Javon Camon Funeral Information

[Feld44]

Does anyone know if there will be something held for him either in Tampa or his hometown?

[USFKT]

following a link from greg's blog i found this:

JAVAN CAMON

1981-2007

MEMORIAL SERVICE INFORMATION

Thursday, March 1

4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Lohman Funeral Home

733 W. Granada Blvd. Ormond Beach

Rev. Isaac Thomas

 St. Mary's Primitive Baptist Church

Conducting

http://dbthunderfootball.com/recent-news/249/thunder_falls_45-42_to_columbus

[USFootball]

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