CALEDONIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Like many coaches who have influenced him, Sparky McEwen builds his football program on far more than the result of a game. In fact, earning wins is merely icing on the cake for Davenport University’s head football coach.
“Being my brother’s keeper, being the guy that looks out for my teammate,” McEwen said. “I always preach to them when the clock hits four zeros, it’s over. It’s back to the real world and the world of life, and life happens.”
On a Sunday night in November, life, in its most challenging form, happened to Davenport’s football family.
Senior defensive end Robert Clanton, along with teammates Malik Hayes and Meekah Ben-Israel, were pushing a car a short distance down 68th Street in Dutton to a gas station.
Malik Hayes during a Davenport football game during the 2019 season. (Courtesy Davenport University)
“It was the end of the season, so we had some banged up injuries so we were switching” who was pushing and who was steering, Clanton described.
Moments later, life changed for the three football players.
“Out of nowhere, a car just come flying and smashed Malik. I went to the front to get Malik. I didn’t know what was going to happen to him,” Clanton recalled. “It just felt like it was forever. It was just- That was the toughest time. You don’t know what’s going to happen at that point in time. All I really see is my friend with his bones out and blood everywhere.”
Neither Clanton nor Ben-Israel, who was in the driver’s seat, were injured. But Hayes, their teammate and close friend, was in a fight for his life.
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