His mother, Jackie, was a drug addict and prostitute who struggled to keep the family intact. That was the day she told him how he was conceived -- through a gang rape on the roof of an apartment building -- when she was 18. He was cut late in training camp by his first team, the Denver Broncos, but was signed by the Buffalo Bills and made the practice squad. At some point in his life,Nat Turner got kicked in the head by a mule. Explore a billion-year-old volcanic mystery on Lake Superior, A journey of the senses through Abu Dhabi, These Lake Superior islands are no place for amateurs. The skull has been in the museums custody for more than 4 years. The Razorbacks have one of the nations best track programs, and after moving to Fayetteville in the summer of 2018, Turner felt good about his decision. Its still funny hearing some of the stories.. Learn More. Only two men in the world this indoor season have gone so high. "The physicality of football allowed me to get my frustrations outI played so hard I'd be too tired to be upset.". A different skull, also reputed to be Nat Turners, was displayed and labeled as such at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, from about 1866 until sometime in the 20th century, surviving a catastrophic fire in 1901. Legendary Curtis coach Fred Olivieri knew exactly what Vernon had done -- and an eternal bond between player and coach was born. The first was decent but didnt clear. It was a book Turner felt he had to write, because he had been holding in a lot of angst and built up emotions for over 30 years. But available evidence strongly suggests that this sordid tale had a gruesome appendix, and there began the mystery of what happened to Nat Turners body, and whether part of it now resides in a lab of the Smithsonian Institution. For that alone, not to mention all the great coaches and great players that I was blessed to be around, they provided me with an opportunity to take care of my family.. With college aspirations in mind, Turner once again enlisted the help of his mentor, Olivieri. At 5-foot-8, 180 pounds, Turner was severely undersized, but he posted solid preseason numbersup until the final game. "She said she would need to split the kids up and that changed everything for me," said Turner. I convinced [my aunt] to stick around a little longer and I started doing things like cutting hair on the side to make some extra money. "No one will ever understand the pain and regret I have inside due to my past things that will haunt me until the day I die. Hayes was killed on May 18, and the next day (May 19), his . And on the subject of Nat Turners skull, the historical record offers no straightforward answers. Nat Turner looms large 190 years after his death. "I found a 10-pound weight in the weight room, unlaced my shoe, and tied it around my waist under my pants on weigh-in day.". He was a 21-year-old kid who had promised his mother before she died that if anything happened to his father, hed step up and assume the responsibility of the household. "People look at me like this guy is full of crap, they don't believe it all happened to me," he said. "I knew I had limited time, so I had to make something happen fast," he added. (Turner plans to visit Staten Island on May 13-14 and June 25 for book signings. Social vs. medical egg freezing: Whats the difference? He also went through a divorce toward the end of his playing career when he spent two seasons with NFL Europe teams trying to find a final road to football fame. And one day, sitting in his dorm room with his head hung low, Turner looked up at the television. "But football was the only thing I wanted to give my heart and soul to.". Vernon regularly visits schools to talk to kids about severe weather safety and preparedness. OU baseball rewind:David Sandlin's 'outstanding' outing highlights bounce-back week for Sooners. That went okay for a while. [8] The New York native finished his collegiate career ranked second in school history with 569 rushing attempts, and fourth with 2,851 rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns.[5]. You would never understand the suffering of people so long ago without the history. The return. said Turner. JAVASCRIPT IS DISABLED. He is writing a book on places of historic value that have been forgotten and are being reclaimed by nature. They had heard about his self-published 2012 autobiography, The Next Level: A Game I Had To Play. But Shatsky called Turner and told him not to unpack, because he was heading to Buffalo to be on their practice squad instead. And I had an okay college career, Turner says. You might say its the perfect Hollywood ending. Turners agent, Howard Shatsky, told him to always carry his gym bag around and whenever a scout was visiting for a workout, show up with his teammates. I may have been in a dark place for awhile. Curators are realizing that returning looted artifacts isnt closing museumsits opening new doors. But thanks to extraordinary circumstances a family seeking truth and science that can reach beyond the grave an ongoing forensic analysis may finally provide an answer. He was training, improving, growing. His skull and brain were then sent away for study. The Journal of Negro History article said Turners ear was kept as a curiosity somewhere in Virginia. Turner's outlook on football changed the very first moment he laid eyes on Walter Payton gracefully toting the rock against his hometown Jets in a preseason bout -- he was no longer a boxer. Nat Turner organized and planned to overthrow a system that supported oppression, he said. "I started cutting hair on the side, sold all my electronicsI begged her to hang in there while I finished school. Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Maybe 7-11. When people look at me, they see me smiling almost all the time, always with a positive attitude. The Denver Broncos picked up the phone, and Turner was heading to Colorado to join the likes of John Elway and Shannon Sharpe. I dont think I ever had a fear of not getting back where I was. When his flight touched down in NY, Olivieri was waiting at the airport. He moved to Staten Island New York in 1973. After going unselected in the 1990 NFL Draft, Turner was signed to a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. This memoir is a brutally honest and inspiring look back on the life of one of Staten Island's greatest football heroes. In 1831, during a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner, several people were killed at the site of the Whitehead house. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Marv [Levy] let us coach ourselves on the field during practice, and thats what made that group so special. Vernon Turner Meteorologist at Spectrum Raleigh, North Carolina, United States 2K followers 500+ connections Join to follow Spectrum North Carolina State University Activity On this Thursday I'm. The administrators family had kept it in a closet for decades. "He told me it was either that or I was the most gifted 14-year-old he'd ever met. "But that translated to me as he's telling me you don't have a chance. The Richard Porter House, where rebels found that the homes namesake had fled, was standing as late as a few years ago. And I don't think Vernon's height is really not the issue with some viewer's but I'm going to refrain from saying what I think it is! Accompanied by a small army of his brethren, the group fought their way through the countryside of Southampton County, Virginia, with hopes of ending the scourge of slavery. He wasnt invited to any senior bowls. County lore has it that at least one decapitated head was placed there on a pole as a warning of insurrections consequences. In fact, Olivieri spent so much time helping Turner that it prompted his wife to ask why. Ive been waiting years for this phone call.. Turner, a phenom when he was coming out of Yukon High School, How risky strategy propelled Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe to national title, Five things to know about the Sooners' first-round opponent, David Sandlin's 'outstanding' outing highlights bounce-back week for Sooners, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. You're only 15 years old right now, but I'm almost 50. Turner followed Payton's drills religiously. [6] Despite concluding his senior campaign only second in rushing yards to teammate Robert Thomas, he was selected to the first team All-South Atlantic Conference in 1989. He ended up writing a letter to his younger self for the Players Tribune, recounting significant moments in his life that set him on a rollercoaster course to the NFL. Turner was an educated minister. Covids return this winter, which caused Turner to miss multiple stretches of practice. All Turner has to do is sit back and watch as his inspirational true tale of how he somehow made it to the NFL and onto the Buffalo Bills is magically reinvented on the big screen for the world to see. Because I'm you, from the future. This guy actually lived the American dream.' He was released before the end of the preseason. The vast majority do not survive 24 hours. Her first nonfiction book, "Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League" is available now. He was unable to attend his induction in 2001. No less certain is the fate of Turners skull. Many facts, such as the precise number of people who died in the insurrection and subsequent reprisals, will never be known. Much more accurate, according to Blakey, is genetic analysis. The cast is almost set. He fathered two children, a daughter and son, out of wedlock while a college student in Tennessee and only recently did he meet his son, Darris, who tracked his father down through Facebook. "You're frustrated because you've been a parent to your younger brothers and sisters since you were a little kid yourselfcooking dinner, changing diapers, braiding hair -- things a mom is supposed to dobut she's always too "sick," wrote Turner in his letter. A road in Southampton County earned the name Blackhead Signpost Road. The book is broken into four sections -- football quarters -- and despite his troubled younger life, the essence of Turner has remained: He's still optimistic and determined. I just didnt know how long it would take.. The 42-year-old mother of eight died . Update: October 13, 1:45 p.m. The family has temporarily given the skull to the Smithsonian Institution, which will conduct a DNA test to determine if it is, in fact, Turner's. If the tests . tells the inspiring story of how the now 44-year-old Turner moved as a young child from the mean streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant to a quiet neighborhood in Sunnyside, where he discovered a love for football that took him from Curtis High School to Carson-Newman (Tenn.) College to an improbable NFL career with four different teams. OU vs. IUPUI women's basketball:Five things to know about the Sooners' first-round opponent, I had a lot going on outside track, Turner said. Setting everything aside, putting myself first, has helped me accomplish the things I wanted to.. "At that age I didn't want to hear that," he added. Whether any of these morbid relicswas actually once part of Nat Turner may never be known. Vernon Turner never imagined his life story would be turned into a major motion picture. People were talking about what Turner might do as a Sooner and maybe one day as an Olympian. Hatcher had received the skull from two Indiana civil rights activists, a husband and wife who themselves had gotten the skull from a longtime school administrator in Indiana. In Southampton, as elsewhere, Nat Turners Rebellion still sparks strong emotions. Turner talked to teammates, who encouraged him to meet again with VanHootegen. I will never, ever be able to pay back the Buffalo Bills for what they did for me, Turner confesses. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. (Hatcher died in 2019. Five years later, a Richmond Times article claimed that Turners skeleton was in Toano, near Williamsburg, being used for anatomical study by a local doctor. Why wetlands are so critical for life on Earth, Rest in compost? Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Nathanial "Nat" Turner (1800-1831) was an enslaved man who led a rebellion of enslaved people on August 21, 1831. After going unselected in the 1990 NFL Draft, Turner was signed to a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos. Just being out of the rhythm of competition has really messed with me, Turner said. "I decided right then and there that I wanted to play professional football," recalled Turner. But now, only South Koreas Sanghyeok Woo has jumped higher than Turners 7-7 this year. When the bloodletting ended, 55 whites lay dead. * Vernon attended Curtis High School (1983-1986) where he all-stared in football and track. Turner pours out the rest early in the book: He lost his mother during his freshman year in high school and his Italian stepfather, Sam, while in college. He thought it was important that people would know who the skull belonged to.. But Turner still got to experience the game from the sidelines. During the process, Turner was writing letters to Walter Payton, who responded with some of his own workout regimens. In the 185 years that followed the rebellion, Turner's place in history . Then Turner won the Big 12 Indoor in late February with a leap of 7-3. He did not compete last season, and the story behind his year away is both complicated and convoluted. They didn't know what I was going throughI saw the way they were looking at me and I didn't like how it felt, I cared. But its happening. It was just trying to figure out how to get back where I was. To this day, I call him and tell him how much I appreciate what he's done for me and my family.". Knowing how I was conceived, I chose football because I didn't like people looking at meI always had my helmet on. Nat Turner was an African-American slave preacher in Virginia who led the bloodiest slave rebellion in American history. Beginning late on the night of Aug. 21, 1831, Nat Turner, a 30-year-old, literate, enslaved preacher, launched a rebellion in Southampton County, intending to strike a fatal blow to the institution of slavery. He has been credited as a progenitor of jump blues and of early rock and roll. Reverend John Jackson of Trinity United Church of Christ started the prayer. Even though hes not back on the trajectory he had as a freshman, Turner still has lofty goals. Turner was sidelined. Shanna Batten Aguirre, a descendant of Nat Turner, holds a box containing what some believe is Turner's skull. Its not hard to find Southampton residents who refuse to speak to strangers about the event. Francis believes that any acknowledgment accompanying buried remains should be simple and respectful, something like Nat Turner, Leader of the Insurrection of 1831.. In 1892, The Roanoke Record said a city physician had a razor strap made from Turners skin: The strap is a plain affair, glued to a wooden back, and has evidently seen service although it is by no means worn out.. But this last season (2021) at the Olympic Trials, those sit on my head. With all he's accomplished and overcome, Turner travels as a motivational speaker these days. Cousins and two of Turners great-great-great-great-great-granddaughters, Shanna Batten Aguirre and Shelly Lucas Wood, took possession of the skull and turned it over to a team led by Douglas Owsley at the National Museum of Natural History for forensic analysis. But after another meeting with head coach Jim VanHootegem, Turner says he learned he wasnt going to get the scholarship boost. Sam, VT's stepfather, was a Jets season ticket holder -- and Jackie made Vernon promise that he'd accept an invitation if asked to attend a game, which he reluctantly did. He had four other people counting on him. They received it from Bob Franklin of Elkhart, Indiana, who says the skull was passed down in his family for three generations. OU coach Tim Langford and Turner himself credited Sooner vertical jumps coach Jerel Langley for his long work with Turner. One of his patients was the daughter of a physician who was present when Turners body was cut up. However, if you listen closely, you just might find him with one of the many instruments he knows how to play. Vernon Turner hasnt always called North Carolina home, though. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK or follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok. You either jump high enough or you dont. The chain of transmission includes Franklin and Cora Breckinridge, civil rights activists who donated the skull to Hatcher in 2002. A National Geographic team has made the first ascent of the remote Mount Michael, looking for a lava lake in the volcanos crater. One issue: There are potential competitors. With a special interest in severe weather preparedness, Vernon knows a thing or two about the importance of being a calm voice within the storm. The top three jumps at the 2016 Olympic Trials were 7-6, 7-4 3/4 and 7-3. These guys helped me mold myself into a professional athlete. After Turners death,local doctors mutilated his corpse. Reich, a geneticist, is a controversial figure among some scholars for assertions he has made about genetic variations between different races. "When I made the Bills I bought a Nissan Pathfinder and I asked coach if he could hold it along with my car during offseason workoutsI saved my money to pay off the truck, got the title, and when I got back home I picked up my car and he asked if I wanted him to follow with the truck," said Turner. A CT. Turner has participated in two Olympic Trials and no-heighted both times. Several had heard reports or read newspaper articles stating that the skull had been donated to Hatcher at a 2002 charity gala for the Civil Rights Hall of Fame, a museum project Hatcher has long championed. The OU high jumper hadnt cleared the bar at more than 7 feet in four years. At the time, the school still was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), earning five Division I national championships during the 1980s. I was just here practicing, he said with a glance around OUs indoor track. There are multiple theories about where it ended up, but one skull believed to be his is now in a laboratory at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., after a bizarre detour through Gary, Indiana. I still believed I was the best, even when I wasnt winning.. e. On May 16, 1918, a plantation owner was murdered, prompting a manhunt which resulted in a series of lynchings in May 1918 in southern Georgia, United States. Those goals are clear. It was his stepfather who took him to his first NFL game -- they took the train to Shea Stadium -- at the age of "10 or 11" and he was mesmerized by the Joe Namath-led New York Jets. This injury could be one piece of evidence that helps identify the skull at the Smithsonian as Turners, said Kelley Fanto Deetz, a Black history scholar who was a consultant for The Birth of a Nation, a 2016 film about the insurrection written and directed by Norfolk native Nate Parker. After the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2018, Turner says he was told his scholarship would be increased to a hundred percent. "I know you're frustrated. But within the past couple decades theres been a noticeable shift. [citation needed], National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, "Ex-NFL player Vernon Turner tells his story, no holds barred", "Carson-Newman carries on football successes", "CarsonNewman rushes to NAIA championship", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vernon_Turner&oldid=1131071940, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 11:55. The kids up and that changed everything for me, Turner & # x27 ; m almost.... Woo has jumped higher than Turners 7-7 this year to Walter Payton, who encouraged him meet... He told me it was just trying to figure out how to get the boost!, Rest in compost addict and prostitute who struggled to keep the intact... He said was signed to a hundred percent the next day ( May 19 ) his. Death, local doctors mutilated his corpse his skull and brain were then sent away study... Pole as a curiosity somewhere in Virginia with me, '' said Turner had limited time always... 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