USFootball

Camon's death provides lesson for miscreants Published March 4, 2007 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/columnists/orl-bianchi0407mar04,0,47403.column?page=2&coll=orl-sports-col ORMOND BEACH -- This story is for Ricky Williams. This story is for Pacman Jones. This story is for Lawrence Phillips and Ryan Leaf and Maurice Clarett and every other miscreant or malcontent who never appreciated the enormous opportunity he was given. Let me tell you a story about a football player -- a real football player -- a good-looking, hard-working young man who would have died for the chance to play in the NFL. As a matter of fact, he did die. He died trying. You don't know who Javan Camon is, but you should. He put his neck on the line -- literally -- to get to a place where Pacman Jones doesn't deserve to be. He gave his whole heart -- literally -- to get just one of the bazillion chances Ricky Williams has frittered away. Javan, just 25 years old, broke his neck playing football Monday night. He went into cardiac arrest immediately. He died on the field instantaneously. "My son died doing what he loved most," his mother, Nathalie Montgomery, said. "Javan was born a football player," his teammate, Kwasie Kwaku, said, "and he died a football player." Why is it that we get so caught up in the privileged and pampered that we forget about the passionate and persistent? Amid the racket and ruckus created by the numskulls and knuckleheads, we seldom hear the true song of sports anymore. Javan played football for the Daytona Beach Thunder -- an indoor team in an upstart league. The minor leagues of the minor leagues. But you know what? Just because you don't have Jags or Bucs logos on the side of your helmet doesn't mean you're not a serious football player. In fact, I'd say the men who play for the Thunder are probably more serious than the dregs and druggies who dot the roster of the Cincinnati Bengals. They might not excel at the game like their big brothers in the NFL, but they cherish it more. "It makes me mad when I see some of these NFL boneheads blowing their chances," said Thunder Coach Leon Bright, a former NFL player. "The guys in this league would give an eye or a tooth; they'd play for free just for that one chance to make an NFL roster." Actually, they almost do play for free. The players in the four-team World Indoor Football League make $250 a game, $300 if they win. Pacman Jones blows 100 times more than that in one night at a Vegas strip club. The Thunder players sometimes sleep three and four to a hotel room. And sometimes they eat peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Javan, on the week before the Thunder's first game, helped install the artificial turf and clean the dasher boards. "If you love the game, you make sacrifices," Bright says. The rosters in the WIFL are filled with teachers and truckers, barbers and bartenders, carpenters and counselors. Almost all of them are dreamers. "It's not about the money," Kwaku says. "It's about doing something you love." They love the game so much. Or maybe they love the game too much. They mortgage their futures to play it. They endure broken bones and broken homes to pursue it. Football defines their lives -- and their deaths. At the memorial service for Javan, the front of the funeral-home sanctuary is arranged with memorabilia from his playing career. A photograph of him playing Pop Warner. Newspaper clippings telling of his exploits in high school. A team photo from the University of South Florida. His black Thunder jersey. A football is passed through the pews so his teammates can sign it for the family. The eulogies are filled with football metaphors and memories. Football, football and more football. "A football player; that's who Javan was," Thunder Vice President Brad Humphrey says. "He ate it, slept it and breathed it. He was determined that somehow, someway he was going to play in the NFL. He wasn't going to let that dream get away from him." All you have to do is watch the final play of his career and the final moment of his life to understand. Javan chased Columbus Lions receiver Damian Daniels across the field. He was going full speed, gaining ground, about ready to make the tackle. And then, from nowhere, another Columbus receiver, Cedric Ware, delivered a devastating block. When Javan lowered his head to take on the hit, helmets collided and the sickening sound could be heard throughout the Daytona Beach Ocean Center. A few minutes earlier, Javan danced and laughed after his second interception of the night. Now, he lay muted, motionless. Players from both teams prayed. And cried. And prayed some more. Please, God, let him move. Just let him move! He always was coachable. And now, as he lay there lifeless, he was doing exactly what his coaches always told him to do: Play like there's no tomorrow. Pay the ultimate price. Leave it all out on the field. Play every play like it's your last. See, here's something Ricky Williams and Pacman Jones never will understand. Javan Camon lived to play football. Javan Camon died to play football. The newspaper articles tell us Javan was pursuing a receiver when the fatal blow was delivered. No, not exactly. He was pursuing something far more important: His passion. Mike Bianchi can be reached at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.

Is this Jeremy? If so brother, we need to talk...   -mutt We'll be there fo sho!!! Nope, I make the highlights for the team...

Ive got the highlights ready to roll!

Charlotte shocked over Camon's death Former Tarpon dies after block in indoor football game It's one of the finest tributes to Charlotte High School alum Javan Camon when Tarpons football coach Binky Waldrop says, "We don't have any kid like that around here anymore." And now, the original is gone as well. Camon, a 25-year-old safety on the Daytona Beach Thunder indoor football team, lost his life following a helmet-to-helmet block in a game Monday night against the Columbus Lions. Camon went down to the turf in a World Indoor Football League game after a clean block by Lions receiver Juval Winston and went into cardiac arrest. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. The unexpected loss left Charlotte's coaches and administrators, as well as Camon's friends and teammates, in a state of shock. "I'm still kind of shocked," Waldrop said. "I think everyone's kind of shocked. He's just a great kid. You don't coach too many like him." "I cried a little last night, that was just a couple of tears," said Edward Gipson, who played with Camon in 1998. "But I won't believe it until I see him." After graduating from Charlotte in 2000, Camon played four years at the University of South Florida, where he was named team captain in 2004. Hours after Camon's death, news of the tragedy had spread rapidly through the Charlotte community. "After a half-hour, everybody knew," Gipson said. "People were calling me to ask if it was true. I'm not sure it sunk in until today." Nanci Daniel, who had seen Camon play football with her son Justin, canceled her girls tennis team's practice Tuesday to be with her children at the University of South Florida. "He was like a big brother for all my kids," Daniel said. "When we went to South Florida, he'd go out of his way to make sure we got hugs at the field, at a game, wherever. "I was shocked when I got the call (this morning). I had to sit through (FCAT) testing before I could talk to my own kids -- it was a long time." Gipson said that Camon's mother had tried to convince him to give up indoor football a week before, in part because he wasn't getting much playing time. But it was Camon's passion for the game that Waldrop thought made him special and made him stand out from other athletes. "He was very passionate -- about everything," Waldrop said. "Everything he did, he wanted to be the best ever. He wanted to be first, ahead of all his friends. We're proud of him. He worked hard to get that scholarship." And yet, everyone remembered Camon's smile and light-hearted nature. "That smile was always on," Charlotte athletic director Brian Nolan remembered. Nolan said he'd seen Camon at a Tarpons girls basketball game some weeks before, discussing his plans after professional football. "Coach, you know I've got a degree," Camon told Nolan then. "I'll do indoor football for two more years, then I'll come back and coach football." He also was a standout on Charlotte's track team, competing in events such as the 200 meters, 400 and the triple jump. Charlotte boys track coach Dave Riley likened his upright running style to Michael Johnson. Camon owns part of the school's 4x400 relay record, along with DiShon Platt, Bruce Gipson and Sam Michel. It's this small bit of Charlotte history that has his name on the south wall of the Wallace Keller Gymnasium. "To walk in (the gym) and see that name every day," assistant football coach Jerry Voss said grimly. "That'll be fun for a couple weeks." You can e-mail Rob Shore at shore@sun-herald.com. By ROB SHORE

Kawika is a free agent, Id like to see them both in Tampa, Derrick Brooks cant play forever...

Haha Collin! I told you he should keep the remix! GO BD!!!

And the game was only 1 hour and 55 minutes! Thats my kind of game!

Im all for a dining hall, but Im sorry, Softball should get a stadium first.

Finally, baseball season...GO BD!!!

Almost half of their schedule isnt even being played on Saturdays...

As of now, the banquet has been postponed that I am aware of.

We are lucky they didnt take Frey...

I dont know how many people said they werent going bc it was on TV, I understand if it is a nationally televised game, but really does 28 always have to broadcast our games??

All I have to say was that the Sheraton was probablly the worst hotel the bowl could have selected as one of the hosts for the team. The entire place was under renovation (Not so good being woken up EVERY morning at 730 by drills and hammers) Plus, there wasnt a single place within a safe walking distance from our hotel, you had to get a cab or get on the trolley. Mainly the reason Im complaing about this is bc ECU was lucky and stayed in the hotel that was adjacent to the Mall. I just figure its a lot easier for people to get into trouble when you have a farther distance to travel.

You guys know us beating WVU was only a good thing for us, but was horrible for the league...