Sunday, November 07, 1999Dillon proves you can go home
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerBengals running back Corey Dillon plays in his hometown today for the first time as a pro and there are 21 tickets waiting in Seattle instead of problems.
There will be his mother, his brothers, his father, and Nate Wells, his older cousin everyone thought was his uncle who used to come around school to make sure he was there working. And the people from church.
And Joe Slye, Dillon's coach at Franklin High School.
“He's more mature,” Slye said last week from the phone in the Franklin weight room. “Now he thinks before he acts. He knows he's responsible for his actions and that it not only affects him, but other people. The only problem I had with him was he was like a big puppy and he would joke around with the other kids and they would get intimidated by him because he was so much bigger.”
Fact is, Slye never had much problem with Dillon because Dillon's several run-ins with the law happened before Dillon even played varsity ball. Slye knows because his wife works in the juvenile department. So Slye knows everything about kids in the Central District.
“It's not as bad as people say. I feel like I can go anywhere there,” Dillon said.
“He got into trouble hanging with older kids,” Slye said. “He was just a kid, and they would have him do things that they would have gotten in trouble for doing, but since he was real young, nothing would happen to him. The big regret I have is he didn't choose to seal his records when he turned 18, and it's a shame because he'll have to live with it.”
So when Dillon came home from junior college and started tearing it up for the University of Washington, the bad stuff hit the papers. It got so bad, he left school early and came out in a draft where his past dropped him to the second round.
“It was sickening for my draft status to fall because of something I did when I was 15,” Dillon said. “That's pretty sad. No one is the same person coming out of college at 22 than when they were 15. I'm pretty sure you do a background check on everybody, and you'll find something that they shouldn't have done.”
He's clearly not the kid he was 10 years ago. Who is? In three years in Cincinnati, he has gone from an unsure rookie, to a brooding and inaccessible sophomore, to an outspoken veteran always available to fans and media.
With the growing frustration of losing, Dillon made headines a few weeks back by continuing his crusade for more carries and questioning play calling. But he has backed off.
“He probably said a few things he shouldn't have said, but he's still on the journey,” said Bengals special teams coach Al Roberts, Dillon's position coach at Washington. “Here's a guy I met in the halls at Washington who didn't have the right thought process. Now he does. The Bengals are where he's been the longest. He's had a lot of malehood around him and it's been great for him.”
Also great for him is Cameron, his 11 month-old daughter. He bought a house not far from the Central District in the South end, but now lives in Federal Way, about 20 minutes away, halfway between his neighborhood and his fiancee's parents.
There was one incident after his rookie season when Dillon went back to the old neighborhood in his $50,000 car with the music loud and tires squealing early in the morning and he ended up in jail after a confrontation with police he said was harrassment. An assault charge and DUI charge were dismissed. He had to take a class because of negligent driving, but that won't stop him from visiting the neighborhood.
“I paid my dues in Seattle,” Dillon said. “Nobody's going to run me from my home. I grew up there. If I can't go back to my old neighborhood without being harassed, that's not right. I took care of it in the proper manner.”
Dillon is just hoping people properly look at the man and not the kid.
MEDICAL MATCHUP: There's an interesting matchup on the right side of the Bengals' line today. Guard Jay Leeuwenburg, who has battled diabetes for 18 years, will at times block Michael Sinclair, last season's NFL sack leader who found out in the offseason he has diabetes.
Leeuwenburg, a member of three boards dealing with juvenile diabetes , will make sure he touches base with Sinclair after the game: “To my knowledge, I'm the only (NFL player) with Type 1 diabetes. It's a very small fraternity.”
Sinclair is thought to have type 2, which is controlled by diet and exer cise. But Leeuwenburg's body doesn't produce insulin and he h as to inject himself four times a day.
“Nobody else has ever given me an injection. My problem. My disease,” Leeuwenburg said. “If I didn't take shots, I'd probably be dead in a week.”
You can find Leeuwenburg in the locker room during lunch quietly checking his sugar levels. He has to monitor and adjust because each day brings a different level of activity.
“You don't have to live your life being sheltered and letting the disease control you.”
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