Milwaukee Catholic Herald

‘I’m going to be one
of the statistics that made it’

Katrina dashed one dream, but Kalin Humphrey has others

By Amy Guckeen
Special to your Catholic Herald

A year ago, Kalin Humphrey, center, had hopes of playing Division I college football as he prepared for his senior year of high school in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina altered those plans, but strengthened Humphrey’s faith. (Photo by Mike Tucker, courtesy Messmer High School)

MILWAUKEE — A year ago Kalin Humphrey was a star on his high school football team in New Orleans, balancing his time between preparing for his role as senior football captain, track, choir, academics and shining in the eyes of Division I recruiters.

Then Hurricane Katrina struck.

“Something has to happen that will open your eyes to the power of Christ. I want to be a living testimony that he is real,” Humphrey said in a telephone interview with your Catholic Herald from Wisconsin Dells where he is working for the summer. “He can save your life. I’m not a survivor. I’m not the one who brought me through. I give that all up to God.”

Seeking refuge in Mississippi with his family and others until Katrina was over, Humphrey’s life as he knew it was over, but it was not enough to stop the 17-year-old from being thankful for what he did have — life.

“I felt like that was just murder, being in a house with 40-50 people,” Humphrey said of the experience. “But I had to put myself aside, when I knew that people I’d grown up with were down in New Orleans struggling. I had to man up and put myself aside and pray for those people less fortunate.”

Dreams of a potential college football scholarship crushed, Humphrey and his family set out for Milwaukee to join family already living in Wisconsin. Following the recommendations of his brother, Humphrey enrolled at Messmer High School and made the transition to a new life. First on the agenda to establishing normalcy was joining the Messmer-Shorewood football team.

“It was hard,” Humphrey said. “But football is always going to be football. You’re used to it one way and you have to learn the other. But I got respect from my teammates — we’re all athletes. I was fighting mentally within myself. It was hard to believe that my entire city was wiped clean. But despite it all I got a starting position at Messmer High.”

“Kalin fit into Messmer just like the piece of a puzzle,” said Joy Bretsch, athletic director at Messmer and one of Humphrey’s teachers. “He’s just amazing — a real role model that stood out; such a kind, gentle and caring young man. Through the football team he really got a chance to get to know the students, and he just adapted to his surroundings.”

According to Bretsch, being known as the kid that survived the hurricane got a little tiring for Humphrey, but he still says that Katrina is one of the best things to have happened to him.

“It gave me something to be thankful for,” Humphrey said. “Ever since you’re little it’s drilled into you — thank God because he woke you up this morning. I never knew what I was saying. It was all empty words. It means so much more now. My life could’ve been taken away in the blink of an eye. It’s so much clearer. The damage that it has done to me made me a stronger and better person simply because of my will. I know I can do it. If I know I can make it through this, I can make it through anything. It’s made me see Christ in a different way. It has changed me for the better.”

That change for the better has brought Humphrey to church every Sunday, thanking God for the gifts he has been given. Humphrey looks to use those gifts in a college setting. Humphrey has applied to UW-Green Bay, Madison, Oshkosh, Whitewater and Milwaukee. While he won’t be living the football dream, he still looks forward to the intellectual stimulation.

“I’m too driven not to go to college,” Humphrey said. “If I’m going to be a statistic, I’m going to be one of the statistics that made it — not just for my physical ability but for my intellect.”

For Humphrey, this drive for success is not necessarily something often seen among his peers back home in Louisiana — which is partially what leads him toward his goals.

“New Orleans is a rough city,” Humphrey said. “But I had the willpower to not become a statistic — and if I did become a statistic, I was going to be one of those who made it. I’m not a follower. I’m a leader. I wanted to follow my own treads. I grew up just like everyone else — but I was raised right and I know how to live right.”