Junior running back Romell Jordan was lost due to a knee injury before the football season even began; last week he experienced the toughest loss one could imagine.
Jordan was seen entering University Stadium toward the end of Thursday’s practice just days after he reportedly found out his mother died.
As practice concluded, teammates and coaches embraced the running back, and seemed to be consoling him and offering words of encouragement.
Head coach Bob Davie said the situation is a tragedy, that Jordan has seen a lot of things in his life that most young men haven’t.
An Albuquerque Journal article stated Jordan has moved around quite a bit, especially in his teenage years.
Jordan reportedly endured several moves around California before coming to New Mexico, then to Colorado and back to New Mexico all during his high school years.
The article said Jordan’s godparents, who took in Jordan when he returned to New Mexico, eventually told him he would need to find another place to leave as they were struggling financially.
Jordan ended up moving in with the Swiharts, the family of major league baseball player and former Lobo Blake Swihart, while he finished his time at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
The Swiharts provided Romell with the opportunity to finish high school and thrive with the Cleveland Storm as one of the top running backs in the state.
Jordan accepted a scholarship to attend UNM, and was working hard to become part of the mix in the Lobos’ already-strong running game, before a knee injury in practice shelved him for the season.
Davie said it was important for Jordan to be around his teammates during such a difficult time, something which he said happens more often that people might think.
“There’s a lot that you don’t see because they don’t become public,” Davie said. “It’s almost weekly where something happens in these young guys’ lives…I mean, it’s incredible.”
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The head coach relayed two main messages in Thursday’s practice:
“I hope by you having been in this program, no matter how long you been in, that you have some tools in which you can handle the situations that occur in your life — the ups and downs.”
“I hope you really feel like this is your family and that we can provide some kind of relief and provide positivity to you through this time.”
Davie said players have shown up to the facility after they’ve experienced difficulty because the environment seems to act as a safe haven. He said athletes have told him the team is their family, and feel they need to be surrounded by them.
The head coach said there is so much more the program provides than just the football piece. Davie said sometimes life itself can seem like a big game of football, and many of the lessons players learn on the field provide real-life applications.
“It is probably a microcosm of our culture, of our nation,” he said. “Things happen so fast, but the most important thing is how you respond to it and you rebound from it.”
He said the single greatest accomplishment one can have as a coach is if someone can emerge better prepared and surrounded by people that can help them adapt to the challenges in life.
Carla Groppe Swihart recently set up a donation page, which can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/2rvxydw4, created to help Jordan and his family with the cost of funeral expenses.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, football, tennis, and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
