Players such as Gilmore, Clowney help make Rock Hill ‘Football City’
Taking a break from a tag football scrimmage during his youth football camp Wednesday, Stephon Gilmore stepped toward the sideline to snap a photo with a fan.
“Celebrity timeout,” yelled Devonte Holloman, who starred alongside Gilmore on South Pointe’s juggernaut 2008 state championship football team and at South Carolina.
The pair were joined by other former USC players, including Jadeveon Clowney and Johnathan Joseph, for Gilmore’s first youth football camp in Rock Hill since he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2012.
A grinning Gilmore yelled back at Holloman’s mocking with a “c’mon man!” and jogged back into a game involving no one older than middle school-age. Gilmore has never been one to boast about celebrity, but he is aware of the unique platform from which he can address kids, especially those in his hometown.
“I always wanted to go to camps growing up and they didn’t really have any camps in Rock Hill,” Gilmore said. “I always said if I made it to the NFL I would come back and do some camps for some kids and help motivate them to get to where I’m at.
“I went to this high school, it brings back memories and we’re just coming out here trying to have a good time, and teach the kids some fundamentals and teach them how to compete.”
“This is a new era for Rock Hill,” said Linda Gilmore, Stephon’s mom and the camp’s T-shirt maven. “It’s supposed to be the Football City, right?”
Few in Rock Hill could provide a better role model than Gilmore. He not only stood out on the football field but was also did well in the classroom.
“The most important thing is what Stephon just talked to them about right there, that this is all about hard work,” said South Pointe football coach Strait Herron. “Football is fun but there’s a lot more that goes into it. The grades, the character, and then of course, football is really last.”
Herron remembers Gilmore showing up early before school for study hall and tutoring, and then more tutoring sessions in the afternoon.
“It’s not lip service,” Herron said. “He worked really hard with football, and in the classroom.”
Gilmore married to his college sweetheart, former South Carolina track and field standout Gabrielle Glenn, last year. They welcomed their first child, a boy named Sebastian, about three months ago.
“Having his own kid, he sees little boys differently,” said Linda Gilmore, the newgrandmother. “He’s always around men when you play football. I think it makes him want to give back even more.”