‘I made it out:’ Football helped Riders’ Davis escape streets of hometown

Camden, N.J., isn’t a place anyone would call paradise, but Dyshawn Davis called it home.

Camden has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S., with drugs, gangs and guns being almost unavoidable.

“A lot of people living in poverty,” said Davis, a 26-year-old linebacker with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. “Growing up, I never got into those things. I always did the right things and stayed away from negative people and made good decisions but I was exposed to a lot and I learned a lot.”

But that didn’t mean Davis could avoid interactions with the police.

When he was 12 years old, one of his friends committed a robbery on a similar dirt bike to the one Davis had.

“I ended up getting caught up in it because I fit the description and, being 12 years old, I just ended up running away,” Davis said. “I ended up getting arrested for it but they let me go because I was young and I didn’t have anything to do with it. But it was one of those wakeup calls where I just need to separate myself and stay away from things like that.”

His parents gave Davis every opportunity they could for him to succeed. He knows it was tough for them since they were both young when he was born — his dad was 15 and his mom was 17.

“They gave me everything I ever needed or everything I ever wanted,” Davis said. “It might not have been the best decision (for them) but it was the best decision for me. They were kids that had a kid and they made decisions that helped me become who I am and they sacrificed a lot.”

In order to keep Davis off the streets and away from falling in with the wrong crowd, his parents enrolled him in a bunch of after-school activities, including karate.

When Davis was set to go to high school, he moved out of Camden and in with his dad, who lived 20 minutes outside the city in Woodbury.

“I think if I would have went to high school in (Camden) I could have got caught up in who knows what,” Davis said.

Davis knows he’s lucky to have avoided falling into a life of crime or drugs that claimed so many of the youth in Camden. Davis recalled looking at a photo of his championship football team from when he was seven years old.

“I remember being a sophomore in college and looking at that picture and 85 per cent of the guys (in the photo) were either dead or in jail,” Davis said. “It gave me that edge to just keep going.

“I came from nothing. I come from a place where it’s hard for a young black minority to make it out of that situation and I made it out.”

After finishing high school, Davis was intent on continuing his football career. Syracuse University was interested in adding him but he wasn’t offered a scholarship. Despite that, and not having much money, Davis got his uncle to drive him to a camp at the college.

“On the way back we ran out of gas so we asked a bunch of people on the side of the road for money,” Davis said. “We got the gas money in like 2.5 seconds. People were handing us $5 and $10. That was a blessing and I was grateful to see people helping me out.”

Davis would eventually end up playing four years at Syracuse, becoming the first person in his family to graduate from college.

Davis was given an opportunity with the NFL’s Washington Redskins but he was cut after training camp in 2015.

“I was sitting at home and waiting for the next opportunity,” Davis said. “I went back to Syracuse and started working up there.”

After he found a new agent, the B.C. Lions eventually gave him a call.

He spent three seasons with the Lions, playing 22 games before signing with the Roughriders this past off-season.

Now four years into his professional football career, Davis knows the sport was the saving grace for him.

“It gave me a vision, it gave me a focus, it taught me how to be a part of something bigger than myself and it taught me how to work together with teammates and how to be first-class,” Davis said.

Davis is suiting up for his second game with the Roughriders on Thursday, when they visit TD Place to take on the Ottawa Redblacks.

Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show gets underway at 3 p.m.