Post by Funkytown on Jul 18, 2017 18:35:34 GMT -6
Family tragedy haunts, inspires Vikings rookie Rodney Adams by Brian Murphy
More at the link: www.twincities.com/2017/06/23/minnesota-vikings-family-tragedy-haunts-inspires-rookie-rodney-adams/
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Officially rooting for this kid. I hope he goes on to have a decent career; if not in Minnesota, somewhere.
The call ended so abruptly that Rodney Adams figured his mother would redial from the car to hear Toledo’s new punt returner recount the rest of his day against Eastern Michigan.
The true freshman had accumulated 23 all-purpose yards and absorbed a wicked tackle which Michelle Scott playfully tormented her son about seeing him on television.
“I got smacked really hard and she was just cracking on me about that,” recalled Adams, the speedy wide receiver whom the Vikings drafted in the fifth round. “But the music was too loud and she didn’t want to be on the phone with me in the car. The phone just hung up. She normally calls me back.”
Scott never called back.
She was killed about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 3, 2013, when the gray Dodge Charger in which she was a passenger lost control on a Georgia highway, rear-ended another vehicle and slammed into a tree.
Almost four years later the episode continues to haunt and inspire Adams as the opportunistic playmaker embarks on the NFL career he and his mother always dreamed about.
Scott’s cousin, Kawonda Taylor, was driving that night. Witnesses told police Taylor was drag racing another car. A crash reconstruction determined she was driving 104 mph with a blood-alcohol level almost twice the state legal limit of 0.08.
Taylor pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide among 11 charges and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
“She’s family. We would see her occasionally — once every blue moon,” Adams said of Taylor. “I’ve never spoken to her since the accident.”
He is playing for his late mother. For his younger brother, Antonio. And his extended family in St. Petersburg, Fla., where celebration and validation erupted April 29 when Vikings coach Mike Zimmer called to ask whether he was ready to fulfill his destiny.
“When I said it’s time to be a Viking, that’s when everyone just sort of lost it,” Adams said about the day he was drafted. “I made it to the next step. Everyone kept talking about how proud my mom would be.”
The true freshman had accumulated 23 all-purpose yards and absorbed a wicked tackle which Michelle Scott playfully tormented her son about seeing him on television.
“I got smacked really hard and she was just cracking on me about that,” recalled Adams, the speedy wide receiver whom the Vikings drafted in the fifth round. “But the music was too loud and she didn’t want to be on the phone with me in the car. The phone just hung up. She normally calls me back.”
Scott never called back.
She was killed about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 3, 2013, when the gray Dodge Charger in which she was a passenger lost control on a Georgia highway, rear-ended another vehicle and slammed into a tree.
Almost four years later the episode continues to haunt and inspire Adams as the opportunistic playmaker embarks on the NFL career he and his mother always dreamed about.
Scott’s cousin, Kawonda Taylor, was driving that night. Witnesses told police Taylor was drag racing another car. A crash reconstruction determined she was driving 104 mph with a blood-alcohol level almost twice the state legal limit of 0.08.
Taylor pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide among 11 charges and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.
“She’s family. We would see her occasionally — once every blue moon,” Adams said of Taylor. “I’ve never spoken to her since the accident.”
He is playing for his late mother. For his younger brother, Antonio. And his extended family in St. Petersburg, Fla., where celebration and validation erupted April 29 when Vikings coach Mike Zimmer called to ask whether he was ready to fulfill his destiny.
“When I said it’s time to be a Viking, that’s when everyone just sort of lost it,” Adams said about the day he was drafted. “I made it to the next step. Everyone kept talking about how proud my mom would be.”
More at the link: www.twincities.com/2017/06/23/minnesota-vikings-family-tragedy-haunts-inspires-rookie-rodney-adams/
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Officially rooting for this kid. I hope he goes on to have a decent career; if not in Minnesota, somewhere.
... and neither is this Chris guy.