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. . SPORTS MEDICINE: Remembering Eastern Michigan's Lorenzo Seaberry, 'The Little Guy With the Big Smile' . . Remembering Eastern Michigan's Lorenzo Seaberry, 'The Little Guy With the Big Smile' This guest column is from Derrick Gragg, the director of intercollegiate athletics at Eastern Michigan University Derrick Gragg Eastern Michigan University Ann Arbor.com Posted: Sun, Dec 11, 2011 : 5:59 a.m. Topics: Sports, Ypsilanti http://www.annarbor.com/sports/remembering-eastern-michigans- lorenzo-seaberry-the-little-guy-with-the-big-smile/ . A shorter URL for the above link: . http://tinyurl.com/7q4j36f . . As the director of intercollegiate athletics at Eastern Michigan University, I spend a great deal of time meeting and communicating with coaches, student-athletes, donors and many other friends of the institution. None of my days is the same and many are unpredictable as I am usually overloaded with phone calls, text messages and emails while running from one meeting to the next. . However, no matter how busy I am, every now and then something happens that causes me to pause, slow down a bit and put things in proper perspective. . My latest moment of clarity came on a typically hectic day when our head athletic trainer Steve Nordwall walked into my office. Steve oversees perhaps the most high-risk area and important area in college athletics for our department - sports medicine. Steve keeps me up to speed on injuries and other physical or mental challenges our student-athletes may be experiencing. He also informs me when any student-athlete has come in contact with police or other law enforcement officials; thus I tend to brace myself a bit when Steve appears . I could tell by the troubled look on his face that this was not going to be a very good exchange, thus, I began thinking of the endless scenarios that could have happened the day before. Did we lose someone for the season due to injury? Did someone get arrested? Did an athlete skip a mandatory counseling session? . Derrick, do you remember Lorenzo Seaberry? he asked. . Of course I do. I saw Lorenzo at a football game earlier this season, I responded. . Well, Steve said with a serious look, Lorenzo was just diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer and the doctors are saying he will live three to seven months tops. . The only response I could utter was, Steve, how old is Lorenzo? . Hes only 24. . As athletic administrators we all come in contact with thousands of student-athletes over a period of time; so, it is impossible to remember everyone. However, Lorenzo MADE you remember him. Those of us who are parents try not to make distinctions between our children by labeling any of them as our favorites as they grow up. We try our best to treat them all the same, and love and care for them in the same manner. Since I have many children to care for as the athletic director, I have also attempted not make such distinctions. . However, Lorenzo has always been a bit different and ranks near the top of my secret favorite student-athletes of all time. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Lorenzo had beaten all kinds of odds on and off the field. He was enrolled in graduate school at Eastern and he certainly served as a shining example of how a person can maximize their potential athletically and academically through sports. . Lorenzo entered Eastern Michigan as an under-sized walk-on/non-scholarship linebacker in 2005. Anyone who knows anything about college sports can tell you that being a walk-on is the toughest thing a student-athlete can do. They often end up as practice players (think Rudy) with little to no chance of ever seeing meaningful action in games as they go head to head with much bigger, stronger skilled athletes. They work just as hard as the scholarship athletes all the while paying for their experiences through work-study, loans or employment. Many of them are truly the unsung heroes of their teams. . The 2009 Eastern Michigan football media guide lists Lorenzo as 5-foot-8, 216 pounds, but those of us who know Lorenzo knew that this was a stretch at best. However, what Lorenzo lacked in size, he always made up for in heart, work ethic and personality. He did not play during his first year here, but during the next four years he went on to earn a football scholarship and played in 42 games on special teams and as a reserve linebacker earning four varsity letters. He was also named Defensive Big Playmaker Award for a game in 2007 and earned three additional single-game awards during his career. Not lofty statistics by any means, but certainly meaningful and significant, especially when considering the long odds he beat to contribute to his team. . We only won eight football games during Lorenzos playing career at Eastern Michigan and did not win a single game his last year on the team, but he always greeted me with his signature big smile the same big smile I saw at the football game earlier this year. . As he approached me at the former football players tailgate tent, Lorenzo was obviously very proud of our teams improvement and wanted to tell me face to face. . Dr. G, I really like what you guys have going on now with the program, he said. I responded by thanking him for his past contributions to the program. At the time I did not know that our next in-person visit would take place in a hospital little more than a month later. . . The complete article may be read at the URL above. . . 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