May 23, 2014 -- Updated 0107 GMT (0907 HKT)
When Curtis Harmon III showed up in front of NFL scouting personnel in
Baltimore, no one was sure what to expect. After all, how could a man
with one arm catch a football? FULL STORY
One-armed fullback to vie for spot on pro Canadian football team
May 22, 2014 -- Updated 2022 GMT (0422 HKT)
When playing college football on the East Coast didn't pan out, Curtis Harmon went home and began training for the NFL draft.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Curtis Harmon will try out for one of 46 roster spots with CFL's Montreal Alouettes
- Harmon was born with birth defect that stopped growth in his left arm below elbow
- Sportswriter impressed that during NFL regional combine, Harmon didn't bobble one pass
- Montreal's running backs coach, who will coach Harmon if he earns spot, has no hands
"I didn't drop a single pass," Harmon told CNN. "Didn't bobble a pass either."
Indeed, in his rundown for a Washington-Baltimore-area sports website,
writer Barry Barnes said he was struck by the "passion, heart and
determination" that Harmon exhibited at the regional combine, where
lower-tier players not invited to the national scouting combine pay to
be evaluated by the NFL.
"He was consistent with
his speed, ran around the cones low with the ball high across his chest,
along his collarbone and caught all his passes. Yes, caught all his
passes," Barnes wrote.
Harmon was born with a birth defect affecting his left arm.
Harmon, 25, was born with
a birth defect that stopped the growth of his left arm from the elbow
down. For his much of his life, the southside Washington native has
dealt with stares from strangers, awkward questions about "what
happened" and of course, the bullies.
But from a young age, there's one thing Harmon wanted to become: a professional football player.
"When he was born the
doctor told me not to treat him any different and that I would be
surprised by what he would be able to achieve," his mother, Roberta
Scott, said in a phone interview from her home in Clinton, Maryland.
He's been defying odds ever since.
'Like a little pro'
At age 4, Harmon started
playing the drums. Months later, he would learn to play the piano. By
the time he was 6, Harmon decided he knew what he wanted to be when he
grew up.
"I signed him up with
the little league football in our area," his mother said. "And once I
did, he was like a little pro already. He's always been really fast."
Harmon will vie for a roster spot with the Montreal Alouettes.
Harmon put that speed on display at Gwynn Park High School in Prince George's County, Maryland, where he started at fullback.
"It was more than
football. It was about discipline," Harmon said. "Ever since I can
remember it was just me, my mom and my (older) brother. My dad was shot
and killed when I was just a few months old, so my coaches were like my
father figures. I learned about life from them."
In 2007, during his
senior year, Harmon ran for more than 800 yards. When he wasn't scoring
touchdowns, he played defense as a middle linebacker.
"I got a couple of looks
from some Division I and II schools, but I decided that the best thing
for me was to pursue playing football at a junior college," he said.
Harmon took a year off
from football before taking the field for Valley Forge Military Academy
& College in Wayne, Pennsylvania, in 2009. He played two seasons
there before transferring to Saddleback College, a community college in
Mission Viejo, California, where he racked up 1,200 yards and eight
touchdowns in two seasons.
"I've done so many things to make my success work. If that meant I had to transfer, then I did that," he said.
Dream deferred
Harmon impressed one sportswriter with his catching skills.
In 2013, he moved back
East, hoping to play for Winston-Salem State or East Carolina
University, neither of which panned out. But rather than let his dream
die, he went home and began training to be a professional.
"I probably would have
never played football if I let what people think stop me. My dream was
to be drafted in the NFL. My cousin Rashad Carmichael ... plays for the
(Philadelphia) Eagles. He encouraged me to go to the combine and show
the scouts what I was about."
In the runup to this
month's NFL draft, as the world watched a cavalcade of storylines --
ranging from defensive phenom Jadeveon Clowney to the first openly gay
player ever drafted, Michael Sam -- Harmon's uplifting story went
largely unnoticed outside of a short film produced by the website worldstarhiphop.com.
But that wasn't enough
for the pro scouts. The NFL draft came and went, and Harmon went
undrafted. That's where Harmon thought his dream had ended.
"I kinda did expect that
I would at least get a shot at being drafted because I felt like I gave
it my all. I did better at the drills than people with two hands! Why
not get a player who can motivate his team and play 100%?"
Harmon's mother says she treated him like any other kid.
A few days later, his agent called with a new opportunity.
This weekend, Harmon
will travel to an open tryout in Mooresville, North Carolina, a
Charlotte suburb, to compete for one of the 46 roster spots on the
Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
God's sense of humor
If he's selected, he'll
be the first player in CFL history to play with only one arm. But if he
makes it, he won't be alone in his journey.
Mark Speckman, the running backs coach for the Alouettes, was born without hands.
"God has a funny sense
of humor. ... There's only so many one-handed fullbacks and no-hands
running backs coaches in pro football," Speckman said, laughing during a
phone interview from Montreal.
While some may think
that this was all a devised plan by the club, neither Harmon nor
Speckman knew about the other until CNN spoke to the pair.
Harmon works out with a kettlebell.
"It's just a coincidence, a very big coincidence," Charles Rooke, the Alouettes' spokesman, said.
"That's a game-changer
right there," Harmon told CNN after learning about the man who could be
his position coach. "I'm anxious to get down there and just learn from
him -- not even football but everything in life. Someone who is just
like me. I love that idea."
Harmon's road ahead will
not be easy. Under CFL rules, a certain portion of a team's players
must be Canadian. Harmon knows competition will be tough.
"I'm trying to get a
spot for how I play, not how I look," he told CNN. "The fact of the
matter is that what really inspires people is how I'm doing it. I love
to inspire people and uplift people. Who wouldn't want a better world?
'Oh Curtis Harmon can go do that? Well I can go do this!' That's what I
want people to take away from my story."
TOP U.S. STORIES
- Neighbors baffled woman missing for decade was kidnapped
-
Teen faces life term for hash brownies
- 7 DUIs, 90 mph car chase, 0 jail time
-
Terrifying video of kids shocked in pool
- City clerk's quitting letter: Good luck 'finding schmuck' to fill job
-
Missing dog returns after mystery surgery
- Mayor's advice to the bullied: 'Grow a pair'
- Al Qaeda threats worry U.S. intel
- Cop, rabbi arrested in child porn bust
- COPY http://edition.cnn.com/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário