Miami Student

Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Sports

Running back Jimmy Calhoun is nearly one year removed from his career-ending injury in the 2007 spring game.

To some individuals, football is more than a game; it is a lifestyle-a lifestyle that could be taken away at any given moment. An injury in football can act as a real gut-check to a player as the road back to success can be physically and psychologically damaging.

For Miami University running back Jimmy Calhoun, his moment to face adversity came during 2007 spring ball practice his sophomore year. After being pushed in the back, Calhoun heard his left knee pop, the same way it did in a baseball game his senior year of high school.

That pop Calhoun heard had torn three-fourths of his patella tendon away from his left kneecap, but without realizing it, he continued to participate in summer workouts.

"Summer workouts were awful; I was literally in tears after every conditioning session (because) my knees hurt so bad," Calhoun said. "I was taking 13 Aleve's a day. I was going through bottles like Skittles. It was ridiculous."

Born and raised in Middletown, Ohio, Calhoun was raised in a family where football was a way life. Every male in his family for over three generations played college football. His dad and uncles played for Marshall University, while his cousins have played at Georgetown, Purdue, Tennessee-Martin and Mississippi universities.

"Football: it's like a religion, its all we do," Calhoun said. "I always wanted to play baseball, but I had to play football, it's just what you do."

Calhoun's father offered him 50 dollars in the third grade to give the game a try. He took his money and never looked back.

His career began with a great deal of success at a young age, playing running back and averaging 56 yards per carry and five touchdowns per game in two seasons at Varity Middle School.

Calhoun's size and speed allowed him to succeed at the next level and become the only freshman to start a varsity game at Middletown High School. Scouts were so impressed with the young athlete that he received his first college letter his freshman year from the University of Illinois.

Calhoun displayed why he belonged on the varsity team at such a young age when he took his second carry from scrimmage 78 yards. Later in a successful high school career, Calhoun made Middletown history after rushing for 336 yards, second most all-time for the school, on nine carries in a game against Cincinnati Oak Hills.

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