Still a Tiger: Tallassee honors Auburn player
As former Tallassee High and Auburn cornerback Demond Washington was honored with a special day in his high school auditorium, the praise and the accolades flowed from former teachers, friends and college coaches.
The biggest applause, a standing ovation, came when the star athlete who has provided so many exciting moments on the gridiron announced he was just nine hours shy of graduating from Auburn with a degree in sociology.
Washington, forced to continue his football career through the junior college ranks before arriving at Auburn, is on the verge of accomplishing his greatest feat in the classroom.
"He didn't have a great background,"
admitted his former high school coach, Phil Lindsey. "He didn't give a tremendous amount of effort in the younger grades, but he made it through. So when you get to high school, you struggle. He worked hard, he tried, but it took him a long time to catch up."
Washington was presented a key to the city on Wednesday by Tallassee Mayor George McCain on "Demond Washington Day,"
and the Tallassee Tigers football team were among the students on hand to honor the first-ever Tallassee player to play on a national championship team. When he stepped to the microphone and looked out over the crowd of students, he didn't talk about his exploits as an Auburn defensive back and return specialist or reflect on memories of beating Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game in January. Instead, he offered some advice.
"I didn't get much of that,"
he said. "Stay in school, listen to your teachers, make good grades and stay focused on your goals. Don't let anybody tell you you can't do it."
He had all the talent in the world as a high school senior. He had played quarterback, tailback, defensive back and return specialist for the Tigers and was coming off a year where he had earned all-state honors after scoring 27 touchdowns.
But after committing to play football at LSU, he discovered he couldn't continue his dream on the field because he didn't have the grades in the classroom.
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