Boy gets bittersweet look at his dad’s high school football highlights

By John Le

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Football can be a metaphor for life. The ups and downs are a test of resilience.

“You ain’t cheatin’ no one but yourself!” the Asheville Xtreme 9U team coach told his players with brutal honesty at practice recently. “I need that energy picked up. Y’all look like crap today, man!”

For some, the physical grind builds resilience for the long game outside the lines.

Quarterback Juelz Harper is a natural. His mom Nakosha Gibbs says it’s in the 9-year-old’s DNA.

“Being an athlete and being tough is in him. It’s inside of him. It’s in his blood,” Gibbs says.

No matter what Juelz does during practice these days, he can’t outpace the sad fact that so many of his memories with his father are by phone.

“Well, that’s what’s up, man, have a good practice,” his father, Willie Harper, told him.

“OK,” Juelz replied.

“I love you,” his dad said.

In 2017, Harper was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

“I was smarter than that, and I know it was stupid,” Harper told News 13. “It was the fast money. That’s my biggest regret is dealing with drugs and putting myself in that situation.”

It’s especially crushing because of the time lost with his little boy.

“Oh man, it’s the hardest thing I got to deal with and think about every day,” he said.

“Sad,” his son says flatly. “Because every boy has to have a man in their life.”

“It’s rough,” his mom said. “Because I can hug on him and kiss him and tell him that it’s gonna be alright, but it ain’t gonna be alright until his daddy comes home, you know.”

Willie’s release is set for December of 2023. In the meantime, Juelz turns to football as an outlet for his pent-up emotions.

“How good can you be?” I asked him.

“At least better than him,” he said, referring to his dad.

Willie was a force at running back for AC Reynolds. As a freshman, he fueled the Rockets to a state championship. When he graduated in 2006, he was the school’s all-time leading rusher. He’s still at the top of the list.

“He was one of the best. No one has beat his yards — rushing yards,” Juelz says.

He’s heard a lot of tall football tales, but he and his mother had never seen his highlights until we showed him footage from our News 13 archives.

“Look at him, Ju, ha ha ha!!” Nakosha said to her son, cheering as if she were in the stands at a Reynolds game in 2006.

“Ooh… can you do that?” she said to Juelz.

“No!” he acknowledged.

Seeing his daddy’s touchdowns was a long time coming.

“Speechless, I don’t have no words for it,” Gibbs said. “That right there, I know it’s gonna make my son play harder and feel more closer to his daddy, seeing that. I thank y’all so much for that.”

Juelz didn’t say much, but he didn’t really have to. His face said it all.

“So to see it and to watch it with my son — priceless. We needed that. We needed that,” said Gibbs.

“We seen you jumpin’ over like 15 players!” she laughed to Willie during their nightly phone call from prison.

“You see where you got them (sic) skills from?” Willie said to Juelz.

“Yes,” he answered.

After AC Reynolds, Willie also played a couple of years at Western Carolina University. But his life after football is a cautionary tale.

“Every time I lay down at night, that little time I got before I go to sleep, that’s all I think about is my son and me not being able to be there,” he said. “My biggest regret is dealing in drugs, putting myself in the situation to be taken away from my son and away from my family for this long.”

“He’s a good man. He’s a good person. Made one bad mistake, and here we are,” Gibbs.

Their family conversations are bittersweet.

“Alright, love y’all,” Willie said on the phone.

“Love you too,” Gibbs told him.

Football gives Juelz an escape from things he can’t control. His motivation is driven by both family pride and family pain beyond words.

“I know he’s out there doing it for me and his daddy,” Gibbs said. “He’s letting off all that negative steam that he’s built up inside.”

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