D-Mo a friend to all who knew him

Lacardo Means said he picked up the phone at his Thomasville home and heard the voice of his son, Nick, on the other end.

“I don’t think my boy is going to make it,” Nick told his father.

“His boy” was Darris Morris, a teammate of Means on the Catawba College football team.

Means had been through the South Atlantic Conference wars with Morris, but this was a war Morris, who went by the nickname D-Mo, wouldn’t win. Means was actually standing nearby as paramedics tried to save a young man that had become one of the most popular faces on campus.

This weekend, students, staff and friends of the college are mourning the loss of Morris, a 6-foot-5 225-pound linebacker who always had a smile and a handshake waiting on everyone he met.

Athletic director Dennis Davidson and head coach Chip Hester both said this was the greatest time of Morris’ life. He had just finished his senior season as an All-SAC performer. There were pro scouts wanting to know more about him.

And best of all, he was on schedule to graduate in May with a degree in business administration.

Davidson remembers a conversation with former head coach David Bennett last fall.

“I told him, ‘That guy has really changed.’ He was so quiet to me. But one Tuesday morning on campus, he went out of his way to say hello to me. He has really grown as a person.”

Former defensive coordinator Richard Kent recruited Morris out of Batesburg-Leesville (S.C.) High School, where Morris starred in football, basketball and track.

Bennett raved about him even after a knee injury sidelined him after four games of the 1998 season.

By the 2001 season, he had joined Shawn Sanders, Todd McComb and Shawn McBride to form one the best linebacker corps in Division II. In fact, each made all-SAC this past season.

“After the knee injury, he really committed himself,” Hester said. “What a team leader. He came into his own. He blossomed as a person.”

Means and his teammates met outside Goodman Gym at 2 p.m. Saturday for a meeting with Hester.

Earlier, Means and his family were walking toward his dorm, but he suddenly veered away from his parents.

“I was wondering where he was going,” said the elder Means. “He went right back to where it happened, got on his knees and, I guess, said a little prayer.”

Morris was like a member of the family. He ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Means family. They were planning on inviting him to go to Orlando, Fla., with the AAU team that Lacardo Means coached.

“When Nick was a freshman, D-Mo and Shawn Sanders, but especially D-Mo, took Nick under their wing,” Lacardo said. “They had a photo taken together with the words ‘Brothers for life.’ My daughter showed that to me this morning.

“I stayed with the boys last night,” he continued, “and I went home today to take a shower. I cried all the way home and all the way back.”

Davidson said it was an eerie feeling during the team meeting.

“Not a lot was said,” he recalled. “Seeing those big guys so emotional was tough to take.”

“That football team is a family,” stressed Hester. “They’re tight. “I told them that they have to live every moment to the fullest. You’re not promised tomorrow.”

But they are promised memories of a good football player — and a better friend.

Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .