HOMETOWN HERO

RICARDO LOCKETTE

WRITTEN BY CARLTON FLETCHER PHOTOS BY TODD STONE

When Ricardo Lockette helps out another kid living in poverty, speaks to a crowd of hero-worshiping middle schoolers, lends a hand to a homeless family with nowhere left to turn or provides a way out for a woman who has been the victim of domestic violence, most people just assume that he's one of those good guys who's decided to give back to others after enjoying a successful – but shortened –professional sports career. The cynical among us might even snidely mention the words "tax write-off."

No, Albany-born and raised Ricardo Lockette is helping the people in his hometown and other communities as a way of paying off a debt. It's one he incurred on November 1, 2014, when a vicious hit abruptly ended his NFL career and almost ended his life.

As Lockette lay on the turf at Safeco Field, an eerie silence enveloping one of the noisiest stadiums in professional sports, he offered up a prayer that set the stage for the rest of his life.

"I'm laying there on the ground, praying, and I said, 'If I get out of this alive, God, if you give me the opportunity to make it off this field alive, I'm going to spend my life trying to bring about positive change to everyone I come in contact with,'" Lockette said during a recent extended conversation. "It turns out my neck was broken, detached. But after the medical people loaded me on a stretcher, the feeling started to come back in my extremities. I remember they'd taped my hands together in the middle of my chest, but I somehow managed to work one hand loose and give my teammates an 'L' sign for love, for family. When I did that, man, that place exploded."

The memory of the love shown for this gridiron warrior notwithstanding, Lockette knew his football career was over as he was carted off that field. But as he found the inner strength to gradually recover, this young man – who deemed himself a failure – who'd deemed himself a failure because he didn't make the Olympic team and ended up sleeping in his car on the streets of Atlanta briefly before getting an opportunity to play football at then Fort Valley State College, an opportunity that he turned into three Super Bowl appearances, has kept his part of the bargain he made with God.

Through his Lockette Foundation, he's changed many lives for the better. And he has grand plans for a middle school academy that could change the fortunes of entire generations of young people.

And it all started in Albany, where he and his family lived with his paternal grandfather, Judge Willie Lockette, at the Lockette homeplace on Colquitt Avenue. That's where the legacy of Ricardo Lockette – football star, humanitarian and loving father – was forged.

The Albany Chamber's interview with Ricardo Lockette:

What was it like for you growing up in Albany; what do you remember about those early years?

My family grew up in my grandparents' house, and it was a house of love. It was the place where I learned about things like marriage, relationships, about hard work. A lot of the work that I do now through my foundation is based on the things I learned there. Back then, people were held to certain standards. Now, I find people live their life based on a skewed logic rather than the morals I learned in that home.

Did the man that you've become – and not just the pro athlete, but the man who gives back to his community – get its start there?

Oh, absolutely 1,000 percent. Who I am today is because of my family and the way they raised me in Albany. People tell me, 'Man, you played in three Super Bowls, I expected you to be different.' But I am a product of my family's legacy. It's like my granddad going to the courthouse, my grandmom doing her job as a city manager, my dad working as a probation officer. I had my job to do, too. If I dropped a pass or missed a tackle, I felt I was letting my family down.

Most guys who are star athletes figure out that they're different at an early age. Was there a certain age that you knew you were destined to play in the NFL?

I didn't know I had any kind of special athletic skills until I was at Monroe (Comprehensive) High School. I showed up one day at a track meet, and the coach told me they needed someone to run a leg of the 4x4 (relay). A guy didn't show up. I had on sneakers and shorts, but once I got on that track I knew I couldn't let anyone else beat me. That's when it dawned on me that, 'Hey, I might have some speed.'

I ended up being the MVP in the region that year and was MVP of the state tournament next year. I was supposed to go to Auburn (University), but I decided to try out for the Olympic team. My parents said they'd finance me for that year, but I ended up finishing 13th in qualifying and only the top three in each event made the team. I was devastated. For the first time in my life I felt like a failure. I slept in my car for a couple of days because I didn't want to face anyone.

I'd guess that was about the low point of your life to that point.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what I could do, but Coach Donald Pittman at Fort Valley got in touch with me and told me I had football eligibility left. He said he wanted me to come play. I had to borrow gas money to get from Atlanta to Fort Valley, but when I got there, I went to work. I've always felt to be successful at something, you have to be almost obsessed. I drove myself to the extreme and ended up getting an invitation to the (NFL) combine. There was an agent, Zeke Sandhu, who got in touch with me and told me he believed I had the talent to play at the next level. He was one of three people who believed in me.

At the combine, I ended up running the fastest 40 (yard dash) there, a 4.37 (seconds). The guy who was just behind me at the combine, you might have heard of him ... Julio Jones. But you weren't drafted, right?

No, and that was kind of devastating, because right after the draft there was a lockout. So I was in limbo. I went back to Albany and worked with NYSP (National Youth Sports Program) at Albany State University. All the kids were saying things like, 'I thought you were gonna play football.' That hurt, but I couldn't let them see that I had any doubt. I'd get with them and work on our own secret handshake, and I told them that when they saw me do that in the NFL, I would be talking to them. The lockout ended, and I got calls from all 32 teams (as a free agent), but Seattle sent me a hand-written letter, and that's why I chose to go there. I was on their practice squad when San Francisco heard about me and made me an offer. I ended up being there with the 49ers for my first Super Bowl.

I signed with Seattle the next season, and we ended up winning the Super Bowl over Denver, lost on that 1-yard line play the next year -- I ended up in a shell after that game; I didn't want to be around people because that's all they wanted to talk about. It was like dealing with a death. The following year is when I got hurt.

How devastating was it to know that, even after you recovered, you'd never play football again?

Man, the hardest thing for me was trying to put on a strong front for my daughter. I'd always been her warrior, and I didn't want her to see me vulnerable like that. When she came to the hospital to see me, I put on a smile and deflected the pain I was going through.

So you made a pact with God – which I think a lot of people do when they're in a tough situation. But you've kept your word. Do you feel like God allowed you to get through your injury because of the promise you made?

I'll always believe that. But I also believe that the foundation that my family gave me when I was young is the other thing. I always feel that family legacy.

You've already done so much for young people and others in this community and others. What are your plans for the future?

with officials with the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, and others in the community, to create a multimillion-dollar Junior Achievement Financial Literacy Academy. It will be a special school that will teach middle school students about the realities of life in the adult business world. I want kids to know that there aren't many of them who will be rap stars or musicians or pro athletes. Through Junior Achievement, I want to help create a curriculum that will teach kids about finance, about the things they need for careers that will allow them to be professionals of a different kind.

We'll show them that making a choice, say in cars, for a Mercedes over a more practical car can leave them with no money for food, utilities, necessities. We want to show them how to work toward the Mercedeses and the finer things in life and that there are unlimited ways to use their skills to achieve these things.

So, you literally want to change the face of your community and this region?

Absolutely, and I believe it will happen. See, I don't feel like I 'owe' this community anything. But I have the time, opportunity and resources, and if I didn't use them to make the community better, I feel like I'd be letting my family down. And I'd be letting God down. I'm here doing this because I believe this is now my purpose in life. We're going to get this done, and I'm going to do my part. ∞