By KEVIN MOBLEY – Web Writer
After years of fighting for the spotlight, senior Kavon Williams feels it’s his time to shine as he moves on to Mars Hill College.
Rivalry has a way of captivating thousands on Friday nights in the fall. Because of the fierce crosstown rivalry between Clarke Central High School and Cedar Shoals High School , the Classic City Championship is no exception.
On Nov. 8, 2013, 21 seniors suited up for the last time in “Death Valley” against CSHS on Senior Night.
The pre-game ceremony arrives. Senior linebacker Kavon WIlliams saunters out alongside his mother Jackie and shakes hands with principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker and head football coach Ahren Self.
Only one person is missing — his biological father, Daryl Bolton.
Kavon maintains that Bolton wasn’t involved in his life until he entered high school and has never received an explanation as to why. Thus, he didn’t want Bolton to be present for his moment of recognition.
“Both your parents are supposed to walk you out there on the field,” Kavon said. “I didn’t invite (my dad). It wasn’t anything that I had against him, but don’t come in when you see me doing well. You need to be there good or bad.”
Until age six, Kavon and his older siblings, brother Marquez and sister Elisha, stayed with their single mother Jackie in a housing authority apartment on East Broad St. For a while, the three children shared the same bedroom. Violence plagued the neighborhood.
“The environment around us wasn’t the best. We had many people around there who didn’t have much to live for,” Kavon said. “A lot of violence, alcoholics, drug dealers and addicts that I was raised up with for a good six years.”
During those years, the family was supported by Marquez and Elisha’s father, Leslie Gresham. However, in 2002, Jackie and Leslie separated, and the family moved to the Stonehenge subdivision in Bogart, Ga., where they have lived ever since.
“I applied for the Habitat for Humanity program, and I got approved for a house, so all I pretty much had to do was follow through with what they said,” Jackie said. “I’m just blessed being in this house that I’m in.”
In order to provide for the family, Jackie took on two part-time jobs that included working at the UGA Snelling dining hall for 10 years as well as Sam’s Club and the US Environmental Protection Agency in Athens.
“She’s a hard-working mom,” Kavon said. “I really don’t spend much time with her because she’s probably at her first or second job just trying to put food on the table, put clothes on my back and take care of the family.”
When Jackie and her children moved to their new home, she was approached by Stonehenge Youth Association administrator Melvin Hayes about his organization.
“(Hayes) introduced himself to me, told me who he was and introduced football to my boys,” Jackie said. “I didn’t want my children to be a product of their environment, so if they wanted to do something positive that would keep them focused, they wouldn’t have time for all the negativity.”
Kavon joined Marquez in playing football at the age of seven. The brothers were able to connect through the sport.
Kavon playing peewee league football at the age of seven
“When we were little and playing pee-wee ball, (Marquez) would be there for me,” Kavon said. “He’d be like: ‘Hey Kavon, you need to do this, you need to do that.’ I realized that he was always there trying to support me.”
In 2010, Kavon entered CCHS. A year later, Kavon joined Marquez, a 5’10” 232 lbs. starting fullback, on the varsity football team after playing junior varsity a year prior. At 5’4” 150 lbs., Kavon was place at third-string running back.
“I was like: ‘I work hard, and I get nothing out of it.’ It made me feel like I’m not getting looked at,” Kavon said. “It made me feel like I’m invisible.”
Kavon believes that this feeling of invisibility was in large part due to the shadow cast by his brother’s accomplishments — the starting job at fullback and a full ride to Mars Hill College in North Carolina.
“The fact that it seems like I’m leaning on (Marquez’s) fame (angers me),” Kavon said. “I want my own fame, and when I’m getting looked at it’s always as ‘Marquez’s little brother.’ I’m not getting looked at as ‘that guy Kavon.’ I’m good enough within myself.”
Jackie also witnessed competition between Kavon and Marquez.
“When someone would come up to Marquez and compliment him on something, Kavon had to make sure that someone noticed him too,” Jackie said. “To me, Kavon always felt like he had to compete with Marquez and I never wanted him to feel that way.”
Contrary to his belief, coaches kept record of Kavon’s ability to remain humble and dedicated.
“Kavon came in and did a really good job of recognizing that he was a younger guy, kept quiet, watched and learned,” linebackers coach and director of football operations Chris Hulse said. “As time went on, he definitely became one of our leaders.”
Kavon also had the opportunity as the younger sibling to learn from Marquez’s mistakes, dubbing him the “good bad example.”
“One night in (Marquez’s) sophomore year, he was sitting out there on the field late at night and would not run for nothing,” Kavon said. “Some years later, he was like: ‘I don’t want you to be like that. Be better.’”
As the older brother, Marquez wanted to ensure that Kavon made the right decisions.
“I taught (Kavon) the way he needed to lead,” Marquez said. “When I left, I told him that it was his team, his year and left it up to him to lead and make good decisions.”
Though they had a mutual respect for one another, Kavon and Marquez focused on their own paths.
“(Marquez) was supportive to a certain extent,” Kavon said. “He looked out for me alright, but I had to do everything else on my own no matter what. I had to do everything to get to where I’m at.”
In their final year together at Clarke Central, Kavon feels that his relationship with Marquez became all about business.
“(Marquez) was trying to get on with life, get into school, try to find somewhere, so he just was grinding,” Kavon said. “I was trying to work my way up myself.”
Since then, Jackie has seen her sons forge a more caring bond.
“They work together now as a unit and have grown to love each other more, be more helpful to each other and just know that they’re family,” Jackie said.
The ensuing summer, Self appointed Kavon to a new position in 7-on-7 competitions — linebacker.
In the first play of the first day of fall camp in 2012, Kavon made a hit on senior offensive lineman Durmario Price that would cement his new identity on defense and usurp from his brother’s legacy.
“The ball was snapped, the window opened up and (Kavon) went straight ahead full speed and exploded into Durmario Price,” Self said. “That’s when I looked over at (defensive line coach Marcus Washington) and said: ‘We’ve found us another linebacker.’”
Kavon also grew and matured considerably betwe en his sophomore and junior years, weighing in at 5’8” 166 lbs.
“In the weight room, there’s no question that (Kavon) works hard and pushes himself. When he comes out of there, he’s drenched in sweat. He prided himself on being one of the strongest players on the team especially for his size,” Self said.
Early on, however, defensive teammates were unsure if Kavon possessed the relentlessness and football savvy needed to excel at the linebacker position.
“When they moved him to the defensive side I was a little iffy because I thought he had lost that ‘dog’ in him,” senior linebacker Cedric Armstrong said. “He proved me wrong.”
That year, Kavon led the team with 83 tackles and earned First-Team Athens Banner-Herald All-Northeast Georgia Football team.
Kavon making a diving tackle against Central Gwinnett on September 6, 2013.
“A lot of the time when I went up against linemen, I didn’t have the most strength, but the things that gave me the stats that I had were, one, my defensive linemen up front, and two, my athleticism that can’t be coached,” Kavon said. “I’m not trying to ride my horse, honestly, but if you go watch my highlights, there’s some things that I did on there that are uncoachable.”
Following his 2012 performance, Kavon started to receive interest from colleges about playing at the next level.
“After his junior year, I started getting letters from schools,” Self said. “Colleges knew him, especially with his stats. He started getting looks right after his junior year and it continued on through the fall.”
Finally, in his senior year, Kavon culminated his athleticism, physicality and experience to notch a team-high 107 tackles and earn a spot on the Region 8-AAAAA Coaches All-Region team.
“(Kavon)’s one of the most productive linebackers ever here, you can’t argue with that with numbers,” Self said. “With his hard work, dedication to football and his love for the game, he’s left a hard road to follow for somebody else.”
On April 5, 2014, Kavon chose to follow his brother’s path once again, signing with Mars Hill on a football scholarship.
“I don’t really have a problem with being overshadowed (by Marquez). I don’t think that will happen again. We’ll have our own lives on campus, but (Mars Hill) is all I had. I just had to take advantage,” Kavon said.
No one is more overjoyed by this outcome than Jackie Williams.
“I’m as proud as a parent could be,” Jackie said. “With (Kavon) about to graduate high school, I’m glad that he’s going to Mars Hill with his brother and I feel like (Marquez) is going to help him a lot with him just starting out. I’m ecstatic.”
