Why E.J. Junior may be Nashville's greatest high school football player of all-time
While E.J. Junior gave family, friends, coaches and Nashville high school football fans lots to cheer about during his playing days, he said he owed them for providing the help he needed after bringing some trouble on himself later in life.
After starring at Maplewood and Alabama, the burly 6-foot-3, 240-pound linebacker leaned on the principles he learned during his formative years to salvage his NFL career. Those who taught him, coached him and even cheered for him played a role in his recovery from his bout with illegal drug use.
"The things instilled in me at an early age helped me the most when I needed them the most," Junior said.
Some consider Junior the greatest player to ever come out of the Metro Nashville Public Schools system and The Tennessean recognized him today by placing him on the 1970s All-Decade Midstate Team, which is part of a series identifying the area's greatest players from each decade, starting with the 1960s.
Junior said the Christian values, strong family ties and coaching he received during his high school playing days (1974-76) provided a foundation that turned out to be his saving grace after he made a poor choice while dealing with a tragedy several years later.
While playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982 Junior's fiancé was killed in a car accident. Instead of relying on his faith to deal with the grief, Junior said he turned to drugs and eventually was busted. He was charged with possession of less than an ounce of cocaine and a small amount of marijuana.
Junior's penalty was three years probation and NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended him for three games.But Junior said the real punishment came from letting down those who had been so influential in his life early on.
"I went to First Baptist, Capitol Hill Church every Sunday, was president of the youth choir, president of the youth group, president of the student body at Maplewood; those things teach you good leadership," Junior said. "But what really happened was all that good that was going into me when I was in high school and even younger eventually came out. It might not have come out until later, but God was working on me during that time."
Junior believes divine intervention was part of the trouble he got into with drugs. That's when he was forced to lean on his faith.
"After my fiancé was killed instead of turning to my parents, my best friend (Alabama football player) Byron Braggs, or my brother, I turned to a chemical," he said. "That happened to me, but it also happened for me because in that process it gave me a foundation that God brought me through."
In an effort to make amends Junior, a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro, got involved in the early drug policies set by the NFL. He went on to play 11 more seasons in the NFL and spent the last half of his career as a mentor on the league's Drug Advisory Council.
"That was started from our effort to educate young men not to make those mistakes," Junior said.
Junior, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020, is still in football today as defensive line coach at Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the coach at Central State (Ohio) from 2009-13 and defensive line coach at Delaware State from 2015-17.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville high school football legend E.J. Junior may be best ever
