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Deion: Primed To Star

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By IRA KAUFMAN

ikaufman@tampatrib.com

Published: January 30, 2009

ORT MYERS - Before there was Prime Time, there was part time.

Deion Sanders arrived at North Fort Myers High as a 135-pound sophomore out of the housing projects.

Football coach Ron Hoover didn't have much time to work with Sanders, who was recruited out of Pop Warner to an out-of-district school for his freshman year before transferring.

"Deion got here a little late and he was behind, so he didn't get to play much for us as a sophomore," Hoover said. "Looking back, I'd describe him as a coach's dream. He had everything you wanted - hard worker, smart, a great leader. If he wanted, he would have been a great receiver."

Sanders made up for lost time with Hoover's Red Knights program, excelling at quarterback and defensive back. He was a blur on the basketball court and played center field for North Fort Myers baseball coach Ted Ferreira.

"To this day, I have yet to see a high school basketball player bring the ball up as fast as Deion," said Ferreira, who also was on Hoover's football staff. "He could also dunk a basketball flat-footed. I wish I could take credit for his baseball skills. You name it, he did it."

But football was his first love.

"I knew football was the one for him," said his mother, Connie Knight, who still lives in Fort Myers. "I was thinking quarterback, but when he got to Florida State, they kept him on defense. He wanted to go to Fort Myers High, so he used my mom's address. After one year there, people found out that wasn't our district school."

The locker room at North Fort Myers hasn't changed much since the days Sanders befuddled defenses and baited quarterbacks.

The names and the numbers are different, yet the memories remain vivid.

"My favorite Deion story is the time he kept getting challenged by Ralph, our fastest track guy at the school," said Tim Gardner, who played guard and defensive end with Sanders at North Fort Myers. "Deion kept putting him off, but the guy wouldn't leave him alone. Finally, Deion said OK. Right before a game, Deion grabs three guys off the football team for the relay race.

"Ralph and Deion line up last and the track team is really taking it to 'em. When Ralph got the baton, his team was way ahead. I remember thinking we're gonna be the laughingstock of the school. But before you knew it, Deion catches up to Ralph, taps him on the shoulder and starts running ... backwards. I can still see him waving that baton at Ralph as he crossed the finish line."

More than a generation has passed since that final baton was passed, yet Sanders remains an iconic figure in Southwest Florida.

Football coach Barry Goettemoeller just completed his first year at North Fort Myers after a successful prep coaching career in Ohio.

"Throughout the interview process, before I ever got this job, everyone I talked to kept bringing the conversation back to the fact Deion Sanders played here," Goettemoeller said. "And when the paint was chipping off the lockers, some of our players actually came up to me and said, 'Coach, you sure you want fresh paint in here?' They were worried we'd somehow erase Deion's legacy."

With her son now living large on a 100-acre estate in Texas, Connie Knight has heard the whispers around town that Deion has turned his back on the community.

"That's not true," she said firmly. "Everyone knows me and I think everyone here still respects Deion. We're still a close family and his sister, Tracie, lives in Fort Myers. I stopped giving Deion Christmas presents because he's a man who has everything. If he doesn't have it, he doesn't want it."

When Wade Hummel was hospitalized with a stroke last year, Sanders called the former Fort Myers High assistant coach to lift his spirits.

"He was a normal kid with the most fabulous athletic ability," said Wade's wife, Dottie. "Even back then, he knew what he wanted. To me, he's gotten a bad rap in this town. They think when he became Prime Time that he forgot his hometown - but that isn't true."

After Sanders turned pro and became a spokesman for Nike, he supplied his former high school with free footwear for football, baseball and basketball.

The Hoovers and Hummels were among 10 couples who attended Sanders' Super Bowl game in Miami in 1995, courtesy of Deion.

"When you get Deion one-on-one away from the cameras, he's a different guy," Hoover said. "I always thought he was the Muhammad Ali of football, especially when you put him in front of the big lights. Unfortunately, I think this town turned on him a bit. All I know is I'm proud of him."

Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse and former Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell also attended North Fort Myers High, but Sanders is the local celebrity who still sparks conversations in the coffee shops of Lee County.

There's little doubt Sanders will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2011, his first year of eligibility.

And when Sanders steps to the podium at the Canton, Ohio, shrine of excellence, thousands of Fort Myers residents will be waiting for him to acknowledge his humble beginnings.

"I always felt out of the box, so I'm not going to say I didn't have those type of dreams," Sanders said, regarding his legacy.

Gardner said the last time he caught up with Sanders was at the funeral of a former athletic director at North Fort Myers.

"People around here will never forget Deion," said Gardner, president of the Big Red Quarterback Club. "I remember Christmas basketball tournaments at Edison Stadium when he'd bring the house down.

"Man, he was a mover."

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