HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Philadelphia Eagles safety and Richmond native K’Von Wallace is returning home this weekend for a youth football camp at Highland Springs, his former high school.
The free camp is sponsored by Truist Bank and is for kids aged 6-16. Roxanne Blackstone, Wallace’s mom, remembers K’Von at that age as someone who would never back down from challenges.
“K’Von was always a brave kid, always did what he wanted to do, but in a good way. He was fearless,” said Blackstone.
Wallace credits his mom with inspiring him to follow his dreams and for supporting him in all his endeavors.
“In our home, we’re dream chasers. I’ve taught my kids to always think outside the box. We rely on our faith a lot, that’s something that we use every day. And it’s big in our household, it’s big in our lives. It’s the reason why K’Von has had so much success today, we attest it to our faith, and I taught K’Von and my children in general the importance of believing in themselves.”
That’s why it wasn’t much of a surprise to Blackstone when a young Wallace came to her dead-set on becoming an NFL player.
“When K’Von was in ninth grade, he stood in the kitchen and he said ‘I’m going to the NFL!’ and I believed him, but I was like ‘Okay, so I know you’re going to the NFL, but let’s have a backup plan.’ and he said ‘You don’t believe in me, Mom? I don’t need a backup plan, that is my backup plan. So that’s the type of child he was,” said Blackstone.
Blackstone knew then that Wallace was steadfast in his dedication to making it to the NFL.
“From that moment forward, I made it my business, it was a sure thing in our household. We didn’t know how it was going to work, what it was going to look like, but we knew that K’Von said that he was going to play in the NFL, and that’s what we stood on, that’s what we believed. And to see it, it’s just beyond amazing.”
Blackstone said attending football camps as a youngster was important to K’Von developing his skills as an athlete, and there was a point when K’Von was in high school where he was going to a different camp every week.
“Being a single mom at the time, I was always concerned about whether or not I would be able to afford all the camps,” said Blackstone. “It’s such a privilege to be able to have a free camp, where kids don’t have to pick and choose, parents don’t have to say ‘I cant afford this one’ … it makes my heart smile that K’Von would choose to have a free camp for the kids in his community.”
K’Von is planning on making his camp an annual occurrence, and Blackstone says he has ambitions to give back to the Highland Springs community in even more ways, having had dreams of opening a community center since he was a kid.
“We’ve been talking about this since he was in high school, even before then. Just sitting around and talking about it, it became our norm, and to see it come to fruition, to see it happening, it’s such a beautiful thing,” said Blackstone. “It’s a camp now, but in a few years, it’s going to be something on an even greater scale.”
