Fellonte Misher was a standout football player at his D.C. high school and at Old Dominion University. (Theresa Vargas/The Washington Post)

If you had met Fellonte Misher a decade ago, you would have encountered a teenager who believed the only way he could help his family was through football.

While other students worried about their GPAs, he focused on different numbers.

As a student at D.C.’s Coolidge High School, the 6-foot-2 wide receiver made 13 touchdowns in a season and 17 tackles in one game.

In 2013, while a sophomore at Old Dominion University, he led his team with 95 tackles, interrupted five passes and recovered two fumbles.

In 2015, during his last year of college, he landed 99 tackles, allowing him to end his time on the team with a total of 288 tackles, one of the highest in the school’s history.

That year, the Virginian-Pilot published a profile of him and in it, coach Bobby Wilder described him as “the best player among our seniors.”

But that success is not what Misher wants to talk about when we meet on a recent morning. He brushes past how he went on to play football for international leagues by saying only that he “spent time in Poland.” What he wants to talk about instead is trauma — trauma experienced by him, trauma experienced by other Black men in the D.C. region, trauma that is leaving little boys thinking their athletic skills are the main measurement of their worth.
To read the entire article by Theresa Vargas/The Washington Post, click here.