Corey Fuller may be best known as a former NFL defensive back that enjoyed a ten year career with the Vikings, Browns and Ravens. These days, though, Fuller is 45 years old and the head coach of East Gadsden High in Florida.
That’s not exactly a high-profile job, but Fuller has still managed to gain national headlines this week after a video of a rousing speech he made to his team was posted online. After a recent tournament, Fuller had the team bus make a detour and stop in front of the apartment building he grew up in.
In the video, Coach Fuller is seen standing in front of the apartments in the pouring rain addressing his team with an incredible amount of fire. It looked like one of those cheesy inspirational scenes from every sports movie ever, except it was completely real.
It was a light rain initially as Fuller spoke to his team. After three or four minutes, it began to rain harder. And harder. All that was missing was fire and brimstone.
It was around that time when volunteer assistant coach Courtney Wester pulled out his cell phone and videotaped the last rousing 40-plus seconds of Fuller’s passionate to his players in the full-throttle thunderstorm.
Here’s what he had to say in those final 40 seconds:
“I lived in there 21 years. Twenty-one years I stayed in these projects. It’s where I learned how to play football at. You all keep walking around like you’ve got something. I keep giving you all my soul every day and you all won’t listen. Nobody is not going to give us nothing. We’ve got to take what we want. You want to go to college? You want to get out of your situation? Work hard. That is why we came through here. My master bedroom is bigger than this whole house. I come from nothing. I don’t want to hear no more complaining from none of you all. All we want to do is work. Do you understand me?
Of course, Fuller got a “yes sir” from his team before they all filed back onto the bus. But it wasn’t until the kids got back to school that it became apparent that the message was heard loud and clear.
“They (players) were in shock,” Wester said.
“Everyone really started talking about it when they got back to school. Everyone must have watched the video 20-30 times or more. Their reaction was like, ‘We have to do this. We can make it.’
“They have heard about Corey. They know he played in the NFL, they know he played at Florida State. But for them to actually be in the projects where he grew up, to see where he came from and where he lives now, they were, ‘Wow, we can do this.’”
That’s a good speech right there.
(Via Tallahassee Democrat)
