"Blind Ambition"
Despite his blindness, Davonte Pollard decided that he wanted to be a running back for the Braddock High football team. Mission accomplished.
Photo by Stuart Browning
Pollard (left) had the full support of
his team.
Photo by Stuart Browning
senior
Davonte Pollard was quite a youth athlete, excelling on both the football field and basketball court. They used to call him "Mini Deion" for his Deion Sanders-like prowess as a cornerback and returner on youth football squads, and also as a 6-year-old he played on 9-year-old basketball teams. But by the time he was 9 he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare and degenerative eye disease that eventually took away his sight. Rather than wither away — "I'm no crybaby," Pollard said — he pursued music and singing and aimed to be the next Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles. Then heading into his junior year, he had a clear inner vision, to play football again — running back, in fact. Braddock's big and strong but compassionate coach Frank Rojas didn't know how, but he said OK — "I called his bluff," Rojas said — and Pollard followed through. So did Rojas. Pollard carried once as a junior and as a senior he scored on a 2-point conversion.
Casting callWill Smith's son
Jaden Smith might be too obvious and too young (15), but at 5-7 and 150 pounds he's roughly the same size. By the time the movie is made, he'll be right at Pollard's football age. And he has the wild hair to pull off Pollard's look. Strong, silent type Benicio Del Toro could pull off Rojas without a hitch.
