By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
MUKILTEO — Imagine what it would be like to look out your window and see someone die.
What would it be like to walk down the street with drug dealers and gangsters lurking?
For Robert Washington, who is entering his second year at Kamiak after moving to Mukilteo from Seattle’s Central District, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal.
It was part of life.
It wasn’t like he saw death every day. In fact, he misses parts of living in an area where you have to be tough to survive.
Washington, who will start on Kamiak’s defensive line when the Knights play district rival Mariner at Goddard Stadium tonight, says seeing death out the window wasn’t a shock.
He’s just glad it wasn’t him.
"You just shut the curtains and call the police," Washington said.
Two years ago, Washington was attending Garfield High School. Well, at least sometimes he was. Sometimes the lure of the streets was too much. He felt comfortable there with his friends.
"He was always hangin’ out with his homeys," said Steve "Bear" Jones, a Mariner fullback and Washington’s cousin. "None of them go to school, so I guess he wasn’t either."
Washington wasn’t a bad kid. When he went to school, his teachers told his mother, Raylynn Washington, that he was a nice, polite student. But not being there meant he fell behind. He’s a fifth-year senior this year and has been granted an extra year of athletic eligibility by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which governs high school athletics in the state. He’s trying to make the most of the second chance at football and life he’s been given.
Raylynn Washington moved to Mukilteo last year to be closer to her job and her fiance, Alan Hill. The plan was for her son to finish high school in Seattle while living with his grandmother.
Then one day late last summer, Washington watched a football scrimmage at Kamiak and liked what he saw.
"He just liked the whole thing and he just decided, ‘this is where I want to be,’" Raylynn Washington said. "I don’t know what even made him go to the practice. It just feels like home."
Since that day, things have been very different for Washington. He’s maintaining a B average in the classroom. He’s learning to trust the people around him. He’s got a job at a grocery store and just bought his first car. He’s letting people into his world.
"He’s much more outgoing," his mother said. "He’s becoming a leader and seeking out positive role models."
And he’s becoming a very good defensive lineman for the Knights. His dream of playing college football may become a reality.
"When he came to us, he was very, very raw," Kamiak coach Dan Mack said of his 6-foot, 235-pound lineman. "We think he’s going to be a big-time player for us this year."
Between school, football and work, Washington has little time to find trouble. Besides, you have to look a little harder to find trouble in Mukilteo.
Raylynn Washington says her son’s support system in their new town is why he’s turned things around. Hill, she says, is the positive male role model that was sorely missed in his life. He has found friends who have better things to do than hang in the streets.
Robert Washington credits his teachers and coaches at Kamiak for his turnaround.
When people showed they were interested in helping Washington improve academically and athletically, Washington couldn’t help but try harder himself. Though he still misses home, he’s glad he landed at Kamiak. The lure of a bright future has become stronger than that of the street.
" (The teachers) act like they care," Washington said. "Coach Mack acts like he cares. They show you they care by spending the extra time with you."
And it helps having some family here — even if he is at the "wrong" school.
Washington and Jones grew up together in Seattle before Bear moved to South Everett in the seventh grade. While Washington is the quiet, thinker type, Jones is not one afraid to speak his mind. Though they are like brothers, there will be no holding back tonight when the Mukilteo District rivals hit the field.
There will, however, be a little bit of talk.
"I tell him I’m going to run him over," said Jones, a 5-foot-9, 260-pound fullback and defensive lineman. "He tells me he’s gonna bring me down. It’s nothing personal."
Jones is glad his cousin moved close by, but wishes he would have chosen "the right" school. The rival cousins are inseparable, but will never agree on which team is better.
"I tell him he should go to Mariner," Jones said. "He tells me I should go to Kamiak. I tell him it’s too preppy for me.
"He may be quiet, but he can talk. I call him a quiet killer. Yeah, he’s quiet, but you don’t want to make him mad."
Tonight Washington wants to help start Kamiak on a path toward a third consecutive playoff run. The cat-quick lineman will try to tackle his cousin and any other Marauder he can find.
No matter the outcome of tonight’s game, however, Washington has already won.
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