Hard times linger in the memory of L’Damian Washington, never more so than when he returns to the Cooper Road.
An area of Shreveport, La., where, as TheLousinarappers put it: “It’s the kind of place everybody can’t go. Where you might find yourself getting up off the floor.”Where a 5-year-old boy can be told his father was shot and killed. Where, on Dec. 28, 2006, the boy, merely 15, emerges from a Green Oaks High School basketball game to see his mother prostrate on a bench, a little brother crying, and hears later his mom died from complications of a blood clot in her leg on the way to the hospital.But the sun also shines on the Cooper Road.Like the smile on Washington’s face as the neighborhood, the mayor and seemingly every man, woman and child in his hometown have welcomed home a favored son and his University of Missouri teammates.Monday’s Independence Bowl between two 7-5 teams — North Carolina and Mizzou — is special because of wide receiver L’Damian Washington.Shreveport knows the tragedies of his early years. But it knows Washington’s triumphs, too. How a then-high school sophomore gathered older brothers La Courtney and Tobias and youngest brother Tomarious together after his mother’s death and resolved they should stay together.With the support of friends and family, they did. They remember in Shreveport how L’Damian excelled academically and athletically at Green Oaks and then went on to Mizzou without ever once shirking a responsibility, even one that might have belonged to another.“One of my biggest fears is failure,” Washington said. “They were leaning on me so much. My older brother (La Courtney), he looks for inspiration from me. I tell him all the time, ‘If I can be half as great as you think I am, I’m going to be all right.’ ”Will Missouri coach Gary Pinkel do the right thing and put Washington into the starting lineup for Monday’s 4 p.m. kickoff?It would be a first for Washington, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound sophomore, but it wouldn’t be merely a politically correct move. Washington has caught 17 passes for 317 yards this season, and his average of 18.6 yards per catch leads all Tigers.But Washington does not need that validation.Three years ago, the city of Shreveport sent Washington off to Mizzou with a day in his honor. On Wednesday, he came back to receiver the Mayor’s Award of Excellence.“He is the King of Shreveport,” was how teammate Dominique Hamilton put it.No Tiger was more excited to hear of Missouri’s bowl destination than Washington. But no other Tiger passed on the opportunity to show his excitement, too.“I told him the first thing we’re doing is going to your house,” said fellow receiver T.J. Moe. “He’s been to my house plenty of times. It’s not very often I get to go down to Louisiana. You’d better give me a good tour. You’re from there.”Washington has reveled in the joy of introducing his Mizzou family to his Shreveport family, including trips to the three-bedroom house where his three brothers, one of the brother’s girlfriends and that brother’s young daughter live.“It’s five minutes from downtown,” Washington said. “Not one of the nicest areas. So definitely when guys go out, they’ll be around me.“A lot of guys want to meet my brothers because I talk about them all the time. That’s the reason why this team and Mizzou is family. The first thing those guys said was, ‘We’ve got to meet your brothers.’ ”There is no part of Shreveport that Washington will not show his teammates. He’s proud of his hometown, of its triumphs over its own struggles.“They want to go here, to go there,” he said. “They want me to show them this place, that place. I’m definitely up for it. I want to show the guys a good time in my hometown.”Washington especially would like nothing better than serve up a bowl of gumbo to every player and coach from Mizzou, because, as he put it, “Everybody needs a great bowl of gumbo.”Gumbo is to Shreveport what barbecue is to Kansas City. There are all sorts of flavors and tastes. But the best, Washington said, is cooked by his aunt.“We have crab legs, shrimp, sausage, chicken,” Washington said. “Oh my God! Everything.”Take it on trust, from the King of Shreveport.
Independence Bowl
•WHO: Missouri vs. North Carolina•WHEN/WHERE: 4 p.m. Monday in Shreveport, La.•TV/RADIO: ESPN2, KMBZ (98.1 FM, 980 AM)
•WHO: Missouri vs. North Carolina•WHEN/WHERE: 4 p.m. Monday in Shreveport, La.•TV/RADIO: ESPN2, KMBZ (98.1 FM, 980 AM)
