Rushing For A Future Ferris Running Back J.C. Cleveland Wants Keep Advancing His Life Toward ‘Gateways’

When J.C. Cleveland came to Spokane from Nebraska at the beginning of the summer, it wasn’t so much that he was fleeing from his past.

It was more like he was chasing his future.

A future without gangs. Without problems in school. A future where he could play a little football, get educated, and get on with his life.

After putting up big numbers with the Ferris football team - the cornerback and running back averages 7.4 yards a carry and gained 184 yards last week against Gonzaga Prep - as well as achieving good marks from his teachers, he said his future in Spokane looks great so far.

“I know my focus in life,” said Cleveland, who was granted an extra year of eligibility by the Greater Spokane League prior to the start of the football season.

“I want to go to college really bad. That’s going to be one of my gateways.”

Thirteen years of living in Omaha have left some scars.

Cleveland said that hidden behind the image of cornfields there is an uglier side to the Midwest city.

While he said he was never in any gangs, he had friends who were. If you hung out with them, he said, it was tough to lose the stigma.

He also had problems at his suburban Omaha high school. At the end of his senior year, he didn’t have enough credits to graduate.

“It’s all part of any teenager’s life,” he said. “You’ve got two choices to make.

“If you make a bad one, you still have time to correct it.”

That’s what he’s trying to do now. At wit’s end following what was supposed to be his last year of high school, Cleveland telephoned his father, whom he calls “my best friend.” Alfred Cleveland has lived in Spokane since he and J.C.’s mother divorced six years ago.

J.C. wanted advice on what he should do.

“I just kind of took the bull by the horns,” said Alfred Cleveland. “When he called me, he was so distraught. I sent him a plane ticket, and I told him we’d work things out.”

When it comes to defying the odds in life, Alfred Cleveland knows what he’s talking about.

A product of Chicago’s South Side, he said he had seen the gangs when he was a kid. He had seen the drugs.

He watched as friends slipped into sinister corners of the inner city and lost themselves.

Fortunately, he said, he watched from a distance. To avoid the pitfalls, he surrounded himself with classmates who had a different agenda - “a plan for the future.”

“You do the things it takes to stay clear of the problems,” Alfred Cleveland says. “You become a survivor. But you have to really want it.”

J.C. really wants it.

You can see it in his eyes when he talks about the prospects of getting a scholarship. You can see it when he wonders out loud how to get college scouts to notice his play, both at running back and cornerback.

Cleveland was more than a little miffed when he learned Gonzaga Prep coaches were planning to exploit the Ferris secondary.

“They said in the paper that our corners were small and they would try to pick on us,” he said. “I don’t think that there is any GSL team that’ll want to challenge us over the middle.”

He said that Ferris’s 1-3 record isn’t indicative of the team’s ability.

Ferris is talented, he said.

“When we start playing together, then it (that talent) will be recognized,” he said.

Teachers at Ferris have been quick to spot Cleveland’s earnest efforts in the classroom. After just a month of classes, English teacher Karen Brathovde said Cleveland is doing well.

One thing she likes about the 18-year-old is his determination.

“He wants to do more than just play football,” Brathovde said. “His main focus is sports, but I think he’ll go beyond that.”

Cleveland’s father thinks so, too, saying his goal is to see his son educated, become productive - and have sports as an outlet along the way.

“I will give him the best that I can so that when he’s out on his own, I’ll know I’ve prepared him well,” Alfred Cleveland said. “I love my son too much to just let him go.”