Resilient ball carrier
Jordan Richeson
Running back
Jordan Richeson hasn't let setbacks in his life impede his progress
By Steve Blackledge
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday November 8, 2007 7:25 AM
Photo by: JEFF HINCKLEY Dispatch
Hilliard Darby's Jordan Richeson has rushed for a school-record 1,275 yards and scored 18 touchdowns.
Jordan Richeson speaks in such a matter-of-fact, monotone voice, he seems numb to all that has happened to him during the past 25 months.
"I try not to think about the bad things, but sometimes you can't help it," the Hilliard Darby senior football player said. "The pain is tough to cope with sometimes, but I hold things in a lot."
Richeson nearly died two years ago after an accident in the school parking lot. Only a few weeks later, his younger sister lost her life to cancer. While coping with the trauma and the grief, he became a teenage father.
On Oct. 7, 2005, Richeson, in his first career start at running back, helped Darby upset unbeaten Gahanna 19-14, assuring the Panthers their first winning season.
Five days later, a teammate offered Richeson and another teammate a ride home after practice. As a joke, the driver locked the doors, prompting Richeson to sit on the hood. The driver accelerated and swerved around the Darby parking lot, then came to an abrupt halt, sending Richeson tumbling headfirst to the pavement.
"I don't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital bed," Richeson said.
Darby coach Paul Jenne remembers the accident all too well.
"It was a harrowing thing having a boy running into the locker room yelling for us to call 911," he said. "Then you run outside and here's one of your players laying face down in the pavement."
Richeson was transported by Med Flight to Grant Medical Center, where he was treated for a blood clot in his brain, along with a severe concussion. He was released three days later and told to avoid contact sports indefinitely.
Richeson's near-death experience brought Darby's players closer.
"Every guy on the team watched that helicopter life-flight him out of the parking lot, and most of them spent good parts of the next several days in the hospital, praying for him to come through," Jenne said.
Two weeks after resuming classes, Richeson was summoned to the office. His 10-year-old sister, Payton Moore, had died of kidney cancer.
Richeson has his sister's likeness tattooed on his arm.
"Whenever I look at my arm, she gives me inspiration," he said.
Moore was diagnosed at age 2, but after intermittent treatments and surgeries had been fine for some time, Richeson said.
"It was a huge shock to me and to my family," he said. "None of us expected her to die. This was hard for me to accept. We were really close."
Richeson returned to football last season only to suffer an ankle sprain that kept him out of the last four games. Neither he nor Jenne knew what to expect heading into this season.
Richeson rushed for 79 yards in an upset of defending champion Hilliard Davidson in the opener, then gained 155 in the second game and 184 in the third. Entering a regional semifinal against Groveport on Saturday at Upper Arlington, Richeson has rushed for a school-record 1,275 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He was named first-team All-Central District.
More important, Darby is 10-1.
"He's been the X factor in our success," Jenne said. "His ability to pound it up the middle has helped make us a more diverse team and has really opened things for our quarterback (Jeremy Ebert).
"He carries out fakes as well as anyone I've been around. There are a lot of times when four, five or six defenders are involved in tackling Jordan when Jeremy is running down the sideline untouched for a touchdown."
Richeson, who is 6 feet 1 and 210 pounds, bench-presses 300 pounds and has been timed in 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Many Mid-American Conference schools have requested game film to evaluate his play.
"I want to earn a football scholarship, get my college degree and own my own business so I can provide for my son and my family," said Richeson, who is helping to raise his 14-month-old, Jordan Anthony Dye. "My son provides me a lot of motivation."
By Steve Blackledge
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday November 8, 2007 7:25 AM
Photo by: JEFF HINCKLEY Dispatch
Hilliard Darby's Jordan Richeson has rushed for a school-record 1,275 yards and scored 18 touchdowns.
Jordan Richeson speaks in such a matter-of-fact, monotone voice, he seems numb to all that has happened to him during the past 25 months.
"I try not to think about the bad things, but sometimes you can't help it," the Hilliard Darby senior football player said. "The pain is tough to cope with sometimes, but I hold things in a lot."
Richeson nearly died two years ago after an accident in the school parking lot. Only a few weeks later, his younger sister lost her life to cancer. While coping with the trauma and the grief, he became a teenage father.
On Oct. 7, 2005, Richeson, in his first career start at running back, helped Darby upset unbeaten Gahanna 19-14, assuring the Panthers their first winning season.
Five days later, a teammate offered Richeson and another teammate a ride home after practice. As a joke, the driver locked the doors, prompting Richeson to sit on the hood. The driver accelerated and swerved around the Darby parking lot, then came to an abrupt halt, sending Richeson tumbling headfirst to the pavement.
"I don't remember anything until I woke up in the hospital bed," Richeson said.
Darby coach Paul Jenne remembers the accident all too well.
"It was a harrowing thing having a boy running into the locker room yelling for us to call 911," he said. "Then you run outside and here's one of your players laying face down in the pavement."
Richeson was transported by Med Flight to Grant Medical Center, where he was treated for a blood clot in his brain, along with a severe concussion. He was released three days later and told to avoid contact sports indefinitely.
Richeson's near-death experience brought Darby's players closer.
"Every guy on the team watched that helicopter life-flight him out of the parking lot, and most of them spent good parts of the next several days in the hospital, praying for him to come through," Jenne said.
Two weeks after resuming classes, Richeson was summoned to the office. His 10-year-old sister, Payton Moore, had died of kidney cancer.
Richeson has his sister's likeness tattooed on his arm.
"Whenever I look at my arm, she gives me inspiration," he said.
Moore was diagnosed at age 2, but after intermittent treatments and surgeries had been fine for some time, Richeson said.
"It was a huge shock to me and to my family," he said. "None of us expected her to die. This was hard for me to accept. We were really close."
Richeson returned to football last season only to suffer an ankle sprain that kept him out of the last four games. Neither he nor Jenne knew what to expect heading into this season.
Richeson rushed for 79 yards in an upset of defending champion Hilliard Davidson in the opener, then gained 155 in the second game and 184 in the third. Entering a regional semifinal against Groveport on Saturday at Upper Arlington, Richeson has rushed for a school-record 1,275 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He was named first-team All-Central District.
More important, Darby is 10-1.
"He's been the X factor in our success," Jenne said. "His ability to pound it up the middle has helped make us a more diverse team and has really opened things for our quarterback (Jeremy Ebert).
"He carries out fakes as well as anyone I've been around. There are a lot of times when four, five or six defenders are involved in tackling Jordan when Jeremy is running down the sideline untouched for a touchdown."
Richeson, who is 6 feet 1 and 210 pounds, bench-presses 300 pounds and has been timed in 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Many Mid-American Conference schools have requested game film to evaluate his play.
"I want to earn a football scholarship, get my college degree and own my own business so I can provide for my son and my family," said Richeson, who is helping to raise his 14-month-old, Jordan Anthony Dye. "My son provides me a lot of motivation."