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Friday, June 27, 2008 11:13 PM CDT
Trojans' Drew Riley – 'the ultimate feel-good story'
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- This is more than just some ordinary story about a kid getting to play in an all-star game involving players from this part of the state and then NCAA Division III football.
All that would be good in itself but Drew Riley’s journey measures farther than from Charleston to MacMurray College in Jacksonville.
“This will be my 18th year of coaching and this is a pretty special story,” Charleston football coach Brian Halsey said.
“It is the ultimate feel good story and brings a tear to my eye.”
Before this kind of emotion about a defensive tackle playing in today’s Order of Eastern Star All-Star Game at Decatur and landing a spot on MacMurray College’s roster, Halsey took a stand with hardly any tolerance for a player who had to spend his sophomore year of high school at the Treatment and Learning Center in Kansas.
When Riley went to TLC as a sophomore, this hardly seemed to be a blow for Charleston’s football program.
Who was going to miss a big kid the Trojans hadn’t had on a team anyway?
“I played football in sixth grade year and that was it,” Riley said. “I was out trying to be cool, not doing the right stuff, hanging around with the wrong people.”
Maybe by his sophomore year he was at rock bottom.
“They sent me to TLC in Kansas,” Riley said. “There I became friends with a kid in Marshall and he talked to me about playing football and how it could help you. I talked to Halsey and he told me to lift weights.”
While showing him the weight room, Halsey admits he also had his doubts about seeing this newcomer ever get on the football field on a Friday night.
“I did everything I could to run him off because those are guys who often aren’t going to make it,” the coach said.
Riley had an answer for each of Halsey’s tests.
“I proved myself by showing up every day on time and giving 110 percent,” he said. “I wanted to show I wasn’t there to waste their time or my time.
“Going to TLC made me appreciate the high school. There were a lot more a lot of bad kids I didn’t want to be around. I knew I was better than that.”
With that battle won, Riley became a starting lineman as a junior and then an All-Apollo Conference defensive lineman as a senior.
Maybe even that junior season was another test when all of the Trojans had to cope with their first losing season in five years after four straight playoff berths.
“Coming from a 2-7 season, it was rough,” Riley said. “I felt bad for our seniors going out like that but we had a lot of juniors that year and that experience really helped our senior year.”
As a senior, rather than getting into trouble in the hallways or streets, Riley just legally created havoc for offenses like the night he helped force turnovers and recovered three of them in Charleston’s 40-0 win over Robinson.
Football became the outlet.
“It helps takes a lot of the aggression out, Riley said. “It gets you out a lot of trouble.”
Instead of trouble, Riley earned all-conference honors for a Charleston team that peaked in time for the playoffs and reached the IHSA Class 5A quarterfinals finishing 8-5.
He is one of four Charleston players picked for the East team in the 18th Order of Eastern Star High School All-Star Game set for 4 p.m. today at Millikin University’s Frank M. Lindsey Field.
Then he is to continue his football career and education at MacMurray College in Jacksonville.
His plans at this time are to major in sports administration realizing what he has gained through athletics so far.
“Football really changed my life a lot,” Riley said. “It made me a better person.
“I think going away to college will help me, just associating with better people. I just want to say thanks for everybody that helped me and believed in me.”
Halsey is among those celebrating a success story.
“That’s why I coach football to have an impact on a young man’s life and help them be a great husband and a great father,” he said. “That’s the stamp I want to put on kids. If they can be a football player - great. But we want to help with their lives.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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