By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Ryan Henry could have been just another kid lost to the mean streets of inner-city Miami. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, but, as he says, "the hood" was just blocks away.
"That's where most of my friends lived," he said. "That's where I spent my time.
"Most of my friends were on a different path doing negative things. I didn't really take life seriously."
Going to school, staying out of trouble, getting into college or getting a good job, those things weren't important to his friends, and for the longest time, not for him, either.
His father, Charles, a former University of Miami football tight end who played briefly for the Miami Dolphins, worried about his son and did everything he could to save him. He was involved with his teachers, counseled his son, and often took time out of his job as a security guard at Baptist Hospital of Miami when his son got in trouble in school.
"I would go and study with him at the library," Charles Henry said.
For the longest time, his efforts were futile.
Though a gifted athlete, Henry didn't play high school football – he didn't try out or was academically ineligible.
He flunked a summer school course he had to pass to play before his senior year at Southridge High School and watched from the stands as the Spartans won a Florida state championship.
He graduated from Southridge without having played a down of football. "I didn't have even 10 seconds of film," he said.
Yet amazingly, nearly five years later, Henry is not only starting at linebacker for Old Dominion, but he is also ODU's leading tackler.
Saturday night he returns to his hometown as ODU (2-6 overall, 1-3 Conference USA) visits Florida International (1-7, 0-4) at FIU Stadium. His father, brother, Charles Jr., and sister, Chandra, will attend the game, as will other relatives and many of his friends.
The story of how a rebellious young man who didn't play high school football transformed himself into a disciplined, college football starter is a tribute to his perseverance and fierce determination.
And also, to a father's love.
Charles said things began to go south with his son when he and Ryan's mother, Eunice Gibson, separated in 2012. Charles took custody of the three children, and although the split was amicable and Gibson remains very much in her children's' lives, divorce is always tough on kids.
Shortly after the split, Charles decided to go back to the University of Miami and get his degree and in 2015, 27 years after his last football game with the Hurricanes, he got his diploma.
It was a tough time for Charles as he worked full-time, was in school and also a single father.
Charles Henry said that something clicked in his son after his senior year in high school.
"He saw his friends getting scholarships, and going off to school, and it kind of ate him up a bit," he said.
But the turning point came when his dad took him to a University of Miami football game. Charles Henry played football with Michael Irvin, the former Miami and Dallas Cowboys star and current NFL Network analyst.
"I played with Michael and we used to sit together on the plane on roads trips," Charles Henry said.
Charles and Ryan Henry
"I saw him at a game and said, 'you need to talk to my son.' When I explained what was going on, he immediately jumped up.
"I told him he's a good athlete but isn't doing all the right things. He knows what I was going through because his son plays too."
Irvin told Ryan about the discipline, hard work and sacrifice it took for him to be successful.
"It seemed like after that, Ryan never looked back," Charles Henry said.
Ryan Henry said he realized how much time he'd wasted and was determined to make up for lost time.
"I always knew I'd play football," he said. "But for some reason, I always felt like I had time to do that down the road."
It turns out, he had just enough time. He enrolled at ASA junior college in Miami and walked onto the football team. He had a need-based scholarship that paid tuition, but his father had to pay for his room and board that first year.
By his second season, Henry had earned a scholarship and was starting.
The transition of going to class and playing football can be a challenge for even the most disciplined of players. It was more difficult for Henry, who'd never done that before.
He relied on his father, who had seen it all through his career. 'I know you're tired, and don't want to get up, but you've got to go to class,' Ryan said his father would tell him.
His teammates, friends and fans he's met have all asked why someone so fast, so strong and so talented didn't play high school football.
"I had to tell the same story so many times," Henry said. "It was kind of hard for a lot of people to believe."
After two seasons at ASA, Henry considered transferring to Florida Atlantic and FIU, but said he realized he'd be better off getting away from his friends in Miami.
"I wanted to go someplace I could help, someplace I could fit in," he said, and ODU was that place.
Henry was an edge rusher when he played for ODU during his first season in 2019. Fortunately, the staff understood that he had much to learn and limited his playing time to four games, meaning he was able to redshirt.
When the staff resigned following the 2019 season, new defensive coordinator Blake Seiler recognized Henry was a natural inside linebacker and he's thrived at that position.
He's had 54 tackles in ODU's eight games and rarely comes off the field. Jordan Young, the senior who is third among ODU's all-time tacklers, is second at 53.
Seiler said when he learned that Henry was from Southridge High School, he knew he was missing a big part of the story.
"I was down there recruiting several of his teammates," said Seiler, who coached at West Virginia before coming to ODU. "I told Ryan, 'I don't remember you.' And that's when I learned his story.
"I love that kid so much because of what he had to overcome. Ryan's dad deserves a lot of credit. He's done so much for Ryan and his other kids."
Ryan Henry's struggles weren't over after he arrived at ODU. Shortly after head coach Ricky Rahne and his coaching staff were hired, the pandemic shut down ODU and every other school in America. ODU athletes went home and for months took classes online and met with their coaches on Zoom.
It was five months before football players came back on campus, and shortly after they did, they learned the 2020 season would be cancelled because of the pandemic.
"It was a real tough process," Henry said. "I talked to my dad every day. The fact that I had him under my wing, that I had someone who had actually been through the process, that helped me a lot.
"I'll be honest, if I didn't have someone who I was comfortable listening to, if I didn't have my dad, I don't think I would have been able to get through all of it.
"Coach Seiler, he was always available to talk to us. He's such a good coach. He gets the very best out of all of us."
ODU lost several players in the transfer portal. Henry said David Blackwell, ODU's defensive coordinator in 2019, gave him sage advice about staying.
"He told me 'keep your grades up and do everything the new coaches tell you,' " Henry said. "He told me that he knew I can play and that the new coaches would like me, too."
Henry said regardless, the transfer portal was something he never considered.
"I'm a huge fan of being loyal," he said. "Usually, when I set my mind to be somewhere, I'm going to stay there.
"The guys here, my teammates, they're my brothers. That's why I stayed."
Henry had a lot to learn when he switched to linebacker.
"He was having to make the calls, having to make reads and had complicated coverage responsibilities," Seiler said. "He's come light years from when he started and he's growing every week.
"The thing about Ryan is that he wants to be good, he wants to be great. He works to get better every day."
His father recognizes a drive in his son that he didn't have.
"I've often told him that I didn't put in the effort that you have," Charles Henry said. "I really didn't apply myself like he does.
"He keeps a chip on his shoulder. He wants to be the best. If you beat him in a race today, he wants to beat you tomorrow. He never quits. He always keeps a underdog mentality.
"He knows how much football he missed and how much more he has to learn."
Charles Henry has regrets about his playing career that go beyond his work ethic. He said he took his father, who he lost to cancer in his mid-20s, for granted.
"I tell my son that I wish I could talk to my dad," he said. "I never really called home like Ryan does. As a kid, you're just into your life.
"Ryan is really good about that. He stays in touch, both with me and his mother.
"I often say that in some ways, my kids raised me. I've learned so much from them."
Saturday's game at FIU stadium will be a triumphant homecoming for Henry, who will be playing college football in his hometown for the first time.
"Ryan has come so far," Charles Henry said. "He was able to put everything else aside and work hard. I know that wasn't easy.
"He told me when he went to ODU that he was going to give it his best shot. And he really has. I'm so proud of him."
Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot, Minium covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
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