Dickinson senior cornerback Shawn Foster has overcome the loss of his mother to help Dickinson reach the area round playoffs. He leads the Gators with five interceptions.
DICKINSON — Shawn Foster repeatedly adjusted the Velcro on his football gloves as he searched for the right word to describe his feelings. His left leg rocked back and forth like a pendulum, kicking up turf from Sam Vitanza Field.
“Painful” lacked the intensity. “Anger” didn’t encompass all of it. “Sadness” wasn’t much better. “Agony” worked, but left out the melancholy.
“I guess there’s no word to describe it,” Foster finally said.
The Dickinson senior cornerback lost his mother last summer. Almost two weeks after Foster’s 17th birthday, Jannett Morgan died on June 27. Cancer had spread from her breasts to her lungs to her brain.
Foster thought the feeling he experienced that night, the one he still can’t describe, would stick forever. Then his best friend and teammate, running back Corey Thomas, came along and got Foster back on the football field.
Making The Call
Thomas called Foster the night Morgan died. Thomas doesn’t remember what he said or how it came out. He just knew his friend might need him.
“It was crazy,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know what I was doing or how to do it. I just called.”
Foster doesn’t remember the conversation, either.
The night his mother died, Foster showed up at Thomas’ front door in tears.
“I didn’t know where to go,” Foster said. “I was lost so I went to some family.”
Friends At 5
Foster and Thomas became friends at age 5. They lived in the same apartment complex. They shared dinners, toys and church.
Thomas and Foster became, so close that Foster even called Thomas’ mother, Leemethra Johnican, “mom.” Thomas’ grandmother, Pamela Charles-Reed, went by “mama.”
When Foster showed up at the Thomas residence in Dickinson, he was welcomed in like a family member.
For nearly a month, Foster stayed in bed. He didn’t move much. Foster, at times, refused to talk in between the tears.
Thomas tried to do anything to keep his friend’s mind off his mother’s death. They played video games on the Xbox 360 like “Madden” and “Grand Theft Auto.” Thomas even took him to grandma’s house for her famous dinners with cornbread, pork chops and mashed potatoes. Foster used to go to those dinners all the time when he was younger.
“Grandma’s meals are legendary,” Thomas said. “Really, I was trying to do anything to get him out of bed to keep his mind off what happened.”
Foster agreed: “It doesn’t get better than mama’s meals.”
Working Out
As Foster slowly started to move around again, Thomas encouraged him to attend football workouts.
Foster did not want to. He didn’t see the point. Foster had never played on varsity, so he might not even make the team or play a single down.
But Thomas persisted, and finally Foster went in late July, just before two-a-days.
Foster did the exact same workouts as Thomas, who was trying to regain his form as the Gators’ starting running back after an injury — 30 minutes on weights, sprints and a jog.
It acted as a remedy. Foster took his frustrations and anxiety out on the weight room and the track. He also got better, taking at least a tenth of a second of his 40-yard dash time.
By August, Foster earned a spot on varsity. Against Angleton, on opening night, Foster started.
‘It’s Been Hard’
Heading into the postseason against La Porte, Foster has a team-high five interceptions. It was the best mark in District 24-5A.
“He’s improved,” coach Warren Trahan said. “What Corey did with Shawn, is, commendable.”
Foster doesn’t go more than 24 hours without thinking about his mother. Before football games, he thinks about her in his prayers. He does his homework every night, like his mom always told him. He wants to be a mechanical engineer, just like his mother.
Most of the time, Foster doesn’t get too emotional. He has lapses, like during parents’ night. Foster could only imagine his mom’s reaction to seeing him run out on the football field.
“My mom, she was my whole left side: my heart, she completes me,” Foster said. “It’s been hard, but Corey, his family and football have helped. I just know she would love to see me now. She would be proud. I just keep that in my mind.”
