Antonio Graham: Time Will Tell... and Heal

By Dan Wilkes
Asst. AD/Media Relations

When Antonio Graham takes the field at Carnie Smith Stadium on August 29 for seventh-ranked Pittsburg State University he will most likely make his first start at inside linebacker for the Gorillas against the 16th-ranked Univerity of Central Oklahoma Bronchos.

Time will tell, but the fifth-year senior from Tulsa has bided his time for this moment. He's paid his dues.

After leading Union High School to the Oklahoma Class 6A state championship and earning first-team All-State honors along the way as a senior in 2004, Graham has patiently ridden out a redshirt season in 2005 and three subsequent years as a backup player.

He's volunteered for special teams duty and looked for any way to make his mark for the Gorillas. While most players would become discouraged to toil through limited action in 31 career games as a reserve, Graham has remained upbeat and positive.

Coaches and teammates certainly took notice of his work ethic and spirit - so much so that the journeyman player with a scant 45 career tackles to his credit was voted a team captain by his peers in the spring leading up to his senior season.

Graham relishes the opportunity to lead the squad as a captain and play a more substantial role on the field for the Gorillas this fall.

"It's been a long road for me to get to this point," Graham said. "I think I've matured as a person and a player since I came here as a freshman. There's a lot to learn about the game of football. I've always known you have to crawl before you walk and you have to be patient in life. Football is all about the competition for me. I've just wanted a shot to compete, and I've been willing to wait for that shot."

Graham has displayed amazing resolve in life far before his days on the Pitt State campus.

Two days before Christmas in 2001, a 16-year-old Graham lost his father, Zachary Caldwell, to a senseless act of violence. Caldwell, then 36, was shot and killed while delivering a Christmas present to a female acquaintance in Tulsa. Graham was left fatherless, angry and confused.

His father's brother, his uncle Nat Sanders, and his family took Graham into their home in Tulsa after his father's passing. As time past, and he began to participate in football, Graham also came to find a father figure in former Union linebackers coach Johnny Bohannon (now head coach at Eufaula, Okla., High School).

Bohannon and Graham gradually struck a deep friendship. He found a kindred spirit in Bohanon, as both player and coach loved the outdoors, especially fishing.

Graham also formed strong bonds with Bohannon's children and by his senior year at Union he was so much a member of the Bohanon family that he had his own key to their house.

The football coach helped provide a strong male influence in his life, and Graham found comfort and peace in the competition on the football field.

"If it wasn't for football I know for a fact there's a good chance I would not be in college," said Graham, who is on pace to graduate from Pitt State in May 2010 with a BSed in psychology. "I want to give back to the game and to the education field. I feel like I owe it. I owe it to the people who have given me an opportunity for a college degree and to the people in my past who kept my head level when I could have headed down the wrong path."

For Graham, football is an opportunity to connect with kids, especially those who desperately need an outlet like the offers.

"I love kids," Graham said. "When I was young, I had a rough life, but I had people who helped me. It all starts early. If we have good role models, we can break bad habits and help kids be alright."

For his part, Graham wants to be that role model figure, with children as well as his Pitt State teammates.

"I want to be a good leader to our football team," Graham said. "I''ve got big shoes to fill from some great players, like Josh Lattimer and Rusty Morgan, who have gone before me. I want to be a leader everyone turns to on and off the field."

Most importantly, Graham wants to make his family proud of him, especially his late father.

"I just want to be something in life," Graham said. "I don't care about money or fame. I really just want a college degree and to enjoy life. I want to know I've worked hard and made my father proud."

Graham doesn't dwell too much on the future, but he daydreams some times about the Gorillas traveling to Florence, Ala., to play for a national championship in mid-December. For Graham, who was born and raised until age 12 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., that potential trip south would help complete a long personal journey to the last decade of his life, both on and off the football field.

"My mom lives in Alabama and she's never really seen me play in high school or college," Graham said. "If we could get to Florence she could come up there to see me play. That would be one of my biggest presents in life to receive. We also buried my dad in Alabama, so it would be a good moment for me to have him there with me one last time, too."

For now, Graham will maintain his patient, level approach.

"Time will tell," he says.

Time will tell... and heal.