'Everything is for him:' How this football player became stronger through fatherhood

Khalid Dorsey considers his 80-yard touchdown run against Shepherd last season perhaps his most memorable football moment.

Not for what it meant on the field. It occurred early in an eventual 30-13 loss for Dorsey and his Shippensburg teammates.

But Dorsey knew who was watching him run.

"My mom told me my son was watching live. When he heard 'Dorsey' he was like, 'Oh, that's daddy,' and started running just like me," Dorsey said. "That made my heart warm knowing my son actually notices me."

A 2018 York High grad, Dorsey will enter his fifth and final college football season this fall. After three seasons at Shippensburg, he's transferred to NCAA Division II PSAC powerhouse Slippery Rock for the last chapter of his college career.

But Dorsey hasn't just balanced sports and academics in college. He became a father to his son, Kiyan, in December 2020. He raises the 2-year-old with Kiyan's mother, Iceiis Mable, and the help of their families.

At a time when he was struggling with grades and his mental health as the COVID-19 pandemic put his football career on hold, Dorsey needed to take on more responsibility than he thought he could. Just 20 at the time, he admitted it was challenging.

But Dorsey believes he has found his purpose through fatherhood. Previously someone who had aspirations of playing professionally, he now realizes that isn't the end goal.

"When my son was born, I knew it was no longer about me," he said. "Everything I did was now for him. If I didn't want to do something, I would think about the two-month old at home.

"He needs me."

Adversity takes a toll on football, academics

When Dorsey was a child, his mother would worry about him "getting caught up with the wrong kids at the wrong time."

Football became his "calling" and motivation to stay out of trouble.

He started playing the sport at age 7 and by high school learned there were consequences for his actions. If he wanted to stay on the field or participate in one of York High coach Russ Stoner's Accountability for Life events, he needed to keep his grades up.

"As a single mom, it game me assurance he was going to be in the right place," Terrell Condrey, Khalid's mother, said. "He wasn't going to let anyone stop him from reaching his goals. He became a more motivated and stronger young man from it."

That mindset — and his breathtaking natural speed — kept him on the right path. He set York High's all-time rushing record and was the leader of the Bearcats' 2017 turnaround season. He earned numerous scholarships at the Division I FCS and Division II levels and also a preferred walk-on spot from Penn State.

He chose to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C.

"He was always so full or energy and put a smile on your face," York High football coach Russ Stoner. "There are people who are fast but it doesn't translate to the field. He played as fast as his 4.4 (40-yard dash) speed suggested. You had to hold your breath every time he touched the ball."

But midway through Dorsey's sophomore season, Howard coach Ron Prince resigned after allegations he verbally abused and intimidated players. Dorsey entered the transfer portal and landed at Shippensburg — one of the schools that coveted him out of high school.

Then the pandemic wiped away the PSAC's 2020 season. Dorsey said he kept his spirits up through backyard workouts with Stoner and current York High players. When Kiyan was born at the end of that year, he strove to balance fatherhood, online classes and training.

"I prayed and I prayed," he said about that time. "My son helped me because he motivated me more. Kept me wanting to push and go."

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When Dorsey played his first game for Shippensburg in fall of 2021, he racked up 120 all-purpose yards in a win over West Virginia State. He cried tears of joy — thinking the worst of the adversity was behind him.

But there was more to come. After a solid season, he broke his ankle during spring workouts. Without football pushing him, he became depressed, and his grades continued to slip until they fell below 2.0.

He was on the verge of expulsion and needed to write a letter to the school asking to be reinstated.

"My mental health wasn't good at all," he said. "It was at the point where coaches were low-key giving up on me. It was bad. It was hard."

Throughout everything, Dorsey said he tried to remember that Kiyan needed him. Still, the road back wasn't easy. Dorsey broke his other ankle at the end of this season and said his grades slipped again in the aftermath.

He eventually got back on track to graduate.

"It was a whole bunch of adversity I had to overcome, and not everyone sees that," he said. "I just had to stick it through ... get right."

After losing his own father, fatherhood means more to Dorsey

Dorsey received his first football at age 5 from his father.

Kevin Dorsey was living in Philadelphia but visited his young son in Baltimore. One day he gave Khalid a ball embroidered with Temple University's logo. Condrey remembers Khalid becoming so attached to the ball he would hold it while he bathed and slept.

"He told me: 'I got this from a college, and one day you're going to play in college,'" Dorsey said. "I was like: 'I'm 5 years old. Snap, dad, that's tough to say.'"

Kevin Dorsey died in 2013. Khalid was 12 years old.

He has fond memories of his father — particularly of how he would lift him on his shoulders and take him to watch Morgan State's football practices.

But he wishes he had more.

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"My dad never got to do a lot of stuff with me. I'm going to do everything with my son," Dorsey said. "My future is his future. If I don't get work done, he's not going to eat. I put that pressure on myself to be successful."

Kiyan lives with Mable in York, but Dorsey spent the past two years driving home from Shippensburg after class or on days he didn't have workouts to watch him in the evenings. He would get schoolwork done while his son slept.

High school sweethearts who have known each other since age 10, Dorsey and Mable remain close friends. Dorsey said he "wouldn't be able to" handle everything without her.

Now that Kiyan is approaching 3, he's beginning to show more of his personality. Dorsey said he loves Fortnite and football. Mable said Kiyan "wants to be a quarterback" one day.

"My son is going to be just as fast as his dad if not faster," Mable said. "If anybody knows Khalid, he walks on his tippy toes. Kiyan walks exactly like that. He's a spitting image of his father. He's talks like his father.

"Khalid is a great father, and I wouldn't choose anyone else to do this with. I love that my son has a father figure to look up to as good as Khalid."

Dorsey doesn't hesitate when asked his favorite memory of Kiyan — getting to hold him and his diploma at Shippensburg's graduation in May.

"That was the best moment of my life," he said. "I'm a tough guy, but that made me cry. People don't know what I went through ... to have that moment with my son ... top tier."

One more season on the gridiron

Dorsey has always taken pride in his physical work ethic. He said he had never missed a football workout dating back to high school.

Until this July.

Slippery Rock wanted him to report Monday, July 10, but he was scheduled to take Kiyan to Lake Tobias in Halifax for a daycare field trip. He said his "heart was too warm" for him to skip it.

So told his new coaches he would be a day late.

"Once he's here, Khalid is going to spend all day with his son," Mable said. "He's going to take him places, do fun things with him, buy him a toy. He's picks up for the time he's not here."

Dorsey averaged 457 yards and 4.4 yards per carry in his two seasons at Shippensburg — fine numbers but far short of the goals he set for himself when he went there. He didn't want to give up his final year of eligibility and said Shippensburg coach Mark Maciejewski agreed he needed "a new start."

He'll get that at a school that has consistently reached the NCAA Division II playoffs in recent years. Slippery Rock has a handful of former YAIAA players on its roster including starting quarterback and New Oxford grad Brayden Long.

While Dorsey said he still has something to prove athletically, he knows he needs to be thinking past this season. He used to have dreams of following John Kuhn's path from the PSAC to the NFL, but now knows that isn't likely. While Stoner thinks he could be a college football coach, Dorsey is hoping to get his master's in sociology and wants to work as a counselor and football coach for a school district — helping kids "overcome what I had to overcome."

"Kids have always been drawn to him," said Condrey. "The example coach Stoner set for him in high school, he would then set for the other kids to hold them accountable. The youth already look up to him and trust him. They see the life he's lived and the struggles he's gone through. He's the one for the job."

"He can be one of the best running backs in the PSAC, but anything he does this season is a bonus," Stoner added. "He's got the piece of paper (diploma) that matters."

For now, Dorsey is gearing up for one more season before he allows himself to "sit down and relax." He's trying to block out the pressure and play like "that 8-year-old on the Wellington Panthers."

But he's hoping for at least one special moment with Kiyan in attendance. Perhaps getting to hold him like he did at graduation — this time after another long touchdown run.

"If he comes I promise I'll put on a performance for him," he said. "He's seen me play live when he was just born, but now he realizes what's happening. That'll be the best thing in the world."

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Slippery Rock's Khalid Dorsey balancing football and fatherhood