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The people you meet along O.J. Howard Lane

 
OJ Howard (far right) is seen in a photo from his adolescent years at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Howard served as an usher in addition to attending regular services at this church.
OJ Howard (far right) is seen in a photo from his adolescent years at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Howard served as an usher in addition to attending regular services at this church.
Published June 24, 2017

AUTAUGAVILLE, Ala. —The screen door hangs open to Laura's Country Kitchen but the dining room is empty with no one to feed.The abandoned one-story brick building is hidden in the brush, but there is no way to conceal the influence this place had on O.J. Howard.When he was young, Howard's days began before sunrise on the dirt road from his parents' trailer, walking past an artesian well and into his grandmother's restaurant on Blossom Road.He spent mornings unloading food trucks, sweeping floors, washing dishes —- whatever help Lauretta Parker-Tyus needed.Autaugaville's only dining room was famous for its breakfast biscuits, and people came from as far away as 50 miles, from Selma and Tuskegee, for the sweet potato pie.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The abandoned building that was once home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard's grandmother's restaurant, Laura's Country Kitchen, is seen in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Lauretta Parker-Tyus operated the restaurant, where OJ Howard helped out as a child, until she died in 2006.

Howard's grandmother welcomed everyone and the tables were set with characters — a town doctor, paper mill workers like his father, hunters with deer still laying in the flatbeds, cops and good old boys. The melting pot was always on full boil.This is where O'Terrius Jabari Howard, the star tight end at Alabama and a first-round pick the Buccaneers hope will transform their offense, says he learned that hard work and humility would help him resolve the conflicts of his life.An exceptional athlete, he was about to start ninth grade at the local football powerhouse when his parents suddenly faced a difficult decision — send O.J. and his sister to a predominantly black school not known for athletics or academics on the edge of the county or an all-white, private school that was started to maintain segregation. A painting of Robert E. Lee hangs in the entrance.At 17, Howard wanted to take his white girlfriend to the prom. The school said no. Not only did Howard overcome that act of bigotry, he saw the community rally around him.With his hometown geographically located between Alabama and Auburn, Howard even managed to bring the fans of one of college football's greatest rivalries together, at least for one day."What I like the most is I met so many people at that restaurant and a lot of friendships I built,'' said Howard. "There's a lot of things that went on at the restaurant that I'm thankful for.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Kareem Howard lifts Shun Edwards, 1, as Lamesa Howard plays with his older sister, Shayla Edwards, 2, in the Howard family's yard in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. O.J. Howard's parents look after the Edwards siblings when their guardian, a close friend of the Howard family, has to work.

THE ROUTE TO HIS FUTUREThe main thoroughfare that runs through O.J. Howard's life is U.S. Route 82. A convoy of tractor trailers hauling a forest of pines, stripped of their branches, steam and groan up the hill, climbing past the pastureland and grazing cows that rise up to the horizon. The air can be thick with the sulfur smell of the paper and pulp mills.The sun setting on Autauga Creek, reflecting on the brick cotton gins, will slow the heartbeat. The town is surrounded by civil rights landmarks. Just 15 miles southeast is Montgomery, where Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat to a white man on a bus. Only 33 miles west is Selma, where Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference registered black voters in the South. Their peaceful march to Montgomery was met by violence.Howard's mother, Lamesa, works as a nurse to the town doctor who takes care of the sick from cradle to grave. When children are brave and take their shots without a fuss, she buys them a scoop of ice cream at a corner store.His father, Kareem, watched his youthful dreams fade into responsibility. Kareem is a power operator in the boiler room for International Paper, one of the county's two paper mills.It is hot and dirty work, with temperatures that can reach 120 degrees. He sometimes returns home from work around 4 p.m. knowing he'll clock in again at midnight.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

he University of Alabama logo decorates Kareem Howard's wallet. Both of O.J. Howard's parents, Kareem and Lamesa Howard, still live in Autaugaville, Ala., and have no plans of ever leaving.

Lamesa would get up before daylight to take O.J. to school or a gym to lift weights and work out. Kareem made sure his son traveled to all the right football camps and used blue spray paint on the lawn to mark off a makeshift track so O.J. could run the 40-yard dash.Lamesa and Kareem, both teenagers when they became parents, have their hands full. O.J's younger brother, K.J., who graduated this year from Autauga Academy, was cleared to play only one year of football because of a heart ailment.The Howards also have adopted a daughter, Jasmine, 16, and are caregivers for two energetic toddlers — Shayla Edwards, 2, and Shun Edwards, 1."My dad is a guy who is really big on hard work,'' Howard said. "He's a guy who's really quiet but a very interesting man. He knows a lot but doesn't say much. He doesn't want anybody to give him anything.''O.J.'s four-year contract with the Bucs is worth $11.1 million and includes a signing bonus of more than $6 million. His parents are constantly asked if they will quit their jobs and move.Lamesa said she prayed only that O.J. would be drafted by a warm-weather team close enough to drive to home games and far enough to discourage the practice beyond that."I fully plan to stay at the paper mill," Kareem said. "He don't need me down there worrying him, distracting him. He knows what to do.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A tribute to O.J. Howard is seen in the living room of the Howard family home. Howard's parents, Lamesa and Kareem Howard, attended as many of their son's college games as possible, even traveling for road games.

A STAR LIVED HEREPlanted near a hedge in front of the Howard's brick home is a "B-A-M-A 88" lawn ornament made of repurposed steel, the first clue a famous football player lived here.A timeline of O.J.'s remarkable journey greets all who enter the Howard home.The football-shaped trophy he won as the Offensive Player of the Game in the College Football Playoff title game win over Clemson in 2016 sits on the fireplace mantel.Propped against the walls and doors beneath are his framed jerseys from Alabama and the Under Armour high school all-star game, as well as a large portrait of Howard from his high school prom.Spread on the coffee table are more photographs of O.J. through the years, from sports and school, with teammates and siblings.In the foyer is a framed picture of O.J.'s grandmother, Parker-Tyus, who worked as a waiter and saved enough money to open Laura's Country Kitchen.For all his parents' equity in raising O.J., he is his grandma's boy. He adored her. "She was a hard worker,'' Lamesa said of her mother, who died in 2006. "She would get up early every morning and was very punctual. It's the same thing with O.J. He was an early riser and very punctual and always trying to do better than he did the day before. So I see her characteristics in him. He wasn't the typical teenager. He was always up doing something.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard (far right) is seen in a photo from his adolescent years at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville. Howard served as an usher in addition to attending regular services at this church.

Howard describes his grandmother as a unifier who welcomed everyone and served with enthusiasm. Through her, O.J. met so many of the people who play central roles in his life.Said Lamesa, "A lot of friendships we have now were people that came in and sat down and ate with her.''His grandmother also ran the usher program at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church, just off Route 82. The young men wore white shirts and ties to the small, picturesque chapel, and among other duties, greeted the congregation."I didn't like it at first but I learned to love it,'' Howard said. "You saw everybody that came in and saw them again when they went out. It made me become more of a people person."Pastor Anton Trimble says they named the usher program after Lauretta, and the comparisons between Howard and his grandmother are inevitable."He's got a great attitude about life and a calm and nurturing spirit towards people,'' Trimble said. "He's like his grandmother.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Altavion Arrington (center), 11, and his schoolmates take part in the "Morning Village," a daily ritual in which students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, school motto and scripture, at Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery.

A STRONG PRESCENCEO.J. Howard stands 6 feet 6 and weighs 251 pounds. His jaw is as square a Marine's, and from his broad shoulders hangs thick, long arms and massive hands.He makes eye contact when he meets you, a practice he honed in the "Brother to Brother" program started by Anthony Brock, his middle school physical education teacher.Two years ago, Brock founded Valiant Cross Academy, an all-male private school in Montgomery. Each weekday around 8 a.m., about 60 sixth- and seventh-grade boys wearing white long-sleeved shirts, beige slacks and black and gold bow ties file into the chapel at River City Church.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anthony Brock, principal of Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery, Ala., mentored O.J. Howard in a youth program called "Brother2Brother."

Their morning routine includes marching into the courtyard, forming five rows and beginning "The Village," a series of pledges, the reading of Bible verses and a faith-based chant."Are we our brother's keeper? Yes! I am my brother's keeper!"One week before the NFL draft, Howard visited Valiant Cross Academy."All of the kids were goo-goo-eyed because around here, Alabama football is pretty big," Brock said. "That was the thing that stood out. He told them with the foundation they have, they can be anything and do anything."I think O.J. had more an impact on the program than the program had on him. He makes everybody else better."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A painting of the Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee hangs inside the front entrance of Autauga Academy, founded in 1969 so that white families could avoid the integration of public schools.

AN EARLY TEST The first real conflict of Howard's life came two days before he was to start ninth grade. Howard was working out with Prattville High School football players when the school district rezoned him and his sister to Autaugaville High School. Prattville had a better reputation academically and was a football powerhouse. His sister Shabria already had completed her freshman year there."It was tough,'' Howard said. "I had been at Prattville since the third grade and I put in all the football work in the offseason to play with the varsity. Then when the season comes around the week before school started, I had to leave. That's crazy. So it kind of threw me."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Pictures of O.J. Howard decorate a coffee table in the Howard family home. Howard was a star baseball player before football consumed his life.

Fate intervened when Lamesa ran into Diane Faulk, a regular at Laura's Country Kitchen and the wife of Autauga Academy baseball coach Joe Faulk.There were no minority students at the time at the academy. Howard and his sister plotted to fail an exam so the school would refuse enrollment. There were a lot of tears.Lamesa was assured her children would be okay.Autauga Academy played in the Alabama Independent School Association and had an enrollment of about 275."We weren't trailblazing and we didn't recruit that much,'' said Gene Canavan, then one of O.J.'s teachers and now the school's interim head master."You walk in and see that (picture of Robert E. Lee), and it was like, 'Dang. It's crazy,' '' Howard recalled. "But bonding with the people in my class, it was a totally different atmosphere.''Howard, who did it all on the football field for the Confederate Generals, also had a lot to do with that transformation."If you had a sheet of paper and listed all the qualities you wanted as an individual, not as a football player, it's almost like too good to be true,'' said Canavan, whose school's mascot is now just the Generals."You're waiting for the other shoe to drop? It never drops."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anton Trimble is pastor of Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala., where O.J. Howard attended services and worked as an usher. "That's our baby," Trimble said of Howard, beaming with pride.

BIGOTRY AT THE PROM When Howard was a junior, he dated Mary Alison McGuire, who attended Prattville High. They were still a couple when he enrolled at Alabama.It wasn't until he had asked her to the prom that Howard felt the betrayal of bigotry.Whether it was the former headmaster, Gene Carter, or if he was following the wishes of a few members of the board of directors nobody can say for sure. Rev. Trimble remembers cautioning the family about causing a stir."The one thing we don't need ever in this world is to experience that kind of rhetoric and confusion,'' Trimble said. "There's tight ends and wide receivers all over this country. And if you got a negative that's attached to you, you won't have a chance to get looked at — by anybody.''The fact that the incident didn't become public until a story by al.com before Howard's senior year at Alabama says something about the unwillingness to reveal an ugly truth.After a meeting with O.J.'s family, the backlash on Carter, a popular headmaster for 11 years, was swift and forceful. There was an emergency meeting with the board. He held a student assembly and apologized for the mistake."After it went down and he realized, 'I have messed up badly,' he corrected the error," Caravan said. "Everybody accepted the correction and it went fine.''Carter was forced to take an unpaid three-year leave of absence. He is no longer with the school."At first, I was destroyed,'' said Howard, who took Mary Alison to his junior and senior prom."I was 17 years old and didn't know what to do about it. But it was resolved in my favor. … I had to get through it. It was nice to see everyone rally around me.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Lamesa Howard (left), shown here with her husband Kareem, was vocal when administrators at Autauga Academy told O.J. Howard he could not bring his white girlfriend to the prom. Now she says, "We got through it as a family. "That's something we don't bring up and talk about anymore because it was handled correctly and I didn't want to blemish or mark that everybody here is like that."

Reached this spring at her workplace where she is a property manager, McGuire said, "I really don't want to speak on that.''The middle school mentor said Autauga Academy is fortunate that O.J. Howard was the one who was the target of racism."He was the bigger person in that situation,'' Brock said. "It had to be O.J. It couldn't be anyone else. It had to be O.J. to shine the light.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard walks off the field following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first day of mandatory minicamp June 13, 2017.

88 O.J. HOWARD LANEIf you travel the avenues of O.J. Howard's life, and take a right off Route 82, Autauga Academy is located off a two-lane blacktop called Golson Road.In 1861, five Golson men volunteered for the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment known as the Autaugaville Rifles. Two Golsons played on the school's first football team in 1970.Today, Golson Road now intersects with 88 O.J. Howard Lane.Has Howard outgrown the rustic pleasures of Autaugaville, population 870?Hardly. He is as proud of where he is from as the town is of its hero.Autaugaville decided to have a parade for Howard two years ago, but it wasn't a celebration of Alabama's national title. Auburn fans lined the route, too."It was pretty special. They weren't there for Alabama or Auburn," Lamesa Howard said. "They were all standing together. They were there for O.J."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The road in front of Autauga Academy was renamed O.J. Howard Lane and a parade was thrown in his honor his Offensive MVP performance for Alabama in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.

Contact Rick Stroud at stroudbuc@aol.com.Follow @NFLStroud

AUTAUGAVILLE, Ala. —The screen door hangs open to Laura's Country Kitchen but the dining room is empty with no one to feed.

The abandoned one-story brick building is hidden in the brush, but there is no way to conceal the influence this place had on O.J. Howard.

When he was young, Howard's days began before sunrise on the dirt road from his parents' trailer, walking past an artesian well and into his grandmother's restaurant on Blossom Road.

He spent mornings unloading food trucks, sweeping floors, washing dishes —- whatever help Lauretta Parker-Tyus needed.

Autaugaville's only dining room was famous for its breakfast biscuits, and people came from as far away as 50 miles, from Selma and Tuskegee, for the sweet potato pie.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The abandoned building that was once home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard's grandmother's restaurant, Laura's Country Kitchen, is seen in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Lauretta Parker-Tyus operated the restaurant, where OJ Howard helped out as a child, until she died in 2006.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The abandoned building that was once home to Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end O.J. Howard's grandmother's restaurant, Laura's Country Kitchen, is seen in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Lauretta Parker-Tyus operated the restaurant, where OJ Howard helped out as a child, until she died in 2006.

Howard's grandmother welcomed everyone and the tables were set with characters — a town doctor, paper mill workers like his father, hunters with deer still laying in the flatbeds, cops and good old boys. The melting pot was always on full boil.

This is where O'Terrius Jabari Howard, the star tight end at Alabama and a first-round pick the Buccaneers hope will transform their offense, says he learned that hard work and humility would help him resolve the conflicts of his life.

An exceptional athlete, he was about to start ninth grade at the local football powerhouse when his parents suddenly faced a difficult decision — send O.J. and his sister to a predominantly black school not known for athletics or academics on the edge of the county or an all-white, private school that was started to maintain segregation. A painting of Robert E. Lee hangs in the entrance.

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At 17, Howard wanted to take his white girlfriend to the prom. The school said no. Not only did Howard overcome that act of bigotry, he saw the community rally around him.

With his hometown geographically located between Alabama and Auburn, Howard even managed to bring the fans of one of college football's greatest rivalries together, at least for one day.

"What I like the most is I met so many people at that restaurant and a lot of friendships I built,'' said Howard. "There's a lot of things that went on at the restaurant that I'm thankful for.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Kareem Howard lifts Shun Edwards, 1, as Lamesa Howard plays with his older sister, Shayla Edwards, 2, in the Howard family's yard in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. O.J. Howard's parents look after the Edwards siblings when their guardian, a close friend of the Howard family, has to work.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Kareem Howard lifts Shun Edwards, 1, as Lamesa Howard plays with his older sister, Shayla Edwards, 2, in the Howard family's yard in Autaugaville, Ala., on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. O.J. Howard's parents look after the Edwards siblings when their guardian, a close friend of the Howard family, has to work.

THE ROUTE TO HIS FUTURE

The main thoroughfare that runs through O.J. Howard's life is U.S. Route 82.

A convoy of tractor trailers hauling a forest of pines, stripped of their branches, steam and groan up the hill, climbing past the pastureland and grazing cows that rise up to the horizon. The air can be thick with the sulfur smell of the paper and pulp mills.

The sun setting on Autauga Creek, reflecting on the brick cotton gins, will slow the heartbeat.

The town is surrounded by civil rights landmarks. Just 15 miles southeast is Montgomery, where Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat to a white man on a bus. Only 33 miles west is Selma, where Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference registered black voters in the South. Their peaceful march to Montgomery was met by violence.

Howard's mother, Lamesa, works as a nurse to the town doctor who takes care of the sick from cradle to grave. When children are brave and take their shots without a fuss, she buys them a scoop of ice cream at a corner store.

His father, Kareem, watched his youthful dreams fade into responsibility. Kareem is a power operator in the boiler room for International Paper, one of the county's two paper mills.

It is hot and dirty work, with temperatures that can reach 120 degrees. He sometimes returns home from work around 4 p.m. knowing he'll clock in again at midnight.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

he University of Alabama logo decorates Kareem Howard's wallet. Both of O.J. Howard's parents, Kareem and Lamesa Howard, still live in Autaugaville, Ala., and have no plans of ever leaving.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

he University of Alabama logo decorates Kareem Howard's wallet. Both of O.J. Howard's parents, Kareem and Lamesa Howard, still live in Autaugaville, Ala., and have no plans of ever leaving.

Lamesa would get up before daylight to take O.J. to school or a gym to lift weights and work out. Kareem made sure his son traveled to all the right football camps and used blue spray paint on the lawn to mark off a makeshift track so O.J. could run the 40-yard dash.

Lamesa and Kareem, both teenagers when they became parents, have their hands full. O.J's younger brother, K.J., who graduated this year from Autauga Academy, was cleared to play only one year of football because of a heart ailment.

The Howards also have adopted a daughter, Jasmine, 16, and are caregivers for two energetic toddlers — Shayla Edwards, 2, and Shun Edwards, 1.

"My dad is a guy who is really big on hard work,'' Howard said. "He's a guy who's really quiet but a very interesting man. He knows a lot but doesn't say much. He doesn't want anybody to give him anything.''

O.J.'s four-year contract with the Bucs is worth $11.1 million and includes a signing bonus of more than $6 million. His parents are constantly asked if they will quit their jobs and move.

Lamesa said she prayed only that O.J. would be drafted by a warm-weather team close enough to drive to home games and far enough to discourage the practice beyond that.

"I fully plan to stay at the paper mill," Kareem said. "He don't need me down there worrying him, distracting him. He knows what to do.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A tribute to O.J. Howard is seen in the living room of the Howard family home. Howard's parents, Lamesa and Kareem Howard, attended as many of their son's college games as possible, even traveling for road games.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A tribute to O.J. Howard is seen in the living room of the Howard family home. Howard's parents, Lamesa and Kareem Howard, attended as many of their son's college games as possible, even traveling for road games.

A STAR LIVED HERE

Planted near a hedge in front of the Howard's brick home is a "B-A-M-A 88" lawn ornament made of repurposed steel, the first clue a famous football player lived here.

A timeline of O.J.'s remarkable journey greets all who enter the Howard home.

The football-shaped trophy he won as the Offensive Player of the Game in the College Football Playoff title game win over Clemson in 2016 sits on the fireplace mantel.

Propped against the walls and doors beneath are his framed jerseys from Alabama and the Under Armour high school all-star game, as well as a large portrait of Howard from his high school prom.

Spread on the coffee table are more photographs of O.J. through the years, from sports and school, with teammates and siblings.

In the foyer is a framed picture of O.J.'s grandmother, Parker-Tyus, who worked as a waiter and saved enough money to open Laura's Country Kitchen.

For all his parents' equity in raising O.J., he is his grandma's boy. He adored her.

"She was a hard worker,'' Lamesa said of her mother, who died in 2006. "She would get up early every morning and was very punctual. It's the same thing with O.J. He was an early riser and very punctual and always trying to do better than he did the day before. So I see her characteristics in him. He wasn't the typical teenager. He was always up doing something.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard (far right) is seen in a photo from his adolescent years at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville. Howard served as an usher in addition to attending regular services at this church.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard (far right) is seen in a photo from his adolescent years at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville. Howard served as an usher in addition to attending regular services at this church.

Howard describes his grandmother as a unifier who welcomed everyone and served with enthusiasm. Through her, O.J. met so many of the people who play central roles in his life.

Said Lamesa, "A lot of friendships we have now were people that came in and sat down and ate with her.''

His grandmother also ran the usher program at Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church, just off Route 82. The young men wore white shirts and ties to the small, picturesque chapel, and among other duties, greeted the congregation.

"I didn't like it at first but I learned to love it,'' Howard said. "You saw everybody that came in and saw them again when they went out. It made me become more of a people person."

Pastor Anton Trimble says they named the usher program after Lauretta, and the comparisons between Howard and his grandmother are inevitable.

"He's got a great attitude about life and a calm and nurturing spirit towards people,'' Trimble said. "He's like his grandmother.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Altavion Arrington (center), 11, and his schoolmates take part in the "Morning Village," a daily ritual in which students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, school motto and scripture, at Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Altavion Arrington (center), 11, and his schoolmates take part in the "Morning Village," a daily ritual in which students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, school motto and scripture, at Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery.

A STRONG PRESCENCE

O.J. Howard stands 6 feet 6 and weighs 251 pounds. His jaw is as square a Marine's, and from his broad shoulders hangs thick, long arms and massive hands.

He makes eye contact when he meets you, a practice he honed in the "Brother to Brother" program started by Anthony Brock, his middle school physical education teacher.

Two years ago, Brock founded Valiant Cross Academy, an all-male private school in Montgomery. Each weekday around 8 a.m., about 60 sixth- and seventh-grade boys wearing white long-sleeved shirts, beige slacks and black and gold bow ties file into the chapel at River City Church.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anthony Brock, principal of Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery, Ala., mentored O.J. Howard in a youth program called "Brother2Brother."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anthony Brock, principal of Valiant Cross Academy in Montgomery, Ala., mentored O.J. Howard in a youth program called "Brother2Brother."

Their morning routine includes marching into the courtyard, forming five rows and beginning "The Village," a series of pledges, the reading of Bible verses and a faith-based chant.

"Are we our brother's keeper? Yes! I am my brother's keeper!"

One week before the NFL draft, Howard visited Valiant Cross Academy.

"All of the kids were goo-goo-eyed because around here, Alabama football is pretty big," Brock said. "That was the thing that stood out. He told them with the foundation they have, they can be anything and do anything.

"I think O.J. had more an impact on the program than the program had on him. He makes everybody else better."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A painting of the Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee hangs inside the front entrance of Autauga Academy, founded in 1969 so that white families could avoid the integration of public schools.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

A painting of the Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee hangs inside the front entrance of Autauga Academy, founded in 1969 so that white families could avoid the integration of public schools.

AN EARLY TEST

The first real conflict of Howard's life came two days before he was to start ninth grade. Howard was working out with Prattville High School football players when the school district rezoned him and his sister to Autaugaville High School. Prattville had a better reputation academically and was a football powerhouse. His sister Shabria already had completed her freshman year there.

"It was tough,'' Howard said. "I had been at Prattville since the third grade and I put in all the football work in the offseason to play with the varsity. Then when the season comes around the week before school started, I had to leave. That's crazy. So it kind of threw me."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Pictures of O.J. Howard decorate a coffee table in the Howard family home. Howard was a star baseball player before football consumed his life.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Pictures of O.J. Howard decorate a coffee table in the Howard family home. Howard was a star baseball player before football consumed his life.

Fate intervened when Lamesa ran into Diane Faulk, a regular at Laura's Country Kitchen and the wife of Autauga Academy baseball coach Joe Faulk.

There were no minority students at the time at the academy. Howard and his sister plotted to fail an exam so the school would refuse enrollment. There were a lot of tears.

Lamesa was assured her children would be okay.

Autauga Academy played in the Alabama Independent School Association and had an enrollment of about 275.

"We weren't trailblazing and we didn't recruit that much,'' said Gene Canavan, then one of O.J.'s teachers and now the school's interim head master.

"You walk in and see that (picture of Robert E. Lee), and it was like, 'Dang. It's crazy,' '' Howard recalled. "But bonding with the people in my class, it was a totally different atmosphere.''

Howard, who did it all on the football field for the Confederate Generals, also had a lot to do with that transformation.

"If you had a sheet of paper and listed all the qualities you wanted as an individual, not as a football player, it's almost like too good to be true,'' said Canavan, whose school's mascot is now just the Generals.

"You're waiting for the other shoe to drop? It never drops."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anton Trimble is pastor of Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala., where O.J. Howard attended services and worked as an usher. "That's our baby," Trimble said of Howard, beaming with pride.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Anton Trimble is pastor of Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church in Prattville, Ala., where O.J. Howard attended services and worked as an usher. "That's our baby," Trimble said of Howard, beaming with pride.

BIGOTRY AT THE PROM

When Howard was a junior, he dated Mary Alison McGuire, who attended Prattville High. They were still a couple when he enrolled at Alabama.

It wasn't until he had asked her to the prom that Howard felt the betrayal of bigotry.

Whether it was the former headmaster, Gene Carter, or if he was following the wishes of a few members of the board of directors nobody can say for sure.

Rev. Trimble remembers cautioning the family about causing a stir.

"The one thing we don't need ever in this world is to experience that kind of rhetoric and confusion,'' Trimble said. "There's tight ends and wide receivers all over this country. And if you got a negative that's attached to you, you won't have a chance to get looked at — by anybody.''

The fact that the incident didn't become public until a story by al.com before Howard's senior year at Alabama says something about the unwillingness to reveal an ugly truth.

After a meeting with O.J.'s family, the backlash on Carter, a popular headmaster for 11 years, was swift and forceful. There was an emergency meeting with the board. He held a student assembly and apologized for the mistake.

"After it went down and he realized, 'I have messed up badly,' he corrected the error," Caravan said. "Everybody accepted the correction and it went fine.''

Carter was forced to take an unpaid three-year leave of absence. He is no longer with the school.

"At first, I was destroyed,'' said Howard, who took Mary Alison to his junior and senior prom.

"I was 17 years old and didn't know what to do about it. But it was resolved in my favor. … I had to get through it. It was nice to see everyone rally around me.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Lamesa Howard (left), shown here with her husband Kareem, was vocal when administrators at Autauga Academy told O.J. Howard he could not bring his white girlfriend to the prom. Now she says, "We got through it as a family. "That's something we don't bring up and talk about anymore because it was handled correctly and I didn't want to blemish or mark that everybody here is like that."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

Lamesa Howard (left), shown here with her husband Kareem, was vocal when administrators at Autauga Academy told O.J. Howard he could not bring his white girlfriend to the prom. Now she says, "We got through it as a family. "That's something we don't bring up and talk about anymore because it was handled correctly and I didn't want to blemish or mark that everybody here is like that."

Reached this spring at her workplace where she is a property manager, McGuire said, "I really don't want to speak on that.''

The middle school mentor said Autauga Academy is fortunate that O.J. Howard was the one who was the target of racism.

"He was the bigger person in that situation,'' Brock said. "It had to be O.J. It couldn't be anyone else. It had to be O.J. to shine the light.''

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard walks off the field following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first day of mandatory minicamp June 13, 2017.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

O.J. Howard walks off the field following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first day of mandatory minicamp June 13, 2017.

88 O.J. HOWARD LANE

If you travel the avenues of O.J. Howard's life, and take a right off Route 82, Autauga Academy is located off a two-lane blacktop called Golson Road.

In 1861, five Golson men volunteered for the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment known as the Autaugaville Rifles. Two Golsons played on the school's first football team in 1970.

Today, Golson Road now intersects with 88 O.J. Howard Lane.

Has Howard outgrown the rustic pleasures of Autaugaville, population 870?

Hardly. He is as proud of where he is from as the town is of its hero.

Autaugaville decided to have a parade for Howard two years ago, but it wasn't a celebration of Alabama's national title. Auburn fans lined the route, too.

"It was pretty special. They weren't there for Alabama or Auburn," Lamesa Howard said. "They were all standing together. They were there for O.J."

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The road in front of Autauga Academy was renamed O.J. Howard Lane and a parade was thrown in his honor his Offensive MVP performance for Alabama in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.

LOREN ELLIOTT | Times

The road in front of Autauga Academy was renamed O.J. Howard Lane and a parade was thrown in his honor his Offensive MVP performance for Alabama in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship.

Contact Rick Stroud at stroudbuc@aol.com.Follow @NFLStroud