Sunday, May 1, 2011 ❘ the gazette ❘ SPORTS 5

Colorado Coaches for Char-ity fundraising dinner May 13 at Denver’s Invesco Field.

“My mother had such a deep commitment to me,” DeBerry said. “I knew she loved me and I knew she didn’t have a lot but I was so impressed with the sacri-fices she made for me.”

What DeBerry remembers best from these walks is the conversation centered on his future, not his mother’s. Mildred, a single mother at a time when single moth-ers were rare in America, endured her share of struggles.

When Fisher was 1, his father departed the family, and by the time Fisher was 12 his father had died.

This might seem the prelude to a sad story. Only it’s not, because Mildred DeBerry fought so fiercely to eliminate pain and confu-sion from her son’s life.

Mother and son moved in with her parents, Fred and Mama Fisher. The Fisher home was by no means luxuriant, but it was filled with love and faith and discipline.

“I never had a lot of money but I was never denied anything,” DeBerry said. “My family gave me a lot of love.”

Growing up in what

DeBerry describes as a “fractured” family left him with a heart for young men and young women in the same situation.

In his final decade as Air Force’s coach, he traveled the country looking for foot-ball players to fill his roster.

“I couldn’t believe the number of families that were splintered,” DeBerry said. “And each year, there were more and more and more young men who didn’t have a father figure in their lives.”

DeBerry knows the reality of a family led by a single mother. He remembers receiving letters from his mother when he was in college, and when he found two or three dollar bills folded into those letters from home, he knew Mil-dred had sent all the money she could spare.

His foundation works to ease the burden on single-parent homes, offering grants to young men and women.

It’s DeBerry’s way of say-ing thanks to Mildred. It’s his way of remembering the woman who convinced him he could grab everything he wanted.

—

For more information on the Fisher DeBerry Foundation and Colorado Coaches for Charity dinner, go to

fisherdeberryfoundation.org or call 877-352-6224.

RAMSEY: DeBerry’s single mother made sacrifices

from page 1—hockey players, coaches more aware

Attitudes about concus-sions have changed consid-erably in recent years in the hockey community, starting with certified athletic train-ers.

More edu-cation has f i l t e r e d down to the officials, coaches and players, who once ignored the dangers

of repeat concussions. Two aspirins and letting a kid play is unthinkable now.

“In my early days, I was anxious and amped up and not totally understanding,” Colorado College coach Scott Owens said. “As time goes on, I’ve seen post-con-cussion symptoms linger. Now, I’m totally in agree-ment. It’s pretty cut and dry (what needs to be done).”

Once a person has had a concussion, the odds in-crease that another blow, even a small one, may re-sult in a second concussion. Although the long-term ef-fects remain unclear, recent studies have raised aware-ness.

College hockey fans got a big reminder of that when

North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway, the pre-season Western Collegiate Hockey Association Player of the Year and a Hobey Baker Award hopeful, suf-fered a concussion nine games into the 2009-10 sea-son. He missed the rest of the year.

He received a medical redshirt and played his fifth season, which was ab-breviated by a knee injury suffered against CC, before turning pro this spring. For a while, Genoway was forced to face the fact he may never play again.

Surprisingly, some fans questioned his toughness since he was unable to re-turn and, because of the re-curring symptoms, unable to exercise.

“You really find out who’s important; your family and real friends,” Genoway said earlier this season. “I made sure to get my degree be-cause you never know when (the game) may be taken away from you.”

Knowing that raises the temptation for players to minimize the severity of their symptoms.

Education in the past 10-

15 years, including the expe-rience of seeing so many CC players struggle with con-cussions during the 2007-08 season, lessened that temptation for former Tiger defenseman Nate Prosser, who missed eight games as a freshman.

“It’s frustrating, but you don’t mess around with that,” he said.

Last season’s captain Ryan Lowery’s case illustrates how cautious trainers are now.

He took an obvious blow to the head Saturday, Dec. 4 at Michigan Tech and re-turned to action the next Friday. It also shows how difficult it can be to diag-nose a mild concussion if the blow goes unnoticed.

“I think I could have played but they didn’t give me a choice,” Lowery said recently.

He followed the usual pro-cedure and no symptoms returned after exercise. Af-ter that, a practice or two without a setback may clear the player. Lowery passed easily and resumed play for his final college season.

“I was one of the lucky ones,” Lowery said. “Ev-eryone knows now that you can’t play around with this.”

by JOE PAISLEyjoseph.paisley@gazette.com—

banding together

SPECIAL REPORT: CONCUSSIONS

Courtney Smith had a his-tory of concussions, so the goalie assumed the worst when she pounded her head on a post while going up for a high save.

Turns out, she was fine.The impact of the blow

was cushioned by a protec-tive headband that is catch-ing on and, Smith believes, keeping athletes safe.

“It’s helped me countless times,” said Smith, who wears the headgear while playing soccer and basket-ball for Liberty. “It doesn’t take the whole blow away, but it does soften it.”

The headgear first be-came popular after women’s teams wore it at the 2003 World Cup. The next year, the girls’ team from Basalt had the gear on when it caught the eye of Manitou Springs coach Matt Barton.

“I noticed our girls were kind of hesitant in the air,” Barton said. “That was about the time I saw Basalt. I saw how that could help, so we started doing that with our girls.”

Barton believes the head-gear has helped to prevent injuries in multiple ways. In addition to providing pad-ding, it also prevents the tentative play that can leave players in dangerously vul-nerable positions.

Barton required that var-sity players wear the head-band. A year later, the Mani-tou Springs fire department

purchased the bands for any of the girls on the team who couldn’t afford them, then outfitted the boys’ program as well.

“This is right in our wheel-house in terms of preventa-tive medicine,” said Mani-tou Springs fire chief Keith Buckmiller, who first ap-proached the school about conducting baseline neu-rocognative testing before hitting roadblocks in the form of insurance and li-ability issues. “You know, we could have spent our money on sweat pants or gym bags or something, but this is something that really makes a difference. This is what we should be doing.”

Many boys’ players showed a reluctance to accept the headgear, but coach Ben Mack made them mandato-ry. They are now part of the program all the way down to the middle school.

“If you play soccer here,

boys or girls, you’re going to wear them,” Manitou Springs athletic director John McGee said. “It’s just part of the uniform at this point.”

Buckmiller can’t provide data that shows the bands definitely prevent head in-juries, but he saw all the proof he needed firsthand at a Manitou Springs game against Trinidad this season. A collision involving players on both sides had no effect on the Mustangs’ player, but the Trinidad player showed many symptoms that Buck-miller’s extensive training instantly led him to believe was a concussion.

Still, the bands have been slow to catch on at other schools.

At Cheyenne Mountain, Christie Los is the lone play-er to wear the headband. She does so in an effort to prevent a concussion like the one she had in a club

game that took away much of her sophomore year. But according to her mother, wearing the gear carries a stigma and leads to name-calling. The “Tard Guard,” her teammates label it.

Liberty coach Mike Goy-den isn’t so much concerned about the name-calling, but he’s not convinced the bands work for everyone.

“It’s like wearing shin guards, where you think you can come in harder on a tackle because your leg is protected,” Goyden said. “I’m not sure there’s value to these head pieces for field players; but definitely for keepers.”

Smith won’t be caught without her headgear in goal. She’s a triplet and has two sisters who also have suffered concussions while playing sports, so it’s clearly a family that knows only one speed. The protection helps her safely maintain that ag-gression, and she wears it as a badge of honor.

“A couple of years ago I had a red one,” Smith said. “Other players could distinc-tively say they remembered me by my headgear.”

The future of the safety de-vice, which costs about $30, will not hinge on its fash-ion status so much as its safety functionality. And if the Manitou Springs coach has anything to say about it, that future is bright.

“I would like to see a mandate saying all girls must wear headgear,” Bar-ton said. “If it helps, great. If it doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t seem to hurt.”

by bRENT bRIGGEMANbrent.briggeman@gazette.com—

Many area soccer players find new way to stay safe

Liberty goalie Courtney Smith is sure her protective headband has spared her further head trauma. Smith had a concussion in a game about seven years ago and has worn her headband ever since.

CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE

VIDEoFind this story online for a link to a video about hockey concussions. gazette.com

North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway played just nine games in 2009-10 after suffering a concussion.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Like all Manitou Springs girls’ soccer players, Ashley Benson, center, is required to wear a protective head-band. The Mustangs’ boys’ team also must wear them.

BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE

but hasn’t lived up to his billing.

The Broncos are hoping Thomas can follow in the footsteps of San Diego’s Antonio Gates, who made a smooth transition from the basketball court at Kent State to the football field and became a perennial Pro Bowler for the Chargers.

“Being compared to Anto-nio Gates is a great start for me,” said Thomas of Stock-ton, Calif. “I’m going to go ahead and work as hard as I can to make that compari-son as similar as possible.”

On the basketball court, Thomas helped Portland State reach the NCAA Tour-nament for the first time in school history his sopho-more year and guided them back again the following season.

The 6-foot-4, 251-pound power forward was a bully in the blocks, swatting 62 shots and pulling down 520 rebounds. He set school re-cords in games played (121) and career wins (78).

Once he exhausted his

basketball eligibility, and with one scholarship season left, he contacted Vikings football coach Nigel Bur-ton about stepping onto the football field, even though Thomas hadn’t played since his freshman year of high school.

Thomas was a quick study, catching 29 passes for 453 yards and earning All-Big Sky Conference first-team honors.

He credits his basketball background for giving him an edge.

“One of the things that I think really helps me is an-ticipating things quickly, and when you play basketball, you’re required to antici-pate at the drop of a dime,” Thomas said. “We’re used to setting guys up, getting open and working with body con-tact, and I think those things really help you become a natural person, and it gives you natural passing lanes for the quarterback.”

Thomas’ stock soared at the East-West Shrine Game, where he captured the atten-tion of scouts with his ath-leticism.

broncos: Thomas will work to be like San Diego’s Gates

from page 1—

Jets take Colorado receiver McKnight in 7th roundThe New York Jets have selected

Colorado wide receiver Scotty McKnight, a childhood friend of quarterback Mark Sanchez, with their final pick of the NFL draft in the seventh round Saturday.

McKnight is Colorado’s career leader in receptions (215) and receiving touchdowns (22) and is third in receiving yards. He’s also the 10th player in NCAA history to catch at least one pass in every game he appeared.

McKnight says he has been friends with Sanchez since he was 8 years old, and their two families were together watching the draft when McKnight was taken by N.Y.

NFL star helps N.Y. boy after mom’s suicide plungeNFL linebacker Ray Lewis and

former cornerback Reggie Howard are helping a 10-year-old New York boy whose mother drowned her-self and three children by driving a van into the Hudson River.

The surviving child, La’Shaun Armstrong, was to attend a Man-hattan fundraiser of the United Athletes Foundation. Some of the proceeds will go to create a relief fund to provide him with mentor-ing, counseling and tutoring.

Lewis, a Baltimore Ravens star, reached out to the child as soon as he heard about the April 12 tragedy. The boy escaped through a van window after the car plunged into the water in New-burgh, N.Y., and was rescued by a passing driver. La’Shaun’s 25-year-old mother, Lashanda Armstrong, reportedly was distraught over an argument with her boyfriend.

La’Shaun said meeting Lewis earlier this week was “awesome,” according to Howard.

The 35-year-old linebacker went bowling with La’Shaun, saying the boy needs mentoring from a father figure. His biological father, Todd Johnson, is in prison on a robbery conviction.

Lewis is vice chairman of the United Athletes Foundation, which was created in 2008 by a group of professional athletes aiming to improve the lives of other athletes and their communities.

La’Shaun and his grandmother, Datrice Armstrong, who is raising him now, were the foundation’s guests for the weekend.

Besides a check presented to La’Shaun — for an undisclosed amount — the foundation plans to help him well into the future, Howard said.

notes

nfl draft