In a Week two NFL game between the Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos, two players from Union County were featured. Starting quarterback for Washington, and Sun Valley alum, Sam Howell had two touchdown passes, while former Forest Hills student Jaleel Mclaughlin had a rushing touchdown for the Broncos.
“It’s really cool seeing guys from our area go play in the pros. It makes me feel like I have a chance to go pro in sports if I work hard enough. If they could do it, so could I,” sophomore Kyle Kroehler said.
The most notable pro athlete from the area is, of course, Howell. Graduating from SV in 2018, he played collegiately at UNC-Chapel Hill, setting records at the school for career passing yards and passing touchdowns as well as total passing touchdowns in a season.
The Commanders drafted him in the 5th round of the 2022 NFL draft, and now, in November 2023, he leads the NFL in passing yards with 3,339 and completions with 323.
“Seeing Sam, a guy who went to our school, succeed in the NFL is really cool as someone who plays football. It gives me hope as a quarterback that I can go and do what he’s doing,” sophomore Noah Lineberry said.
Howell is not the only Spartan to have played at the collegiate level. Basketball and football Coach Quay Chambers also played college football. After being a standout at Monroe High School in football and basketball, Chambers committed to Duke University and caught touchdowns from future NFL QB and Charlotte Latin Alum Daniel Jones.
“It was important to me because I always wanted to be a part of the long list of historical athletes from Union County to go and have an impact playing collegiate sports,” Chambers said.
As a coach, Chambers hopes to help other young athletes achieve the same goals of playing their sports collegiately and potentially professionally, as he sees how valuable it is.
“A lot of athletes in our area are getting exposure for how good sports are in our area, doesn’t matter if it’s football, basketball, baseball, etc. A lot of student athletes are doing great things and people are noticing,” Chambers said.
Other Union County athletes are making impacts as well. From fellow SV alums Michael Gonzalez and Brandon Butterworth, playing football at Louisville and baseball at NC State, respectively, to former Porter Ridge quarterback Grayson McCall, who holds the record for most touchdowns in Coastal Carolina history.
Joining them is former Weddington student Will Shipley, who has over 2,000 career rushing yards as the lead running back for Clemson. All these athletes and many more have gone on to do great things and have helped put the greater Charlotte area on the map.
“We’re only going up really; we already have a lot of players like Sam going to play in college, and the pros and a lot more are seeing it’s an option for them now. We’re growing a lot,” Kroehler said.
Sports are already a way many people come together, and supporting people from the area as they achieve their athletic goals and others looking to achieve it is even more reason for those in our area to be together.
“Supporting these athletes is great for bringing people together and hype to the community, it really shows what people from Charlotte are capable of doing on the biggest stages,” Lineberry said.
With this in mind, the next time you watch a sport on your TV or live, make sure to pay attention to who is playing because it could very well be somebody from our area. It could even be a high school classmate.
Rose K • Dec 18, 2023 at 12:58 pm
This writer is great. I really enjoy his articles and look forward to reading more of his in the future.