Goodbye, and thank you, Mr. Q
Published: 12/21/2010 12:22 AM
Last Modified: 12/21/2010 12:22 AM
You think Quinton Carter left his mark at Oklahoma as an All-American safety? You're wrong.
You know of Carter, but you haven't met Mr. Q.
He was precisely three steps through the East Norman KinderCare front door for his going-away party Monday night, when 4-year-olds in Miss Amy's class, the class Carter has adopted for the past year, ran up and threw their arms around his waist and legs.
"Mr. Q!" they squealed.
Mr. Q hugged back, pat their heads, then started weaving his way around the room. He passed the poster board with pictures of him reading to Kamuy, swinging Ashleigh on the playground, showing Coral how to roll a hoop and holding Sanjana for a photo opp that Sanjana herself had insisted on.
He passed the bulletin board crowded with more pictures, and newspaper and magazine stories about Mr. Q and his KinderCare class.
He passed tables of grateful parents, shaking some hands and exchanging more hugs.
Then he sat down and, for the next hour, he listened.
The parents spoke first.
One was a single mom and former athlete. She spoke of the influence Mr. Q had on her son, Caleb, called him "a very good role model," and said, "You don't see many athletes doing the things he does."
The next knew Mr. Q from both KinderCare and her Norman neighborhood, where Mr. Q volunteered his time one summer, playing football in the heat of the day with higher-risk kids. "You're exactly the kind of person we want our children to look up to," she told him.
A mother newer to town spoke of the change she'd seen in her son, Kolton, since Mr. Q had befriended him. A Kuwaiti couple spending the semester on campus talked about how their triplets had attached themselves to Mr. Q.
A mom beamed about how her little Jordan thinks it's Mr. Q every time she watches football. "Besides her daddy, he's her hero," she said.
Next to speak was Stacey Weddington, the Oklahoma City Memorial administrator who met Mr. Q through his involvement in the OU student activism group "Bridge Builders." She marveled at his ability to pull off 4 a.m. Memorial Marathon volunteer bus rides. She also said, "There are a whole lot of people better off by being your friend."
Dr. Lisa Portwood from OU's student advancement center "knew nothing about football" when she met Mr. Q. A friendship nonetheless bloomed, and when she suddenly lost her sister in December of 2008, she got a call from Miami. The Sooners' safety was putting his national championship prep aside to offer condolences.
Julian Wilson, the freshman defensive back from Southmoore currently redshirting, mentioned how Mr. Q volunteered to review plays and keep Wilson's head from spinning completely off during two-a-days. He mentioned how brain dead and rest-deprived he was at the time, and yet here Mr. Q was spending every free second with kids. He figured he'd tag along to see what this was all about. He did it enough to become Mr. Q's KinderCare heir.
He said he could never replace Mr. Q and here the sobbing began. First Wilson, then everybody else as he said, "Q, to me, is like a father away from home."
KinderCare director Wanda Ramirez was next, and it wasn't sobbing anymore, it was practical bawling. She remembered Mr. Q checking out the class for the first time and saying he wanted to adopt it as part of his community awareness. "I didn't know what we were getting into," she said, "but he changed my life."
Ms. Ramirez turned to the man of the hour and said, "Mr. Q, you are very special. You are a mentor, and a hero. You will be missed, but never forgotten."
Finally, it was Mr. Q's turn. He spoke slowly and softly, thanking everyone in the room, parents, teachers and mentors, for their influence, cooperation and care.
"As I move forward in my life, God knows where, I will always return," he said.
You'll read this, and recall Quinton Carter's tireless work with his SOUL Foundation and Bridge Builders, and his dedication to football camps back home in Las Vegas and to Thanksgiving feedings in his adopted home of Norman. You'll think how affirming it is to see an All-American safety become a young man.
Give it a second thought.
This seems more like a man who happened to become an All-American safety.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
