The night of Oct. 19 was like any other night for West Lowndes running back Jaquavious Tate, finishing up a shift of cart buggying at Kroger on Highway 45.
Tate, a senior with the Panthers, was using the job to help continue to build up strength to dominate on the field, but as he left work that evening, his night ended much differently than before.
Trying to get on the highway on-ramp to go back near West Lowndes High School, he missed the first turn due to a tractor trailer forcing him to continue to go straight.
Another car ahead had spun out after colliding with a deer, so Tate swerved to avoid a possible head-on collision. In doing so, his car spun out of control and flipped three times.
Luckily, he emerged unharmed and was able to play in that week’s game against Ethel, where he went on to score six touchdowns.
Had that night gone differently, Tate wouldn’t have been able to return to the game he loves. The incident taught him something about life outside of football and how fragile it can be.
“It was more of a shock,” Tate said. “To save me and another person, I just took the risk to save the person in that car. I didn’t expect the outcome to be like that because I had never been in a car accident before. I was glad that I could save that person and myself also.”
The support from the West Lowndes football team was instant, starting from head coach Anthony King and his coaching staff, to Tate’s teammates, some of which were some of his strongest friends.
“I very quickly heard about it,” King said. “He’s pretty tough. He works hard in the weight room, so I think by him being more physically fit, it helped him out a whole lot.”
Had the incident gone differently, Tate’s health concerns would have been paramount. It would have also left West Lowndes with a massive hole at the running back position.
“When Friday came and I played, I was blessed to be there because I could have been dead and gone that Wednesday,” Tate said. “I always thought about what would I do or what could I do in a wreck if I ever got into one. I was just blessed that I came out unharmed and luckily didn’t harm anyone else.”
Working at Kroger and emerging from this near-tragedy has continued to fuel the hard-working mentality of Tate, someone who stands just 5-foot-4.
Even as a running back, Tate is undersized, meaning he just has to work twice as hard to get results and he’s gotten plenty of results — not just for himself but for the Panthers.
“Tate has a saying, ‘heart over height,’” King said. “He’ll go out and get the max out of his ability every time he’s playing … I talked to him once after I saw him slipping a bit on the field and said, ‘You’re putting a lot of time in with your job and not as much in the weight room.’
“When I went and talked to him about it, he started working even harder and picked it back up to where he was.”
Hard work has certainly paid off for Tate, who has an offer from Southern Miss and is in talks with Jackson State. He hopes to make a final decision on where he’ll be attending college in February.
“It’s really a great feeling,” Tate said. “It’s always something I dream about. It’s something my mom wants me to do. It’s something that I want to do and I really just want to make the best of it.
“I’m just ready for the next level.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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