After the largest margin of victory at Scheumann Stadium since 1996, Ball State University football players sang the Cardinals' fight song and jogged off their home field Saturday. The atmosphere among the team after its win against the University at Buffalo was in stark contrast to what it was after Ball State's first home game of the season, a 14-13 loss to Miami University. About 40 fans, who were discouraged after the loss to the RedHawks, waited outside Fisher Football Training Complex to cheer on their favorite players.
One of the loudest cheers came when sophomore defensive end Brandon Crawford exited the facility. Crawford, a 31-year-old former Marine, has been an anchor for the Cardinals throughout the season. His 20 tackles is most among defensive linemen. He is also tied for the most sacks with three, and has three forced fumbles. The highlight for Ball State's second-year player was a game-saving blocked field goal at the end of regulation at the Naval Academy.
Crawford attributes his consistency on the field to the life lessons he's learned since graduating from Fort Wayne South Side High School in 1996.
"It's been a long journey," Crawford said of the past 12-years of his life. "It's been fun, but it's been a long time coming. ... I was supposed to come to college right out of high school. But I got in trouble."
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
As a junior at Fort Wayne South Side High School, Crawford was awarded a 21st Century Scholarship. He had options and choices to make regarding his future. Crawford was recruited by Tennessee State University and Atlanta University along with local schools such as Manchester College and Wabash College.
Then one mistake pushed his life off course.
Crawford was hanging out with his friends one night, riding in the back seat and just being an average kid. He didn't know the car he sat in was a stolen vehicle until he saw red and blue lights flashing behind him.
"I was basically joy riding when the police got behind us," Crawford said. "The driver ended up not pulling over; instead he got into a high speed chase. The car finally stopped behind my grandparents' house, of all places. Everybody was scared, and we got out of the car and ran like little teenagers do."
Crawford's mother, Marva Crawford, was sound asleep when she heard someone sprinting up the stairs. Her first reaction was her son had just gotten home from that night's football game. A few moments later, however, a sudden banging at the front door awakened Marva again. Marva went downstairs and looked through the peephole. She saw nothing but a bright light flashing back at her. She decided to open the door, where she found two police officers eager to ask questions about her son. After she demanded that they not shine the flashlight in her face, she began answering the questions. The police asked Marva if her son was home, and she replied with the truth. Before she would hand him over, the police allowed Marva to have a private conversation with her 17-year-old son.
Crawford told his mother what happened that night. He said he didn't know he was riding in a stolen car, and when he saw the flashing police lights he panicked and ran to the first place he could think of - home. Marva told her son she couldn't lie to the police. He needed to face the situation head on and accept the consequences of hanging out with the wrong crowd. However, before she let him go, Marva promised her son everything would work out.
"After that there were ups and downs, but we weathered the storm," Marva said. "I was there for him through whatever he went through, and I just let him know, 'OK, we just have to do positive here. Of course there was a mistake made, and there's some decisions you're going to have to make in regards to the people you choose to hang around. But I have faith in you that you're going to make the right decisions and I'll be here to help get you through this.'"
One of the stipulations of Crawford's scholarship was for him to not get into trouble.
"That killed my scholarship," Crawford said. "I was doing good and I was headed in the right direction. Then it just hit me like a brick wall."
Crawford would have been the first from his family to go to college. Education was a message his mother had stressed to him since he was a small child. And Crawford had promised to fulfill his mother's wish.
"The toughest part was just to see that he had to go through that," Marva said. "When that incident happened it kind of dashed all his hopes. But you can change things with prayer. I did whatever I could do to keep him encouraged. It wasn't always happy thoughts, but I just had to keep reinforcing him."
'What's going to happen to my son?'
Searching for an avenue to help make something out of his life, Crawford decided the United States Military was a better option than working for his brother at an automotive factory.
After a six-month waiting period, Crawford joined the Marine Corps in September 1999 and immediately began his nine-week boot camp in San Diego. After nine weeks of not seeing her son, Marva flew to San Diego to attend his boot camp graduation.
"When I saw him, tears just started rolling down my eyes," Marva said. "It wasn't sad tears; it was happy tears because I hadn't seen him for nine weeks and then all of a sudden there is my son and just the look and expression on his face was different. I could tell he had developed into a young man. I just thought, 'Oh my God, what have they done to my son?' But I was happy because I could tell he was on the road to achieving some of the things he wanted to accomplish."
As a 23-year-old, Crawford was older than many of his peers at boot camp, most of whom decided to enlist immediately following high school. Because of his age, enlisting in the Marine Corps was a difficult decision for Crawford. However, he said it was one of the most beneficial choices he's ever made.
"Going into the Marines I knew what to expect, but I didn't know what it was going to be like," Crawford said. "I was kind of immature, and I matured a little bit with my decision making. But for the most part I knew there was going to be a lot demanded and expected of me. I was ready for it, but I didn't know exactly what to be ready for. So you could say I was na've a little bit and a little immature. I know for sure it helped mold me as far as being who I am today."
Crawford was stationed at Cherry Point, N.C., in the administration department. Working in that department, Crawford knew he'd be one of the last Marines deployed in an emergency.
Marva took comfort knowing her son would likely be fortunate enough not to see action. However, after her son had been in the Marine Corps for two years, that comfort suddenly left her.
One Tuesday morning in September, Marva heard two planes had been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and another had hit the Pentagon. The details of 9/11 were still fuzzy to her, but she knew the Twin Towers were gone, and it was probably an act of war.
"I was concerned because the first thing that ran through my mind that day was if he was going to have to go over there and fight," Marva said. "I tried calling that day because that was my first concern. I couldn't get to anyone on the base that day because other parents were calling, too, and I think they had a lockdown on the phones. Naturally, you have different thoughts running through your mind. I really didn't know what was going to happen and I didn't know what to think. No one had said anything about going to war, but that was definitely in the back of my mind, 'What's going to happen to my son?'"
Crawford assured his mother it was unlikely he would have to see combat, and he was fortunate enough to stay in North Carolina. In 2003, Crawford received an honorary discharge. He briefly came to Ball State in 2004, but returned home in the fall to help with a "family situation." Crawford began his freshman year of college in Fall 2006.
Crawford's teammates at Ball State have the utmost respect for the service he gave to his country. Cardinals' senior captain and outside linebacker Cortlan Booker said playing next to a former serviceman has been a tremendous experience for him and his teammates.
"It's a one of a kind opportunity to have the chance to play alongside a former Marine," Booker said. "As a 31-year-old, he hasn't matured by age. He's mature by what he's seen and been through in life. He takes pride in what he does, and he takes pride in doing things right."
Though there is more responsibility placed on the shoulders of a Marine than there is on a college football player, Crawford said those lessons carry over to the football field.
"You're a team, there's no individual, there's no one man above the group," Crawford said. "You have to be accountable for whatever you're supposed to do. The Marine Corps is accountability, and [the Ball State football program] is accountability. It also takes focus to play football and know what you're supposed to do. The Marine Corps is a lot of focus. There's so much leadership in the Marine Corps. Here you have to lead kids younger than you off the football field to show them the right direction and right decisions to make."
LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN
During the decade he was away from football, Crawford missed the game dearly. However, he knew there were things in his life he had to straighten out before he put his focus back on the sport he loved.
After taking a 12-year detour, Crawford was given the opportunity to become involved in the game again in fall of 2006. As a 30-year-old, Crawford met with Ball State coach Brady Hoke to talk about a possible tryout. Hoke invited Crawford to a walk-on tryout, where he was impressive enough to earn an invitation to the team.
"It's been a long journey, but it's been fun," Crawford said. "Being 10 years removed from the game and having the chance to come back is a blessing, but it's been tough to adapt to the game. It's like learning to walk again. You've got to learn some of that terminology because you don't know. Sometimes it's like, 'What are they saying?' because they're speaking in football language."
Hoke said he could tell it would be a difficult transition for a player to be re-introduced to the game after an absence of more than 10 years. At the same time, Hoke couldn't get over the physical tools Crawford had. At 6-foot-3, Crawford weighs 255 pounds and has good speed.
Above all else, Hoke was impressed with the transformation Crawford had undergone as a person in the Marines. Though it was a difficult challenge, Crawford stuck with it like he has done with everything else in life.
"I think in his discipline and his life, he's learned a lot through some of his mistakes," Hoke said. "He also has a great team concept, and he got that through being in the Marines. I think you can really see on a daily basis that he's a mature adult."
Hoke said he can tell the difference between interacting with a 31-year-old player and a 21-year-old player.
"You don't call him son, I know that," Hoke said. "It's different, but you can also coach him as hard as you need to."
When Crawford was in his Ball State uniform, he was treated the same as the other 65 players on the Cardinals' roster.
However, the level of success demanded out of him was something Crawford was ready to accept.
"I knew coming in that there were going to be a lot of expectations, just talking with the coaches," Crawford said. "All last year I absorbed that, and being in the military helped me to deal with that."
During the first half of his freshman year, Crawford was still trying to learn how to play the game at the collegiate level. By the sixth week of the season, however, things were starting to click again with the 30-year-old. In a 55-25 win at Buffalo last year, Crawford recorded a season-high five tackles. The next week, Crawford had his best game of the season at Central Michigan University, producing four tackles, including two sacks, and forcing two fumbles.
In his second season, Crawford has compiled 20 tackles in the first five games.
"Where I am right now, no words can describe it, it makes me speechless," Crawford said of the success he's achieved on the football field. "I try to just focus on the next opponent now and to be able to keep this. It's like, you do a lot of work to get there, but now you have to keep it. You have to keep pushing yourself and keep getting better. You don't let up just because you're in this situation. You push yourself more. You want to learn more and want to know more. So I just keep working hard and keep pushing myself to benefit my team."
His teammates value the contributions Crawford makes to the program. Though Booker has the utmost respect for the service Crawford has given to the country, he said he can relate to the physical stresses college football puts on the body. Booker said it's impressive to see a 31-year-old be able to perform at such a high level.
"Brandon Crawford is a tough man," Booker said. "Somebody said a couple days ago that this guy is in his prime, physically. He's made a lot of physical sacrifice to this team, but he's in great shape. There's no doubt if anyone can do this, he can do it."
CRAWDADDY
Even as the elder statesman of the team, Crawford is still the subject of plenty of ribbing from his teammates. During his first couple of practices with Ball State last year, Crawford's teammates hadn't discovered he wasn't a typical freshman.
It took them a couple weeks to realize he was a 31-year-old ex-Marine. When they did, Crawford earned a nickname from his younger teammates.
"We call him Crawdaddy because he's so much older than us," Booker said. "We don't ever expect him to get blocked. We tell him to stop playing with these little kids, use your grown-man strength."
Though he is at least 10 years older than many of his teammates, Crawford said he doesn't look at himself as the leader of the team. Instead, he sees himself as a sophomore, who must follow the direction the seniors in the program provide.
"We play for everyone here, but a lot of us are playing for our seniors," Crawford said. "The seniors have their respect. I'm older, but I still know I'm not a senior. There are a lot of guys who have been here before me who have sacrificed more than I have for this program before I was even here. So to me, if they need help, I've told them to ask me. But I try to let those guys who have been here before me lead. I know that I've learned some things, but I don't want what I've learned to overshadow what they can bring."
One of the reasons Crawford is loved by his teammates is because of the team-first attitude he demonstrates. Regardless of the eligibility Crawford has remaining, Booker said the sophomore is looked to as one of the leaders in the Cardinals' program.
"He's taken a leadership role on the team because of what he's done in life," Booker said. "He's 31 and he's kind of a natural leader with the way he presents himself. He isn't a guy who says, 'I'm the oldest around here so everybody listen to me.' He's got goals and dedication to a cause. His cause is getting us toward success. It's inspiring. It's a good thing."
When Crawford is away from the football facilities, he still finds time to socialize with his younger teammates. It's another gesture his teammates love about him.
"Crawford is cool," Booker said. "He is not standoffish at all. The best thing about him is that he is truly one of us. We can say, 'Hey Crawford let's go get something to eat,' and we'll go hang out."
Booker said Crawford has shared some of his moments in the Marine Corps with the team, but it's not something Crawford expounds upon often.
"You get bits and pieces about what he's been involved in," Booker said. "He's not a guy who will have you sit around the campfire and listen to his stories. When he talks people listen to what he has to say."
While Crawford attempts to stay in the background as much as possible, he does realize the responsibility he carries as a 31-year-old, sharing a bond with younger teammates. Though he doesn't make it a point to be a vocal leader of the team, there are times when his voice is necessary.
"Whatever is required out of me at that time, I try to do," Crawford said. "When I think it's necessary I do speak up. There are some hard times we have in practice and people may not be focusing as much as is necessary. I try to speak up and pull us all together and let them know it's not always going to be easy. You need to stick together, that's the main thing. Keep working hard and stick together."
Happy and joyous day
Crawford knows the NFL isn't in the cards for him. Professional football teams aren't looking for 33-year-old rookies. However, Crawford is here for something even more important than the game.
After the disappointment of losing his 21st Century Scholarship, Crawford vowed he would take advantage of his second chance to get an education.
"When I lost my scholarship, I felt like I let my family down," Crawford said. "To my family it means a lot to go to college. I let a lot of people down, and I took that to heart. I told myself if I ever got the chance to correct that mistake, I would. And I'm just glad I got the opportunity. Now I'm just trying to take full advantage of the opportunity I have and apply myself."
Marva said it's difficult to express how proud she is of her son for learning how to make the right choices in life.
"It means a great deal to me because I always talked to him about going to school," Marva said. "It's tremendous to me that he's able to be the first in our family to go to college. I'm just so proud of him."
Seeing her son persevere through adversity and be able to work his way to where he is now, Marva said her son has inspired her to go to college. Marva is attending Indiana Business College in Fort Wayne and majoring in business administration. She would like to start her own business, though she said the plan is still in development.
"Just seeing the way he carries himself and all he's been through, the challenges that he's had, it inspired me," Marva said. "I said, 'If he can put his mind to go back to school, I can do that.' Just looking at him in how he's grown and how he's still growing, it just made me sit down and think, 'OK, what's keeping you from going to school?' I could sit and say, 'Well, I'll just wait to see him get out.' But he's grown and that has no reference to me. So now is my opportunity, and I just decided it was time for me to go ahead and do something that I wanted to do for myself."
Outside of the goals he has in the confines of football, Crawford said the one thing he is looking forward to is when he finally becomes the first person from his family to tackle a college degree.
"My mom tells me every day how proud she is of me," Crawford said. "She says, 'Don't quit. Just keep pushing yourself and don't quit.' She's been telling me that since I was a little kid. Words can't really explain how much it means to my family to get my degree. It will be a great feeling when I get a chance to get that diploma and walk across the stage and give it to my mom."
When Crawford blocked the kick that ultimately led to Ball State's win against Navy, Marva was in her apartment listening to the game on the radio. When she heard her son's name, she jumped up and down in joy while trying not to worry the neighbors with the noise.
As happy as she was that day, Marva said nothing can compare to the moment she sees her son holding his diploma.
"That's going to be a very happy and joyous day," Marva said as she fought back tears. "It's going to be a very proud day because it's been a long journey for us."
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