daughters have loved him to death ever since the first day he came into our house.”
Coach Kearney soon became Johnell’s legal guardian. “Johnell’s dad did whatever he could. He just didn’t have the economic fortitude. It isn’t neglect. It isn’t abuse,” said the coach and Johnell’s father agreed it would be best for his son.
So in a scene reminiscent of the movie “Blind Side,” the 6-foot, 250-pound Johnell began to thrive. He was recruited by several schools but his lack of height by defensive line standards was a problem. Finally Vanderbilt offered him the last scholarship and, when former VU coach Jimmy Kiser told Johnell that a Vanderbilt education would mean that he’ll never be unemployed, that was all it took for a kid who still remembers the bedbug bites.
Are you kidding me? This guy is the team captain, everybody’s friend, and is graduating with a degree in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt in December. “It comes down to how badly you want it. Some people don’t want it bad enough.”
David Williams, Vandy’s highly-respected athletic director, is thrilled by what Johnell Thomas has accomplished. “How he’s been able to deal with everything thrown at him, have his head on straight, graduate and play football in the SEC … that’s one of the great things about college athletics."
“I never had to go through anything like that,” said Williams. “At a time when we’re starting to see the whole concept of access to higher education questioned, we can basically say we have an opportunity to change lives and save lives. It’s those kids. It’s him. That’s the reason, because you see something great happening. That’s why we do this. He’s a special kid.”
It’s one of this fall’s best football stories. Johnell Thomas is a winner. But then there is this: how come it took four years for his teammates to know his life’s story and the challenges he has had to overcome ever since he could walk? I’m not blaming it on a 24-hour sports news channel but make sure the TV is off when dinner-table conversation has never been as important.
Football players and visiting aunts need to know all about those they love.
royexum@aol.com
Johnell Thomas,