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“Once in the conference finals, we were down by 6 and there were 20 seconds left on the clock. My dad, I mean, the coach calls out a play. He waves it off, calls different audibles for the offensive line and the receivers, and then, in the middle of everything, invents a play on the spot.
“On the sidelines, we’re like, “What are you doing?” But then they hike the ball, Claude dances between the defensive line that pours through the offense like a sieve. We’re thinking, he gone. But as if a miracle, an opening the size of the red sea parts.
“How? We don’t know. All we know is that Claude is suddenly running through it. And he’s going and going. We thought he was gonna go all of the way until, out of nowhere, a cornerback is right on top of him.
“That’s when an amazing thing happens. He fumbles the ball from contact with his own body. The ball pops up and our wide receiver, who is somehow there, scoops it into his arms and runs it into the end zone.
“The crowd went wild. The receiver was given the game ball. He became a legend for rescuing our disaster of a quarterback.
“But the thing is, the coach and I studied his play. The play Claude called would have put the receiver exactly where he needed to be to pick up a fumbled ball by a quarterback who had run the field and had accidently made contact with the ball because of pressure from an approaching cornerback.
“The entire play was intentional! He had come up with this on the fly with 20 seconds left and the game on the line. It’s beyond incredible! And that isn’t even the only time,” I said feeling my eyes burn and my nose getting stuffy.
“I could give you story after story of him seeming like he didn’t know what he was doing, or waving off our plays and calling his own where because he did it, we won the game. Yet if you ask him if he meant to do any of it, he’ll say, “No. I guess I just lucked out.”
“The man took us to three division titles. No one is that lucky. He is the most brilliant player I have ever seen in my life. And it’s because of him that my father has his job and I’m an assistant coach in the NFL. He’s just amazing!” I said tearing up.
There was silence.
“Claude Harper?” Nero asked again.
“Yes, Claude Harper! The amazingly brilliant Claude Harper,” I told him with a teary-eyed smile.
“Shit!” Nero exclaimed.
“Did you know any of this?” Caged asked Cali.
Cali was speechless.
“I… I… No,” he said looking disturbed.
“You’re making this up?” Nero protested.
“No. That’s why I’m here.”
“So you’re saying that Claude did all of this, won three national titles, and never shared of word of it to anyone?” Nero asked.
I considered his question.
“I mean, if you know Claude, I guess it’s not that surprising,” I conceded.
“Do you know who that is?” Nero said pointing at Cali.
“Who? Cali?”
“Otherwise known as Claude’s brother,” Nero explained.
“What?” I said turning towards the good-looking white guy in front of me.
“We’re half-brothers,” Cali explained.
“You’re his brother?” I asked wondering how much he knew about me and what I had done.
“Me and Titus.”
“Claude has two brothers? He never mentioned that to me,” I said shaken.
“Were you two close?” Kendall asked.
