Manning High School's Class of 2015 got an unexpected surprise Wednesday night during a baccalaureate service sponsored by the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Former Gamecock football player Marcus Lattimore was the ceremony's guest speaker, and encouraged the graduating seniors to always look to God in their college and after-college lives.
"Nobody can take this moment from you, your graduating from high school," Lattimore said. "Let's face the facts: We live in South Carolina, where 40 percent don't graduate. You beat the odds, so congratulations to all of you. And to those parents, teachers, faculty, coaches, custodians and anyone involved in their lives, thank you, too."
Born in Duncan, Lattimore played for James F. Byrnes High School in his home town, and was the 2008 ESPN RISE National High School Junior Football Player of the Year. He chose the Gamecocks over Auburn University on National Signing Day, and joined the football team in the 2010 season.
"I chose Carolina because I felt comfortable there, and the guys going there with me, I felt comfortable with them," Lattimore said. "I was told very early that 'You're going to be the face of the program. You're going to change this program.' I was like, 'I'm not ready for this.' I wanted to decommit and wanted to go to another school. I was scared to death."
Lattimore said his first day on campus, he just remembered what his high school football coach told him.
"He said I should just be myself," Lattimore said. "He said, 'Just be you. Control what you can control That's all you're going to be able to do in the end. Control what you can control.'"
Lattimore quickly made a name for himself on the team, but he was beleaguered with injury after injury.
"In my second year, my grandmother died out of the blue," he said. "And then I tore my ACL. I didn't even know the extent of an ACL injury. And then my grandfather died."
Lattimore said that, shortly before his second season, he went to speak at an elementary school.
"A third grade class, this 9-year-old little girl changed my life," he said. "She asked my, 'How do you balance football, classwork, homework and being a Christian?' I gave her some bull answer, because I wasn't Christian. I'd grown up in the church, but I wasn't saved. I hadn't been living how I needed to be living."
He said when his grandmother and grandfather died and he suffered the ACL injury, he was glad for that little girl.
"If it hadn't been for getting saved after her comment, I wouldn't have had God while going through that," he said. "My faith is what got me through all that."
Shortly after going through the ACL tear, Lattimore dislocated his knee.
"Going into my junior year, I'm ready go, and I dislocate my knee," he said. "I tore every ligament. I was told I had a 20 percent chance of walking again. But my faith got me through it. God is always faithful. He always is."
Going into his senior year, Lattimore was drafted in the fourth round by the San Francisco 49ers.
"Everything leading up to that moment, every doubt, every fear, every thing that was going on in my mind, it all just went away," he said. "It wasn't my plan anymore. It was all God's plan."
Lattimore signed a four-year, $8 million deal on May 31, 2014, but just three months later was placed on the reserve, non-football injury list. He later announced his retirement from the NFL.
"Graduates, I was mad, I was," he said. "I was even mad at God. I wanted to know why. But I learned an important lesson through all of this."
Lattimore said he learned that when one tries to compare his life to someone else's, that person is stealing his own joy.
"Everyone's story is unique. It's your story. It's the story God gave you," he said. "It's the life God gave you. Yeah, I was mad. Yeah, I wanted to go in the first round. Yeah, I wanted to be in the Hall of Fame. But I was stealing my joy. I said, 'No, this is my story. This is the story God had for me, and I'm going to follow his plan.'"
Lattimore said he also learned that it's "OK to fail."
"I had to get back up many times," he said. "The first time I got injured, I didn't know what to expect. It was the longest nine months of my life. I had to have surgery, I had to go through rehab. I had to learn how to walk again. I had to learn how to run again."
"But I got back up," Lattimore said. "No matter what, you get back up. You trust in God. He is always faithful."
Photos by BREANNA BRADHAM / TIMES
