by Hollis Wormsby, Jr.
Rolando McClain’s Fairy Tale Season Reminds Us of the Value of Second Chances
Rolando McClain is one of the best linebackers in the University of Alabama’s history, and that is saying a lot when you remember that Alabama history includes the likes of Leroy Jordan, Derrick Thomas and my all time favorite, Cornelius “Biscuit” Bennett. While playing linebacker for Alabama from 2007 to 2010 McClain claimed such honors as SEC Defensive Player of the Year, the Lambert Award for being the best linebacker in College Football as well as the Dick Butkus Award. He would go on to be drafted eighth overall by the Oakland Raiders in 2010, but after signing a mega contract there his demons began to catch up with him and many felt he was out of football for life after he mysteriously retired from the Baltimore Ravens, theoretically his second chance at 23 years old last summer.
Fortunately the story does not end there, at least at this point.
Fortunately this is not the story of how a super talented kids who grew up on the rough side of town in Decatur, Alabama goes on to ruin his career with bad life decisions, though it came close. At his lowest point, after resolving his court issues in Decatur, McClain went back to the University of Alabama, the scene of his college glory days and went back to school. Credit Alabama Coach Nick Saban with choosing to reach out to him and to be a mentor to him; credit the Dallas Cowboys for giving him one more chance; but also credit Rolando McClain for being man enough and strong enough to stand up and take advantage of what was probably the last opportunity likely to come his way.
As a lifetime Cowboys fan I fully realized at the time that signing McClain was an act of desperation by a team with a very bad defense that suffered debilitating injuries during the pre-season. McClain was picked up to try and fill the void left after Pro-Bowl middle linebacker Sean Lee was lost for the season due to an injury during pre-season. I think at the time the most that I or most folks hoped for would be that he would not be awful, and that maybe a year in a different environment might somehow reinvigorate his career. No one believed he would have the kind of All-Pro season that he is having on the field and that there have been no incidences off of the field. This past Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys beat the defending Super Bowl Champions, Seattle Seahawks, in a nationally televised upset, the best defender on the field was Rolando McClain. The defender with the game winning interception in the closing moments was Rolando McClain. The quiet, humble man who took questions from the media later I hardly recognized.
Everything about McClain’s demeanor and his words say that he is a different man. But McClain doesn’t say that, he just says he is taking it day to day, trying to find a way to get better, to help his team, and be a good role model for his children. I was so proud of him I gave him a standing ovation in my man cave.
But McClain’s story is about more than his own personal redemption. The bad part of his story is all too common. He started out in the projects in Decatur, with an abusive mother and an absent father. In high school, even as he was impressing the world with his athletic skills, he often lived from family to family. He did not have his father in his life, and from an outside perspective looking in, he did not have positive male role models in his life in meaningful ways. This is a story repeated in community after community across America. The real take away from the Rolando McClain story should be what can we learn from his success that we can use to help turn around the lives of some of the lost young men in our own community.
Or at least that is the way I see it.
(Do you have a question or comment on this column? Look me up on Facebook/HollisWormsby or email me at hjwormsby@aol.com.)
