Lydell Hartford Jr. might not have played a down at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but he’ll be remembered by high school and college coaches as a player who never grew bitter despite his lack of playing time and backup role.
Hartford, 20, was shot around midnight Monday by a 16-year-old friend while the two were sitting inside a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro parked in the driveway of Hartford’s mother’s home in Waggaman, La., according to the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office.
Authorities said the unidentified teen was playing with a .38-caliber revolver he found in the car when he accidentally shot Hartford in the neck. The teen pulled Hartford from the car and called 911, and Hartford was pronounced dead about an hour later. The teen was arrested and charged with negligent homicide.
Hartford spent last season as a walk-on linebacker at UAPB, joining the team a couple of weeks into the season after pestering coaches to give him a chance. He suited up for some home games and the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game, where the Golden Lions defeated Jackson State. Hartford celebrated the championship by taking pictures with Coach Monte Coleman and received a championship ring.
Hartford left the team in April and returned to New Orleans in May. UAPB coaches said they weren’t expecting Hartford to return this fall, but if he had he would have been welcomed back.
“He was very energetic,” Coleman said Wednesday. “I never heard him complain. He knew his role and he did it. He did it at a good level to make us better.”
Danny DeArman, Hartford’s former coach at Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, said Hartford played special teams and was a backup linebacker in his only season at Bowie in 2011. DeArman said Hartford lived with an aunt in Arlington during his senior year.
“Just one of those guys that you loved to have on your team,” DeArman said. “Didn’t matter what it was, he was up for it.”
DeArman said Hartford was a backup linebacker and contributor on special teams at Bowie. Hartford had mentioned his desire to play college football, but few colleges came calling. DeArman said Hartford, 5-8, 220 pounds, might have been hurt because of his lack of size and his lack of a lengthy highlight tape.
Hartford ended up at UAPB, partly because of wide receiver Willie Young, a friend who also grew up in the New Orleans area. UAPB linebackers coach Earl Buckingham recalled Hartford’s efforts to get a tryout last summer.
“He wore me out,” Buckingham said. “We have limited numbers that we can bring out, but he was knocking on my door every day begging for an opportunity to come out and play ball.”
Buckingham watched Hartford’s highlight tape and decided to give him a shot, letting him play with the scout team.
Hartford suited up for home games but never appeared in a game. Instead, he spent his time helping the top offensive unit prepare for the next opponent, going regularly against left tackle Terron Armstead, who in April was taken in the third round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.
“He had a great time last fall,” Buckingham said. “He enjoyed going down there and mixing it up with Armstead and those guys.”
Coleman said Hartford left the team about a week into spring practice in April but finished his semester course load. Buckingham said Wednesday that he sensed Hartford might not have been prepared for the workload of off season workouts and spring practice, and said he told him to “think about if this is something he really wanted to do.”
Buckingham said he hadn’t talked with Hartford since he left school, but he had a conversation with Young earlier this week about how Hartford might want to return to the team.
“Not 24 hours later, Willie is telling me that he had tragically passed,” Buckingham said. “A tragic turn of events.”
DeArman said a number of Bowie players plan to travel to New Orleans for the funeral service.
“We’re a close-knit team,” DeArman said. “Kids are suffering right now because of it.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 07/25/2013