planomateo
Member
Really really good read on Lester.
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JACKSON, ALA. -- The two little boys slip through the fence to the field and head straight for Lester Cotton. Lester's school, Central High in Tuscaloosa, is warming up for its game against Jackson High in the first round of the 5A high school playoffs. But the boys can't wait. Their families have been hearing about him for months. They have to meet him. Lester is 6-foot-4, 328 pounds of offensive lineman, and the boys barely come up to his waist. Their eyes widen as he kneels between them so their mamas can take a picture. But they still want something more. Lester has to get to the locker room. Come back after the game, he says. I'll take care of you.
By the way: The boys are wearing jerseys for the other team. Lester is used to this by now. A couple of weeks before, at Helena, one of the opposing team's managers did a giddy hop after he met Lester in the handshake line. Football fans across the state follow his progress the way day traders check the ticker. This has been going on from the moment Lester committed to play for Nick Saban at Alabama this fall. In this state, that makes him royalty.
The statewide news site AL.com named Lester the top football prospect in Alabama before the season started. ESPN's rankings list him as the seventh-best guard prospect in the country (Lester plays left tackle for Central but is expected to move to guard in college). He has a suitcase in his closet full of letters from all the schools that want him. Most have given up because the Crimson Tide have a literal home-field advantage; you can see Bryant-Denny Stadium from the Central High campus. Some recruits play college ball thousands of miles from their high school. Lester is going five blocks.
This fits Lester's nature. Not long ago, he asked his mother whether she'd still cook for him when he comes back to the house. The training table at Alabama is spectacular, but it's not the same as his mama's mac and cheese.
"WHY WOULD YOU WANT ME TO BE JUST WHAT I AM NOW? I'VE GOT TO CHANGE. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE IT."
- LESTER COTTON
It's hard for any child to go off to college. You have to get grown in a hurry, and most are not ready. Lester totes two extra burdens. One is the expectation from Alabama fans that he will be a star for the Tide on Saturdays. The other is the hope of his teammates, teachers and friends that he will shine a light for Central High. The second burden might be heavier than the first.
In the '80s and early '90s, Central High was the best Alabama could offer -- fully integrated, with strong academics and a powerhouse football team. It was a unified school for the whole city. But in 2003, after a court decision lifting a federal desegregation order, the city broke up Central and added two new high schools. All three schools have a majority of black students, but Central's district draws from Tuscaloosa's west side, the poorest part of town. Students in nicer neighborhoods near Central were zoned away to Northridge High, up on the other side of the Black Warrior River. Central is now 98 percent black, with nearly two-thirds of its students on the free-lunch program. Last year the state of Alabama named it a "failing school" because it has finished near the bottom of the state's schools academically for three out of the past six years.
Central's football team has suffered, too. The Falcons won a state title in 2007, but coming into this year they'd had just three winning seasons since Central split. A lot of Central's students -- and a lot of the adults who work with them -- feel like the city has left them behind. To them, Lester is a flare sent out into the world beyond.
"One thing about our students," says Clarence Sutton Jr., Central High's principal. "They have to see someone who looks like them, who came from their background, be successful for them to believe they can be successful. That's why Lester is important. Your story can impact others if you write a good story with your life."
The story Lester is writing is about change. He liked being just one of the boys, but his coach needed him to be a leader. He would be fine with a normal life, but his school needs him to be extraordinary. At his core he's a homebody, but football pushed him into a bigger life.
On national signing day Wednesday, barring a shocking change of heart, Lester will make things official with Alabama. A few of his teammates will resent the attention he'll get. He'll lose some old friends. It's a short trip from Central High to the University of Alabama, but it crosses a border between worlds. A lot of Lester's old life can't come with him.
Lester doesn't talk a whole lot, but he has thought about all this. He is 18, right on the pivot between boy and man. Walking toward one means walking away from the other.
"People say, 'Don't change,'" he says. "Why would you want me to be just what I am now? I've got to change. That's the only way to make it."
Read more here > http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...ester-cotton-carries-hope-central-high-school
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JACKSON, ALA. -- The two little boys slip through the fence to the field and head straight for Lester Cotton. Lester's school, Central High in Tuscaloosa, is warming up for its game against Jackson High in the first round of the 5A high school playoffs. But the boys can't wait. Their families have been hearing about him for months. They have to meet him. Lester is 6-foot-4, 328 pounds of offensive lineman, and the boys barely come up to his waist. Their eyes widen as he kneels between them so their mamas can take a picture. But they still want something more. Lester has to get to the locker room. Come back after the game, he says. I'll take care of you.
By the way: The boys are wearing jerseys for the other team. Lester is used to this by now. A couple of weeks before, at Helena, one of the opposing team's managers did a giddy hop after he met Lester in the handshake line. Football fans across the state follow his progress the way day traders check the ticker. This has been going on from the moment Lester committed to play for Nick Saban at Alabama this fall. In this state, that makes him royalty.
The statewide news site AL.com named Lester the top football prospect in Alabama before the season started. ESPN's rankings list him as the seventh-best guard prospect in the country (Lester plays left tackle for Central but is expected to move to guard in college). He has a suitcase in his closet full of letters from all the schools that want him. Most have given up because the Crimson Tide have a literal home-field advantage; you can see Bryant-Denny Stadium from the Central High campus. Some recruits play college ball thousands of miles from their high school. Lester is going five blocks.
This fits Lester's nature. Not long ago, he asked his mother whether she'd still cook for him when he comes back to the house. The training table at Alabama is spectacular, but it's not the same as his mama's mac and cheese.
"WHY WOULD YOU WANT ME TO BE JUST WHAT I AM NOW? I'VE GOT TO CHANGE. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE IT."
- LESTER COTTON
It's hard for any child to go off to college. You have to get grown in a hurry, and most are not ready. Lester totes two extra burdens. One is the expectation from Alabama fans that he will be a star for the Tide on Saturdays. The other is the hope of his teammates, teachers and friends that he will shine a light for Central High. The second burden might be heavier than the first.
In the '80s and early '90s, Central High was the best Alabama could offer -- fully integrated, with strong academics and a powerhouse football team. It was a unified school for the whole city. But in 2003, after a court decision lifting a federal desegregation order, the city broke up Central and added two new high schools. All three schools have a majority of black students, but Central's district draws from Tuscaloosa's west side, the poorest part of town. Students in nicer neighborhoods near Central were zoned away to Northridge High, up on the other side of the Black Warrior River. Central is now 98 percent black, with nearly two-thirds of its students on the free-lunch program. Last year the state of Alabama named it a "failing school" because it has finished near the bottom of the state's schools academically for three out of the past six years.
Central's football team has suffered, too. The Falcons won a state title in 2007, but coming into this year they'd had just three winning seasons since Central split. A lot of Central's students -- and a lot of the adults who work with them -- feel like the city has left them behind. To them, Lester is a flare sent out into the world beyond.
"One thing about our students," says Clarence Sutton Jr., Central High's principal. "They have to see someone who looks like them, who came from their background, be successful for them to believe they can be successful. That's why Lester is important. Your story can impact others if you write a good story with your life."
The story Lester is writing is about change. He liked being just one of the boys, but his coach needed him to be a leader. He would be fine with a normal life, but his school needs him to be extraordinary. At his core he's a homebody, but football pushed him into a bigger life.
On national signing day Wednesday, barring a shocking change of heart, Lester will make things official with Alabama. A few of his teammates will resent the attention he'll get. He'll lose some old friends. It's a short trip from Central High to the University of Alabama, but it crosses a border between worlds. A lot of Lester's old life can't come with him.
Lester doesn't talk a whole lot, but he has thought about all this. He is 18, right on the pivot between boy and man. Walking toward one means walking away from the other.
"People say, 'Don't change,'" he says. "Why would you want me to be just what I am now? I've got to change. That's the only way to make it."
Read more here > http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...ester-cotton-carries-hope-central-high-school
