CHARGERS JUICE UP CAMP—San Diego Chargers cornerback Cletis Gordon can’t help but grin at the antics of a few of the campers who turned out at Russell Memorial Stadium in Amite Saturday for Gordon’s first-ever Flash24 Youth Football Camp. Highlighting the free camp that attracted some 250 young football players was an appearance by Chargers All-Pro cornerback Antonio Cromartie. Photo by John Lenz

AMITE-San Diego Charger cornerback Cletis Gordon's first Flash24 Youth Football Camp was free Saturday afternoon.

But seeing the look in the eyes of those kids gazing upon NFL stars of the highest order, right there in their neighborhood? Well, that's just priceless.

"They just want to be like us," said Gordon, a former Amite Warrior who put together a free youth skills camp that attracted some 250 mostly awe-struck kids to Russell Memorial Stadium Saturday. "They want to take those steps and get better. They're happy to be out here, and they're excited. I can see it in their face.

"I remember when I was their age, I had to work out in my little backyard, doing stuff that I watched on ESPN or whatever," Gordon said. "To have this, do things one-on-one with guys who have expertise, you can't beat it. It is priceless."

And the best part is. you didn't have to be a kid to get a kick out of it. It was a giddy experience even for Antonio Cromartie, Gordon's teammate from San Diego and a guy generally regarded among the top two or three cornerbacks in all of pro football.

Cromartie said his motivation in coming all the way to Amite was mostly to help out a teammate. Once he got there, it turned out to be a thrill for him, too.

"You look at these kids and you can see they really enjoy it," Cromartie said. "They're in true shock. For me, it's a great experience, and for them it's a great experience to come out here and learn from NFL players and coaches, guys who have been around the league or trying to get into the NFL. They know what it it takes to get there. We teach them to work hard on the field and off the field."

It was a new experience for Cromartie, who hails from Tallahassee, Fla., but wishes it hadn't been a new experience.

"Kids always remember things like this, guys coming back and giving back to the community," Cromartie said. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood where I'm from, and I never had a football camp like this. So I'm going to go back home and do the same thing. Cletis feels the same way - giving the kids an experience we never had. That feeds off on the kids, (making them) want to do better in school and achieve their goals."

Other than Cromartie and Tim Manning - a former teammate of Gordon's at Jackson State and a veteran of the Buffalo Bills training camp - most of the instructors were local football luminaries, like former St. Helena Central star and NFL camp veteran Chris Davis.

And just like Cromartie, none of those guys ever got to do what these kids did when they were coming up.

"You can't believe how much impact it has to have a local guy come back and do this," said Alden Foster, former Amite Warrior and Southern University standout tight end who is now a veteran prep football head coach at St. Helena Central and Istrouma. "I still remember a basketball game we had up here with the Saints, what that meant to me to see those guys, but there was nothing like this when I was growing up. It won't hit them until much later how much impact this is going to have on their lives."

"I didn't have anything remotely like this when I was growing up. I wish I had," said Southeastern senior cornerback Eric Jackson, another Amite native who served as a camp instructor - and who probably tried to learn as much working with Cromartie as did the kids they both were teaching. "We used to have to go to camp at LSU, or out-of-state camps. To have a camp in your home town is big.

"It really means a lot to the kids to see guys they see on TV and actually get hands-on work with them at a camp," Jackson added. "That's great motivation to keep them going and keep their dreams inspired. You look at those kids faces, and (you're seeing) nothing but fun - all the kids smiling and having fun. That's what it's all about. It's a real big thing for our community."

And that's exactly why Gordon decided to put the camp together. He got a taste of it last year, when former Independence and LSU star - not to mention former Jacksonville Jaguar and current Carolina Panther - LaBrandon Toefield headlined a camp in Independence.

Like most of the kids he was camping out with Saturday, Gordon grew up in Amite under challenging circumstances, and he remembers what that was like.

"The camps I went to, I worked summer jobs and paid to go to Peyton Manning's camp," Gordon said. "And I always said I would never charge kids to have a camp like this. It was a hassle, and I did it, but I said if I ever made it, I was going to come back and give back to the community and my city."

Gordon, well aware of the daunting odds against any of Saturday's campers ever making it to the NFL, said Saturday's lessons covered more than just footwork and technique.

"We're talking to these kids about leadership qualities, staying in school. It's not just football," Gordon said. "A lot of these kids have dreams of playing football, but that's not the only thing that they can be great at. They can accomplish whatever they put their minds to, and we want to reiterate that."

That's a lesson Cromartie was eager to impart as well.

"You don't have to be a football player; you can be a doctor or a lawyer or anything that you want to be," Cromartie said. "But it takes work to get there, inside the classroom and outside the classroom. You've got to have high self-respect for yourself."

Jackson has one more year of playing football as a game before he tries to do it for a living. He understands the odds are only a little better for him as a collegiate starter and All-Southland Conference cornerback candidate than they are for the kids he was trying to reach Saturday. And he wants them to understand that, too.

"We're having fun dealing with football and drills, but you want to teach them life lessons, something they can have when they grow up and they're not around you anymore," Jackson said.

And if Gordon has his way, this will be merely his first semester of instruction. He plans to hold many more.

"That's what I want to do," Gordon said. "And I want to continue doing this camp annually, as long as I'm in the league and active."