Hanky's bright future nothing to sneeze at

One road ends, another beckons.

He wasn't the biggest guy on the field Saturday, not even close, but Tampa Catholic senior running back Hank McCloud couldn't be stopped in the Class 2B state championship game. He put his mind to it, you see. That's saying something with Hank.

The other day, I asked Hank McCloud what he wanted to be.

"A psychologist or a neurosurgeon."

Hey, me, too!

Saturday was about football.

"I tried to put the team on my back," McCloud said. "My teammates have always been there for me. I owed it to them to do my best."

The Crusaders lost to defending state champion Jacksonville Bolles 21-7, despite 193 yards rushing by the 5-foot-8 McCloud in his final high school game.

Only the story doesn't end here. It won't for most of these TC seniors. They wiped away a few tears Saturday, but their lives have just begun. And a kid like Hank McCloud, who finished with 1,767 rushing yards his senior season, will find the daylight.

His family and friends call him "Hanky." The McClouds stood at the grandstand railing after the game. Hanky's mom, Donnette, held the trophy Hanky received, one awarded to the senior on each state finalist with the highest cumulative grade-point average. Hanky clocked in at 3.7.

"This makes me the most proud," Donnette said. "He works so hard at the academics. He dreams of doing big things."

Henry McCloud Jr. comes from a family of athletes. His grandfather, Don Cherry, was a running back on championship teams at Blake High in the early '60s. Hank's father, Henry Sr., was a Golden Gloves champion and professional heavyweight boxer. And Hank is the nephew of Olympic track and field hurdler Damu Cherry, who was at the game Saturday.

Back to Hanky.

"Everything he does, he does to the fullest," Tampa Catholic coach Bob Henriquez said. "He's never had a cross word, never missed a practice. He's a model young man. It's 'Yes, sir,' or 'No, sir.' He leads every sprint. We've got a bunch of those guys. The character on this team is outstanding."

Henry McCloud Sr. is in construction. "He builds houses from the ground up," Hanky said with pride. The father dreams of the son going to Harvard, which is good, because Harvard wants Hanky. So do the U.S. Naval Academy and Northwestern, among others.

"I like Harvard," said Hank Sr., who has visited Harvard's Cambridge, Mass., campus with his son. "The opportunities are out of this world. I tease him all the time. I tell him, boy, I'm going to take you in the garage - that's where I keep my heavy bag - and we'll box until you say Harvard."

There's so much love in those eyes - pride, too.

There are a lot of TC parents proud of their sons this morning, all those sons behind what still was one great season, and with all that life ahead of them.

Tampa Catholic went for it on a crucial fourth-and-1 in its own territory Saturday. It was the third quarter and Bolles only led 7-0. The Crusaders failed on a quarterback sneak. Why not give it to Hank? I thought about that. But that faded away after the game as Hank talked about psychology and neurosurgery.

"I want to do something with the mind," he said. He'd like to be a doctor who finds ways to combat or prevent sports concussions. Someone gave him the book "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," the true tale of a man who overcame school problems to become a world-renowned surgeon. Hank was all over it.

"I want to make a difference," he said.

Henry McCloud Jr. tried his best Saturday, but he and his teammates came up short, as they did when they reached the state championship game two years ago. There'll be no more chances for the TC seniors, at least at state in football.

Hank has baseball coming up. And the world awaits.

Worried about the future, America?

With kids like Hank carrying the ball, we'll be fine, just fine.