Remembering James Ihedigbo as fierce competitor at Amherst Regional
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There's a buzz in the halls at Amherst Regional High School this week: Homegrown football star James Ihedigbo is playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday as a member of the New England Patriots.
Former teachers, teammates, coaches and administrators reminisced Monday about his time at the high school, describing a driven, hardworking student who was a fierce competitor on the athletic field.
School officials announced Monday that Ihedigbo will join 10 athletes, one coach and one team in the Amherst Regional Hall of Fame's 2012 class.
"He was probably about 5-6, 135 pounds but ... he played like he was 215 pounds," said Ken Jacque, a physical education teacher who was an assistant football coach when Ihedigbo played. "Our biggest fear was that he was going to hurt himself because he would try to separate people from their uniforms."
Former high school teammate Mike Ononibaku has a similar memory.
"In high school, not to say he was undersized, but he definitely wasn't the size he is now," said Ononibaku, "but he made up for it the way he played the game and the passion that he brings." He "was one of the guys you could depend on to make the big play."
Ihedigbo (pronounced ee-HEAD-ee-BO) is now listed at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, according to NFL.com.
He is remembered as a smart player.
"He was a student of the game," Jacque said."If it was third down there on the left hash and they were in a doubles formation he could probably tell you the two plays they were going to run."
"He was one of our vocal leaders," Ononibaku added. "He was my co-captain senior year. He had a huge presence in the locker room the way he does now, I'm sure."
Ihedigbo and Ononibaku worked out twice a day every summer during their high school years. They often ran the stairs at McGuirk Stadium at the University of Massachusetts.
It wouldn't be long, though, before Ihedigbo would be on the field at McGuirk.
After high school, he enrolled at UMass and joined the football team as a recruited walk-on by then-coach Mark Whipple, with no guarantee of playing time or a scholarship. He worked his way to becoming a starter and earned a scholarship. As a senior, he was named a Walter Camp All-American and helped lead the Minutemen to the 2006 Football Championship Subdivision championship game.
As a professional, Ihedigbo again found himself having to work his way in. He went undrafted and then was signed by the New York Jets in 2007. During his three years in New York, a starting job eluded him and he played mostly on special teams before his contract expired following the 2010 season. Last summer he signed with the Patriots. This season he became a starter at safety.
Charming, tenacious
"He loved being competitive and he never slacked, and those leadership qualities are helping him now," said Mary Custard, dean of students at Amherst Regional.
His former teachers recall the impact of his personality.
"Sometimes he tried to get around on his charm, and you could see him coasting around," former English teacher John Bechtold said. But "he had this focus like he turned on a light switch. When that switch was on he could lock in."
Amherst boys basketball coach Jim Matuszko chuckled when he described how his staff instituted the "technical rule" because of Ihedigbo. "James is the most competitive player I have ever coached," Matuszko said. "And not only did I coach him in basketball, I coached him in middle school football, and he was the scrawniest little kid out there and he was taking on the biggest kids, getting knocked down, getting back up. He never quit."
Matuszko would sit Ihedigbo for the remainder of the quarter if he got a technical. "He'd be ready to mix it up and he'd look over at the bench and I'd say, 'Don't do it,'" Matuszko said.
Sara Barber-Just, who taught him in her African-American literature class in 2000, called him a "thoughtful, engaged and respectful student."
"Today, I came across his intact writing portfolio from many moons ago, which included a strong essay on the role of women in Richard Wright's 'Native Son,a personal essay about his observations about racism in western Mass., and a beautiful creative piece in the voice of Randall Ware, a character in Margaret Walker's Jubilee, speaking to his lost love," she wrote in an email.
In his final reflection on the course, she said, Ihedigbo wrote, "Because I am a beautiful black man, I found the books and material in this course to be of great importance and interest."
"He also thanked me for being his teacher," Barber-Just wrote.
Custard says she is proud to see Ihedigbo's success in the NFL, but isn't surprised.
"Watching James with his friends and with his teammates, I always thought he was a leader," she said.
She, too, notes his hard-nosed approach to athletics. As she pointed down to the football field, a good distance away from the school, Custard said that where ever she sat in the building, she could hear Ihedigbo making a hit during his time in Amherst.
"He was passionate about it, he was focused. He loved the game," she said.
David Thompson, who is an assistant football coach at Amherst Regional and a former teammate of Ihedigbo's at UMass, pushed for his induction into the Amherst Regional Hall of Fame.
"He's a role model," Thompson said. "He is a hardworking guy and he has been doing everything he can to help his team win."
Meanwhile, players like junior Justin Carey are reveling in the glory.
Carey, who started at quarterback for the Hurricanes this past season, said he is proud to know where this particular Patriot came from.
"It's just really special to know he played here, the legacy he left behind," Carey said. "We just try to carry that tradition on, I guess. ... It's just pretty amazing."
Staff writer Mike Moran contributed to this report.
