He’s top in his class, football team captain. Ritter senior leads by example — with heavy heart.

INDIANAPOLIS — There has not been a lot of winning on the football field during Harley Campbell’s four seasons at Cardinal Ritter. One win in 2021. One more in 2022. Then an improvement to 4-7 last year in Levar Johnson’s first season as coach and 3-6 so far this year (with some tough luck in close games) going into Friday’s sectional semifinal against juggernaut Lutheran.

The black-and-white results on the scoreboard will ultimately judge how far the season goes for Ritter, life is a little more gray. Because there is no other way to classify Harley Campbell than as the ultimate winner.

“Hands down, the hardest worker I know,” said Andrew Barber, his close friend since second grade.

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Cardinal Ritter’s Harley Campbell participates in practice Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, during practice at Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis.

Campbell is quiet, matter of fact. Barber, a 6-1, 275-pound senior offensive lineman, is something of his opposite: Easy going, quick to make friends. “We call him a robot sometimes,” Barber joked of his friend. “But he’s always been there for me, pushing me to get better. And I’m always pushing him to speak up.”

That work ethic, though, is what defines Campbell. It has vaulted him to No. 1 his class academically (4.63 grade-point average) and captain of the football team. Much of what he learned about what it means to be accountable and how to work was ingrained into him by his father, Tom Campbell. But in November of 2020, several months before Harley was to enter high school, he lost his dad.

It was heartbreaking for Harley and his mother, Cheryl, and older sister, Stella, then a sophomore at Ritter. Tom, at age 59, was diagnosed…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/hes-top-class-football-team-081014062.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-10-30 08:10:14

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