USC offensive lineman has a changed outlook after the loss of four childhood friends
Terrence Campbell has always loved winning.
The sixth-year senior offensive lineman was always the first and last player to the trophies in the Gamecocks' 11-win season. Even after breaking his fibula against Clemson, Campbell carried the Hardee's Trophy to the fans because he believes they've been apart of the team's success in the school's first 11-win season. He did the same with the trophy the Gamecocks won in the Capital One Bowl, even though his leg kept him out of the game.
After all of the losses Campbell has suffered, it should come as no surprise as to why he savors the wins.
DeAndre Adams. Kenny McKinley. Jonathan Brooks. Tracy White. Campbell thinks about his four friends every day and refuses to forget. Their obituaries hang in his room.
The losses
Campbell grew up with Adams, McKinley, White and Brooks in Austell, Ga., where they all played football and basketball together in middle school.
Adams focused more on basketball when he got to high school, getting a scholarship to play at Winthrop University. He was competing in a summer league in Atlanta in May 2007, and after dropping off one of his Winthrop teammates, his car left the road, flipped and hit a tree.
"Once he went into a coma, we thought he was doing better and healing up," Campbell said. "We thought he was going to wake up, but the next day, he just passed away. He was just gone. It was a tragedy and not what you expected, especially for a young man who was as dedicated and worked as hard as him."
Three years later, the death of Adams couldn't even prepare him for the greatest trial of his life — the loss of someone he considered a brother.
When McKinley and Campbell both came to USC to play football, their bond strengthened. Nothing changed when McKinley, a former star wide receiver for the Gamecocks, was drafted by the Denver Broncos, as the two continued to talk every day. McKinley visited Campbell at USC for the Georgia game in 2010, during which he was on injured reserve for a knee injury.
"It was just the same ol' Kenny," Campbell said. "I didn't see anything different. I knew he was down and out because he was hurt, but I didn't see nothing that he would do something like that. He loved life."
Campbell will never forget the day McKinley was found dead in his home of an apparent suicide on Sept. 21, 2010, just a week after he'd visited Campbell in Columbia.
"We had just got done with practice, and we were about to do our sprints," Campbell said. "I was taking my stuff off and I felt somebody looking at me, and I asked [director of football operations Jamie Speronis] what he was looking at me for. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me they found Kenny dead. I was like, 'Kenny who? Who are you talking about?' They said McKinley, and I was like no. I just left the field. I went to my car, and I had 30 text messages and 20 missed calls — just something outrageous."
White died in March 2011 and Brooks just months later in May, both shot. The deaths continued to hurt Campbell, but nothing compared to the loss he'd suffered with the passing of McKinley. It made football challenging, as he struggled both on the field and in his relationships with his teammates, though they understood his pain.
"I was depressed," Campbell said. "I'm always a happy person and upbeat, but I was depressed. I wasn't talking. It was just shocking. I'd never lost someone that close to me."
The wins
After only starting in two games in 2010, Campbell came into the 2011 season with a new attitude, seeing the death of McKinley in a new light.
"It was a lot different for me," Campbell said. "I went into this year with a stronger mind-set. I went into this year with instead of me being depressed and down and out about [McKinley] being gone, I went into this year with him on my back and with him covering for me. We're going to get it. He's still here, and we're still going to live out our dreams."
On an offensive line that suffered injury and change throughout the season,
Campbell was the anchor, named a captain for the season. Campbell's leg wasn't healthy in time for the bowl game, but he's learned not to sweat the small stuff anymore.
"Kenny's death hurt me so much, but at the same time, it opened my eyes so much," Campbell said. "It hurt me so much to know that I lost my brother, a friend, a family member, somebody who truly cared for me — I can't explain the things that Kenny would do for me. I can't put it into words the things he would help me with. When I first got hurt when I came to USC, he came to visit me in the hospital. I would cry, and he would cry because I was hurt. You can't replace that kind of stuff."
The dreams
Campbell visits McKinley's grave whenever he's home in Georgia. Brooks' grave site is next to McKinley's, so Campbell visits them both at the same time.
Depending how long it's been since his last visit, Campbell will change out the flowers on McKinley's site or clean the headstone for Brooks.
"I talk to them just like I would talk to my homeboys here," Campbell said. "I try and tell them what's going on and everything that's happening. It's just like they're still here. I just ask to them to keep watching over me and keep being with me."
Campbell won't forget and he wants others to remember. He made several tributes to his fallen friends on Twitter by creating avatars for them. If Campbell is successful in the NFL, he wants to start charities for the friends he's lost.
"They really pushed me to the point I'm at today," Campbell said. "I want to keep their names alive because they deserve that. They're just as much a part of me as anyone else."
And who says you can't win for losing?