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Stampeders QB’s prison guard mom kept him on the straight and narrow
Courtesy Calgary Herald:
With all due respect, quarterback Barrick Nealy harbours little fear of the ferocious B.C. Lions defence.
Sure, Brent Johnson, Aaron Hunt and Co. may inflict some pain come Wednesday when the Calgary Stampeders host the Lions to kick off the 2009 Canadian Football League pre-season (7 p.m. at McMahon Stadium.) But Nealy, 25, grew up under the rule of a figure more imposing than any would-be tackler.
She answers to “Mom.”
“She’s a corrections officer,” Nealy said Monday, reflecting on his childhood in Dallas, Texas. “It kind of helped me as far as discipline is concerned.
“She always kept me in check. “
Jacqueline Nealy keeps the inmates in check at the Dallas county jail.
“She would come home and tell me some crazy stories,” Nealy said. “She works with women and men, but mostly men. Some are sex offenders. So she sees all kind of crazy situations.
“There were times I was afraid for my mom to even go to work.”
That fear, rest assured, is mutual. After all, he gets paid to run away from angry men set on knocking him senseless.
But Nealy can’t wait for the opportunity Wednesday to show the Stampeders — and the fans —they can on him as the understudy to starter Henry Burris.
“The front office and the coaching staff have shown a lot of favour and confidence on my end,” Nealy said. “They’re trusting me more with the offence and giving me more reps in practice. So I’m just trying to take advantage of it.”
In the season finale last year against B.C, Nealy rushed for 72 yards and three touchdowns. He also completed one of two passes for nine yards.
So the six-foot-five, 212 pounder is clearly a threat by ground.
The aerial attack, however, is a work in progress.
“He showed that he is one hell of a runner,” said offensive co-ordinator George Cortez. “Now he just has to prove that he’s one hell of a passer, too.”
Barring injury to Burris, Nealy has time to reach that second objective.
“He can be a great quarterback in this league,” said veteran slotback Jeremaine Copeland. “Nealy is still a youngster. I think it’s just a matter of him gripping the concept of everything. Like knowing when to throw the ball away and when not to. Like knowing when to go down and when not to.
“He has great legs. He has a great ball whenever he steps into it. So he can be special up here, man. I just think it’s going to take another year for him to build to the highest potential that he can be.”
Nealy wants to reach his highest potential on the gridiron, but his first priority lies in another arena.
Home.
Looking back, Nealy realizes he missed out on something special as a kid in a single parent family. So he swears his son will never experience the pain of life with an absent, uninvolved father.
“Growing up, I had lot of coaches who really helped me out,” Nealy said. “My high school coach and my Pop Warner coach stepped in and filled that role for me, but it’s nothing like having your own Pops in the household. “ Nealy expects his wife Tiffany and son Sir Isaac, 1, will join him in Calgary some time in July.
“I love my son so much, I want to be the best dad ever,” he said. “ I knew who my dad was, but I didn’t see him very much for years and years. “ Honestly, it wasn’t until I started having some success in high school when I got a phone call wanting to spend some time. At that moment in time, so much hurt and pain had already been done.”
Even today, the pain remains.
“You know, I never started missing my dad — missing that father figure — probably until my senior year in college,” Nealy said. That’s when really sat down and realized “Man, my daddy missed out on so much. Like I could have really made him proud. “Why didn’t my dad love me like I love my own son?”
He learned that love from his mom.
“Make sure you write how much I love her,” Nealy said. “She got me to where I am today.”
