11 Worst Teammates in Recent NFL History

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That poor kid is struggling but living. He's got all kinds of issues from lack of blood/oxygen to his brain during the ordeal. It's a horrible thing and Carruth should have been put to death along with the heartless piece of crap that pulled the trigger while Carruth watched.


Ex-NFL player Rae Carruth hired hit man to be sure this baby wasn’t born, but now that baby is 16
BY SCOTT FOWLER

CHANCELLOR_01.JPG

www.charlotteobserver.com

Chancellor Lee Adams turns 16 years old on Monday, November 16, 2015. Chancellor was delivered 10 weeks early after his mother, Cherica Adams was shot four times in Charlotte, NC. His grandmother and caregiver Saundra Adams speaks to Chancellor's positive attitude despite suffering from cerebral palsy. Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

In 1999, they tried to kill Chancellor Lee Adams before he was born.

They conspired to commit murder – to shoot and kill his mother. That way the unborn baby’s life would end, too, and his father wouldn’t have to pay any child support. It was a horrific crime that altered Chancellor’s life forever and exposed us all to the dark side of professional sports.

And yet here is the son of former Carolina Panther first-round draft pick Rae Carruth. He is smiling, holding onto his grandmother’s arm and walking slowly toward the horse named “Raider” that he rides every week.

Chancellor turned 16 Monday. He already had his “Sweet 16” party. He got to have a magician and his favorite dessert – yellow cake, with strawberry mousse in the middle and whipped cream icing.

“Chancellor is not just surviving,” says his grandmother, Saundra Adams. “He is thriving.”

The boy they could not kill goes to high school in Charlotte now. Chancellor is 5-foot-4, about 7 inches shorter than his father. The two bear a stunning facial resemblance. But Chancellor has a dimple in his chin just like his mom and he also inherited her peaceful nature, Saundra Adams says.

Carruth – still in prison for hiring the hit man who killed Chancellor’s mother, Cherica Adams – is 41 years old. He works as a prison barber and makes a dollar a day.

As a fleet wide receiver for the Panthers from 1997-99, Carruth used to make almost $40,000 per game.

Carruth, a native of Sacramento, Calif., is scheduled to get out of jail on Oct. 22, 2018. It may surprise you that Saundra Adams hopes Rae will be a part of his son’s life after that, although Rae and Chancellor haven’t seen each other in 15 years.

Chancellor has special needs. Owing to his traumatic birth, he has cerebral palsy. Loss of blood and oxygen the night of his birth caused him permanent brain damage. When he was born, he looked blue.

But the boy who wasn’t supposed to talk can communicate a little with people who don’t know him and a lot with people who do. The boy who wasn’t supposed to walk mostly uses a walker to get around now instead of a wheelchair, and he navigates steps without help.

“He’s able to feed himself some,” Adams says. “He’s able to dress himself with minimal assistance. And the biggest thing is he’s able to walk.”

Beside him, every step of the way, has been Adams. She has devoted the past 16 years mostly to taking care of her grandson, ever since she took him home from the hospital on New Year’s Eve 1999 – less than three weeks after Cherica Adams died in the hospital.

It is just the two of them now, living together in a home in Charlotte that is filled with pictures of Cherica, whom Chancellor calls “Mommy Angel.”

“I’ve never treated Chancellor like he’s disabled,” says Saundra Adams. “I treat him like he’s ‘abled’ differently.”

The 911 call
In January 2001, a Charlotte jury sentenced Rae Carruth to at least 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend. The triggerman, Van Brett Watkins, was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison. In court, Watkins implicated Carruth as the plot’s mastermind. The two other men involved in the plot have served their jail time and been released.

Three of the four men sentenced for the crime have apologized publicly to Adams. Carruth never did.

The murder case remains one of the most notorious in Charlotte history. The Panthers had already become very popular in Charlotte but were only playing their fifth season when Cherica Adams was murdered. In 1997, they drafted Carruth to become one of their future stars.

But by 1999, Carruth had developed a reputation for being an injury-prone brooder in the locker room. He tried out five different uniform numbers. Although he was slim, he told me once in an interview he was convinced that he looked fat unless his number contained a “1.”

Cherica Adams’ mellifluous first name was created by her mother. “Cherica” was a combination of the entertainer “Cher” and a purposeful misspelling of the last two syllables of the brand name of Saundra’s vaccum cleaner – Eureka.

A West Charlotte high school graduate, Cherica worked at a mortgage company and enjoyed socializing. She had an off-and-on relationship with Carruth for months after meeting him at a pool party in Charlotte.

When Cherica got pregnant, Saundra Adams says, Carruth wanted her to have an abortion. She refused.

On Nov. 16, 1999, Carruth and Cherica went on a date but drove in separate cars to see a movie about a serial killer called “The Bone Collector.”

After the movie, she was following his car on Rea Road in southeast Charlotte when Carruth suddenly came to a halt. She stopped behind him.

Another car pulled up alongside her. Watkins shot five times into the BMW that Cherica was driving. Four of the bullets hit Cherica in the drive-by shooting.

None of the bullets hit Chancellor, but her blood was his blood. As blood poured from her wounds, he began to suffocate.

Somehow, Cherica found her phone and found the strength to make a haunting, gasping call to 911. She described the shooting, enabled Chancellor’s rescue by describing where she was and implicated Carruth. The recording was later played in court.

Part of her conversation with the 911 dispatcher went like this.

Cherica: “I was following my baby’s daddy, Rae Carruth, the football player.”

Dispatcher: “So you think he did it?”

Cherica: “He slowed down and a car pulled up beside me.”

Dispatcher: “And then shot at you?”

Cherica: “Yes.”

Dispatcher: “... And then, where’d he go?”

Cherica: “He just left. I think he did it. I don’t know what to think.”

The power of forgiveness
Chancellor was born later that night, 10 weeks early, by emergency Caesarean section. Carruth was arrested on Thanksgiving Day. He would later panic and try to jump bail after Cherica died. But the FBI found him 500 miles away, hiding in the trunk of another woman’s car at a Best Western motel in Tennessee. The trunk also contained $3,900 in cash and two bottles full of Carruth’s urine.

The ensuing trial was broadcast live nationally on Court TV. Carruth – whose true name is Rae Wiggins – is now imprisoned in Columbia, N.C., in the state’s eastern corner. He unsuccessfully appealed his sentence numerous times.

Carruth has never publicly admitted any involvement in the crime. He did not testify at his trial, and he declined to be interviewed for this story.

In his only interview since the shooting, in 2001 with CNN/SI, Carruth proclaimed innocence and said Watkins acted on his own. Neither Carruth nor any member of his family have been in contact with Chancellor or his grandmother for many years, according to Saundra Adams.

“They are all missing out on the wonderful person that is Chancellor Lee Adams,” Saundra Adams says.

The last time Saundra Adams, 57, tried to send a picture of Chancellor Lee to Carruth’s mother, Theodry, was several years ago. Theodry Carruth had at one time wanted much more access to her grandson and had gone through the court system to attempt to get it. But the letter and picture came back marked “return to sender.”

Even though Cherica was her only child, Saundra Adams long ago forgave Rae Carruth. She says she had to, for Chancellor’s sake.

“The main reason I want Rae and Chancellor to one day have a relationship is because (Chancellor) is his son,” Adams says. “And that’s why I chose early on that I would forgive Rae. Because I don’t feel like I can offer unconditional love to Chancellor if I don’t forgive Rae. That’s his father. It’s a part of him. Chancellor wouldn’t be who he is without Rae. I want them to bond, or at least to meet again.

“Right now, Rae is still in denial about his part in Cherica’s murder. Not that Chancellor would change that. But if anybody were to ever touch Rae’s heart, to make him want to be truthful, I think it would be Chancellor.”

A Panthers fan
Chancellor once performed in a group dance on the field at Bank of America Stadium just before a Panthers game. No one in the media knew at the time that the son of Rae Carruth was out there on the same field where his father once played, but it is just one of several connections he has to the team.

Chancellor wore a Panthers hat to our interview at Misty Meadows Farm, where he does his therapeutic riding. His grandmother says to call him “Lee,” his middle name, because that’s what everyone calls him except her. It is easier for him to both say and spell “Lee.”

“Hi,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand.

“Hi, Lee,” I say. “Nice hat. Are you a Panthers fan?”

“Yeah!” he says.

“Oh, he watches the Panthers,” Saundra Adams says. “He knows they are having a very good season.”

Saundra Adams and Chancellor got a private tour of Bank of America Stadium a few years ago. They saw the Panthers’ locker room, including the space Carruth used to occupy. They met star wide receiver Steve Smith when he was still with the team. “He was so kind and patient with us,” Saundra Adams says. Chancellor loved it all.

Chancellor also loves baked chicken, green beans and animated movies. He has a collection of DVDs. He loves to take all the movies out of their cases, mix them up in his room and then match them all up again. He loves jazz and once attended a Kenny G concert with his grandmother.

“He had to be the youngest person there,” Adams says, “and he hummed along with everything.”

Dr. Docia Hickey, a neonatologist, cared for Chancellor at the hospital when he was a baby and has stayed close to the family ever since.

“Chancellor has done remarkably well,” Hickey says. “He’s a happy young man. And he loves his grandmother as much as his grandmother loves him.”

The smile ministry
The smile is what first strikes most people about Chancellor. It is a full-out, thousand-watt grin.

“He wakes up smiling and he goes to bed smiling,” Adams says. “He’s had that same happy spirit his whole life. I tell him he’s in the smile ministry. I’ve had numerous people in stores come up and tell me: ‘You know, I was in a really funky mood, and this boy just keeps smiling. And I just cannot be mad when he’s smiling like that.’”

Chancellor has never known his mother, except through pictures. He has never known his father, although Saundra Adams keeps a few pictures of Rae Carruth around their house, too. His life mostly revolves around “G-mom,” as he calls his grandmother, and all the places she takes him – school, physical therapy, horseback riding and dance.

He doesn’t understand too much about his mother’s death. G-mom uses pictures to tell him stories, though – including this one.

After his birth, Chancellor was immediately taken away by doctors because of all his health issues. Cherica knew he was alive. But on the day after his birth, she lapsed into a coma from which she never awoke. So Chancellor and Cherica only spent a few minutes together, and only once – a few days before she died, in December 1999.

Cherica had gotten worse and worse, Adams says. She was close to dying. They asked if Chancellor – who had gradually been getting better in the neonatal unit, one floor away – could come see her.

Dr. Hickey and a favorite nurse brought Chancellor to Cherica. They wrapped him in a blanket. They laid Chancellor on his comatose mother’s chest for five minutes.

“I will never forget that,” Hickey says. “I will never forget the sadness, and the respectfulness, of everyone in that room.”

Says Adams: “All of Cherica’s monitors were stable. The machines were doing the work of keeping her alive. But when they placed Chancellor on her chest, the monitors shot up. Her heart rate was just going crazy. You knew she felt his presence there. I know that she knew he was well.”

‘He just did a bad thing’
Many people in Saundra Adams’ position would show bitterness. In 1999, she was looking forward to being a grandmother. Instead, she became a single mother, taking care of a special-needs baby, her only biological child murdered. There is no end in sight to the work she does. She believes Chancellor will always live in her home, needing care, and will stay there even after she is gone.

But she has chosen to become a spokesperson for domestic violence and to fill Chancellor’s heart not with vengefulness, but with love.

“I just can’t say how great she is,” Hickey says. “That woman has devoted her life to her grandson, and she’s done a wonderful job. She is happy. So many people could be bitter. But she isn’t. She’s a remarkable woman. Saundra Adams is one of my heroes.”

Says Adams: “I choose to cherish what I have left more than mourn what I have lost. Cherica is not gone. I look at Chancellor and I see her.

“I tell Chancellor that his mom was shot, and his Daddy is in jail because of that, because Daddy did a bad thing. He is not a bad person, he just did a bad thing. And so that’s why he has no parents here with him.

“But I don’t want Chancellor ever thinking that any part of him is bad. Because there is nothing that is bad about Chancellor.”

‘Are you happy?’
It is twilight now at the horse farm. An earlier drizzle has let up, and there are a few streaks of pink and purple in the sky. The 83 acres of Misty Meadows look like a landscape painting come to life. Harry Swimmer, who founded Misty Meadows with his wife, looks up fondly at the boy on the horse.

“Are you happy, Lee?” says Swimmer.

“Yeah!” Lee says, smiling even more broadly.

Lee sits up straighter in the saddle and looks forward. He clucks softly at the horse. Raider starts moving again.

And then Chancellor Lee Adams – the boy who was supposed to die 16 years ago – rides off into the sunset.
 

HometownBoy

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I'd replace Tim Tebow with guys like Steve Smith or Randy Moss. Lot more disreputable people in the NFL to be putting in a guy who's only crime was having the media pop a wettie for him.
 

DaveFan'51

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http://thesportsdrop.com/11-worst-t...sCloseUp&utm_campaign=nfl_worst_teammates_ysa


11. Bill Romanowski

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Bill Romanowski was well-known for his unsportsmanlike behaviors, including spitting in J.J. Stokes’ face, kicking Larry Centers in the head, and hitting quarterback Kerry Collins with a helmet-first shot that broke Collins’ jaw. But when Romanowski’s bullying began to affect his own team, that’s when people realized just how bad his behavior had truly gotten. In 2003, after a brief — and routine — training camp scuffle with teammate Marcus Williams, Romanowski slugged Williams, shattering his eye socket and chipping his teeth. Williams testified that after he blocked Romanowski during a running drill, Romanowski grabbed his helmet and then ripped it off before the crushing blow was delivered. As you can see, the impact of the punch wasn’t pretty. Williams, who never played another snap in the NFL, later sued Romanowski in court, and was awarded $340,000 in damages.

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10. Keyshawn Johnson
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Where do we begin with Keyshawn Johnson? After playing just one season in the NFL with the New York Jets, Johnson published a controversial book, in which he ripped his head coach (Rich Kotite) and called his quarterback (Neil O’Donnell) “a stiff.” The book, along with several other narcissistic actions, ultimately led his teammates to label him with the nickname “Me-Shawn.” If all that wasn’t already bad enough, there was also his ongoing (and one-sided) feud with undrafted wide receiver Wayne Chrebet, whom Johnson loathed even though Chrebet was one of the most beloved players on the team. According to teammates, Johnson resented the love and attention Chrebet (who was far less talented) received from the fans and media. The Jets eventually traded Johnson to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Johnson openly feuded with head coach Jon Gruden. That led to the Buccaneers trading Johnson in 2004, making it twice Johnson was traded in five seasons. Few players in recent history have done a better job of sabotaging their own career.

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9. Ryan Leaf
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Coming out of Washington State in 1998, Ryan Leaf was an extremely gifted quarterback prospect. It sounds crazy to think about it now, but there was a time where it was a legitimate debate as to whether he should be taken ahead of Peyton Manning in the 1998 NFL draft. The problem was, Leaf’s arrogance and narcissistic attitude exceeded any physical gifts he had. As soon as he faced adversity in the NFL, as a rookie in San Diego, he immediately began to lash out at everyone around him: teammates, coaches, and the media. His ego simply didn’t allow the idea that he could be a part of the problem to ever cross his mind, and his teammates eventually began to resent his totally lackadaisical and detached attitude towards his career and his team. Since retiring from the NFL — after three of the worst seasons in league history — Leaf has been arrested at least 5 times for burglary and drug possession. Maybe his experience in prison has taught him how to play well with others…

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8. Terrell Owens
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Terrell Owens will go down as one of the most decorated wide receivers in NFL history, but his candidacy for the Hall of Fame will be very fragile because of how much controversy he brought to nearly every stop in his career. In San Francisco, Owens made remarks to Playboy magazine suggesting that his quarterback, Jeff Garcia, was a homosexual. In Philadelphia, he publicly questioned quarterback Donovan McNabb’s conditioning after the Eagles lost the Super Bowl, and had a very public holdout for more money (which included plenty of interviews where he made negative comments about the team’s front office and ownership). In Dallas, he had public outbursts when he felt he wasn’t being used correctly in the offense, and also never shied away from making public comments about whatever was on his mind. Let’s put it this way… Terrell Owens made Keyshawn Johnson look like an angel, and that’s saying a lot!

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7. Percy Harvin
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Percy Harvin wasn’t exactly known for handling disagreements in a professional manner beforehe got to the NFL. During his high school days, Harvin was suspended numerous times for unsportsmanlike behaviors and disagreements with game officials. And as his national accolades grew — Harvin was a five star recruit coming out of high school — so did his ego. His inflated sense of self-worth always annoyed those around him. Things finally reached a boiling point in 2014, when Harvin was a member of the Seattle Seahawks. Not only did Harvin voluntarily sit out a game over his disapproval from the way the Seahawks were using him, he routinely started fist-fights with other receivers on the Seahawks, teammates Doug Baldwin and Golden Taint. Before the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos, Harvin punched Taint during practicing, leaving him with a black-eye that was obvious to see during media events. Unfortunately, a Super Bowl ring wasn’t even enough to make Harvin happy, and keep him from fighting teammates. After more physical altercations with teammates in Seattle, the Seahawks shipped Harvin to the New York Jets for a conditional draft pick.

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6. Tim Tebow
Tim-Tebow.jpg


How incredibly ironic that a person with almost no personal flaws, a person so deeply grounded in their faith, and a person so beloved by teammates and fans alike in college, could turn out to be one of the most disliked players in the NFL? Yet, that’s exactly what happened with Tim Tebow during his NFL career. The thing was: nobody actually disliked Tebow as a person, because there was little they could dislike about him as a human being. But the constant media attention and scrutiny around his ultra-conservative beliefs quickly caused resentment from his teammates who got sick of answering questions about a guy who they didn’t really respect as a player. Wherever he went, an extra slew of media cameras followed, which annoyed teammates to no end. It’s safe to assume history will repeat itself as Tebow attempts to make a name for himself as a baseball player.

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5. Lawrence Phillips
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Photo via: Getty Images

It’s not usually the best practice to talk poorly of the deceased, but it’s hard to dispute the fact that Lawrence Phillips, in general, was a pretty awful human being. When St. Louis Rams’ head coach Dick Vermeil benched Phillips, thanks to his string of inconsistent performances and continued troubles off the field, instead of taking the move as a wakeup call, Phillips stormed out of Vermeil’s office and skipped that day’s meeting and practice. After he bounced around the NFL, and NFL Europe, the 49ers signed Phillips in 1999. Unfortunately, things didn’t go any better while Phillips was in San Francisco. He was such an unwilling pass blocker that he couldn’t be used in passing situations. He famously whiffed on the block that ended up being the hit that ended Steve Young’s career. Eventually, Phillips was waived later that season, ending his embarrassing three year career in the NFL.

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4. Richie Incognito
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The attention we have in today’s culture around anti-bullying campaigns, and the focus we’ve placed on creating environments both for our children, and in the workplace, might have originated from the scandal that made Richie Incognito persona non grata with the American public. Incognito was always one of those guys who teammates never wanted to get on the wrong side of, and once he began to sense some level of weakness in former teammate Jonathan Martin, he began to bully and torment Martin. Incognito’s behavior included him sending messages with racial slurs — for being different than your stereotypical “jock.” Incognito was out of the NFL for the entire 2014 season as a result of the waves his behavior created.

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3. Deion Sanders
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As a member of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty in the 1990’s, Deion Sanders was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, and a four-time All Pro selection. Unfortunately, for his teammates and coaches, he was also a world class headache. According to teammates and coordinators, Sanders would sit totally disinterested in defensive meetings, arrogantly stating he would take care of shutting down his guy, and it was up to the rest of the defense to worry about the scheme. According to former teammate Kevin Smith, Sanders was a horrible influence on his teammates — “when Deion came in, something changed for the worst. Guys who should have been studying football on a Wednesday…were focused on other things.” Some teammates took things a step further, providing this quote for sportswriter Jeff Pearlman, “he was just a bad dude, a bad teammate, a bad example, a bad egg, who happened to be a real good football player.”

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2. Jeff George
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As a pure passer, Jeff George was one of the most gifted prospects of his generation. There was good reason he was the #1 overall pick in the 1990 NFL draft. The problem was, there was also good reason he bounced around eight different NFL teams over his 14 year career. For as gifted a passer as he was, nearly everyone around him felt he relied far too much on his physical gifts alone, and never really wanted to put in the work to be a leader. There were constant refrains from people, when describing George: didn’t want to prepare, didn’t want to be a good teammate, didn’t want to compete. We can all agree these are essential qualities of anyone seeking to be a good quarterback in the NFL.

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1. Charles Haley
Charles-Haley.jpg


We saved the best (but really the worst) for last… Charles Haley is the only player in the storied history of the NFL with five Super Bowl rings. But some of the other stories about Haley’s behavior in the locker room are just as unprecedented. Haley was known to try and push the buttons of any teammate he possibly could, looking for players he believed to be mentally weak, so he could bully them. To further prove the extent of his manhood, he was fond of pulling out his “junk” wherever he pleased — sometimes even in team meetings — and either showing off its size, or pleasuring himself while talking about other player’s wives. According to former teammates, Haley cut a hole in the roof of teammate Tim Harris’ car, got on top, and pissed inside. Haley, a member of the Hall of Fame, is lucky he played in an era that did not have a 24 hour news cycle or social media.
" #3 - Hated him then ..Still do!!!"
 

rdw

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Ex-NFL player Rae Carruth hired hit man to be sure this baby wasn’t born, but now that baby is 16
BY SCOTT FOWLER

CHANCELLOR_01.JPG

www.charlotteobserver.com

Chancellor Lee Adams turns 16 years old on Monday, November 16, 2015. Chancellor was delivered 10 weeks early after his mother, Cherica Adams was shot four times in Charlotte, NC. His grandmother and caregiver Saundra Adams speaks to Chancellor's positive attitude despite suffering from cerebral palsy. Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com

In 1999, they tried to kill Chancellor Lee Adams before he was born.

They conspired to commit murder – to shoot and kill his mother. That way the unborn baby’s life would end, too, and his father wouldn’t have to pay any child support. It was a horrific crime that altered Chancellor’s life forever and exposed us all to the dark side of professional sports.

And yet here is the son of former Carolina Panther first-round draft pick Rae Carruth. He is smiling, holding onto his grandmother’s arm and walking slowly toward the horse named “Raider” that he rides every week.

Chancellor turned 16 Monday. He already had his “Sweet 16” party. He got to have a magician and his favorite dessert – yellow cake, with strawberry mousse in the middle and whipped cream icing.

“Chancellor is not just surviving,” says his grandmother, Saundra Adams. “He is thriving.”

The boy they could not kill goes to high school in Charlotte now. Chancellor is 5-foot-4, about 7 inches shorter than his father. The two bear a stunning facial resemblance. But Chancellor has a dimple in his chin just like his mom and he also inherited her peaceful nature, Saundra Adams says.

Carruth – still in prison for hiring the hit man who killed Chancellor’s mother, Cherica Adams – is 41 years old. He works as a prison barber and makes a dollar a day.

As a fleet wide receiver for the Panthers from 1997-99, Carruth used to make almost $40,000 per game.

Carruth, a native of Sacramento, Calif., is scheduled to get out of jail on Oct. 22, 2018. It may surprise you that Saundra Adams hopes Rae will be a part of his son’s life after that, although Rae and Chancellor haven’t seen each other in 15 years.

Chancellor has special needs. Owing to his traumatic birth, he has cerebral palsy. Loss of blood and oxygen the night of his birth caused him permanent brain damage. When he was born, he looked blue.

But the boy who wasn’t supposed to talk can communicate a little with people who don’t know him and a lot with people who do. The boy who wasn’t supposed to walk mostly uses a walker to get around now instead of a wheelchair, and he navigates steps without help.

“He’s able to feed himself some,” Adams says. “He’s able to dress himself with minimal assistance. And the biggest thing is he’s able to walk.”

Beside him, every step of the way, has been Adams. She has devoted the past 16 years mostly to taking care of her grandson, ever since she took him home from the hospital on New Year’s Eve 1999 – less than three weeks after Cherica Adams died in the hospital.

It is just the two of them now, living together in a home in Charlotte that is filled with pictures of Cherica, whom Chancellor calls “Mommy Angel.”

“I’ve never treated Chancellor like he’s disabled,” says Saundra Adams. “I treat him like he’s ‘abled’ differently.”

The 911 call
In January 2001, a Charlotte jury sentenced Rae Carruth to at least 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in conspiring to murder his pregnant girlfriend. The triggerman, Van Brett Watkins, was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison. In court, Watkins implicated Carruth as the plot’s mastermind. The two other men involved in the plot have served their jail time and been released.

Three of the four men sentenced for the crime have apologized publicly to Adams. Carruth never did.

The murder case remains one of the most notorious in Charlotte history. The Panthers had already become very popular in Charlotte but were only playing their fifth season when Cherica Adams was murdered. In 1997, they drafted Carruth to become one of their future stars.

But by 1999, Carruth had developed a reputation for being an injury-prone brooder in the locker room. He tried out five different uniform numbers. Although he was slim, he told me once in an interview he was convinced that he looked fat unless his number contained a “1.”

Cherica Adams’ mellifluous first name was created by her mother. “Cherica” was a combination of the entertainer “Cher” and a purposeful misspelling of the last two syllables of the brand name of Saundra’s vaccum cleaner – Eureka.

A West Charlotte high school graduate, Cherica worked at a mortgage company and enjoyed socializing. She had an off-and-on relationship with Carruth for months after meeting him at a pool party in Charlotte.

When Cherica got pregnant, Saundra Adams says, Carruth wanted her to have an abortion. She refused.

On Nov. 16, 1999, Carruth and Cherica went on a date but drove in separate cars to see a movie about a serial killer called “The Bone Collector.”

After the movie, she was following his car on Rea Road in southeast Charlotte when Carruth suddenly came to a halt. She stopped behind him.

Another car pulled up alongside her. Watkins shot five times into the BMW that Cherica was driving. Four of the bullets hit Cherica in the drive-by shooting.

None of the bullets hit Chancellor, but her blood was his blood. As blood poured from her wounds, he began to suffocate.

Somehow, Cherica found her phone and found the strength to make a haunting, gasping call to 911. She described the shooting, enabled Chancellor’s rescue by describing where she was and implicated Carruth. The recording was later played in court.

Part of her conversation with the 911 dispatcher went like this.

Cherica: “I was following my baby’s daddy, Rae Carruth, the football player.”

Dispatcher: “So you think he did it?”

Cherica: “He slowed down and a car pulled up beside me.”

Dispatcher: “And then shot at you?”

Cherica: “Yes.”

Dispatcher: “... And then, where’d he go?”

Cherica: “He just left. I think he did it. I don’t know what to think.”

The power of forgiveness
Chancellor was born later that night, 10 weeks early, by emergency Caesarean section. Carruth was arrested on Thanksgiving Day. He would later panic and try to jump bail after Cherica died. But the FBI found him 500 miles away, hiding in the trunk of another woman’s car at a Best Western motel in Tennessee. The trunk also contained $3,900 in cash and two bottles full of Carruth’s urine.

The ensuing trial was broadcast live nationally on Court TV. Carruth – whose true name is Rae Wiggins – is now imprisoned in Columbia, N.C., in the state’s eastern corner. He unsuccessfully appealed his sentence numerous times.

Carruth has never publicly admitted any involvement in the crime. He did not testify at his trial, and he declined to be interviewed for this story.

In his only interview since the shooting, in 2001 with CNN/SI, Carruth proclaimed innocence and said Watkins acted on his own. Neither Carruth nor any member of his family have been in contact with Chancellor or his grandmother for many years, according to Saundra Adams.

“They are all missing out on the wonderful person that is Chancellor Lee Adams,” Saundra Adams says.

The last time Saundra Adams, 57, tried to send a picture of Chancellor Lee to Carruth’s mother, Theodry, was several years ago. Theodry Carruth had at one time wanted much more access to her grandson and had gone through the court system to attempt to get it. But the letter and picture came back marked “return to sender.”

Even though Cherica was her only child, Saundra Adams long ago forgave Rae Carruth. She says she had to, for Chancellor’s sake.

“The main reason I want Rae and Chancellor to one day have a relationship is because (Chancellor) is his son,” Adams says. “And that’s why I chose early on that I would forgive Rae. Because I don’t feel like I can offer unconditional love to Chancellor if I don’t forgive Rae. That’s his father. It’s a part of him. Chancellor wouldn’t be who he is without Rae. I want them to bond, or at least to meet again.

“Right now, Rae is still in denial about his part in Cherica’s murder. Not that Chancellor would change that. But if anybody were to ever touch Rae’s heart, to make him want to be truthful, I think it would be Chancellor.”

A Panthers fan
Chancellor once performed in a group dance on the field at Bank of America Stadium just before a Panthers game. No one in the media knew at the time that the son of Rae Carruth was out there on the same field where his father once played, but it is just one of several connections he has to the team.

Chancellor wore a Panthers hat to our interview at Misty Meadows Farm, where he does his therapeutic riding. His grandmother says to call him “Lee,” his middle name, because that’s what everyone calls him except her. It is easier for him to both say and spell “Lee.”

“Hi,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand.

“Hi, Lee,” I say. “Nice hat. Are you a Panthers fan?”

“Yeah!” he says.

“Oh, he watches the Panthers,” Saundra Adams says. “He knows they are having a very good season.”

Saundra Adams and Chancellor got a private tour of Bank of America Stadium a few years ago. They saw the Panthers’ locker room, including the space Carruth used to occupy. They met star wide receiver Steve Smith when he was still with the team. “He was so kind and patient with us,” Saundra Adams says. Chancellor loved it all.

Chancellor also loves baked chicken, green beans and animated movies. He has a collection of DVDs. He loves to take all the movies out of their cases, mix them up in his room and then match them all up again. He loves jazz and once attended a Kenny G concert with his grandmother.

“He had to be the youngest person there,” Adams says, “and he hummed along with everything.”

Dr. Docia Hickey, a neonatologist, cared for Chancellor at the hospital when he was a baby and has stayed close to the family ever since.

“Chancellor has done remarkably well,” Hickey says. “He’s a happy young man. And he loves his grandmother as much as his grandmother loves him.”

The smile ministry
The smile is what first strikes most people about Chancellor. It is a full-out, thousand-watt grin.

“He wakes up smiling and he goes to bed smiling,” Adams says. “He’s had that same happy spirit his whole life. I tell him he’s in the smile ministry. I’ve had numerous people in stores come up and tell me: ‘You know, I was in a really funky mood, and this boy just keeps smiling. And I just cannot be mad when he’s smiling like that.’”

Chancellor has never known his mother, except through pictures. He has never known his father, although Saundra Adams keeps a few pictures of Rae Carruth around their house, too. His life mostly revolves around “G-mom,” as he calls his grandmother, and all the places she takes him – school, physical therapy, horseback riding and dance.

He doesn’t understand too much about his mother’s death. G-mom uses pictures to tell him stories, though – including this one.

After his birth, Chancellor was immediately taken away by doctors because of all his health issues. Cherica knew he was alive. But on the day after his birth, she lapsed into a coma from which she never awoke. So Chancellor and Cherica only spent a few minutes together, and only once – a few days before she died, in December 1999.

Cherica had gotten worse and worse, Adams says. She was close to dying. They asked if Chancellor – who had gradually been getting better in the neonatal unit, one floor away – could come see her.

Dr. Hickey and a favorite nurse brought Chancellor to Cherica. They wrapped him in a blanket. They laid Chancellor on his comatose mother’s chest for five minutes.

“I will never forget that,” Hickey says. “I will never forget the sadness, and the respectfulness, of everyone in that room.”

Says Adams: “All of Cherica’s monitors were stable. The machines were doing the work of keeping her alive. But when they placed Chancellor on her chest, the monitors shot up. Her heart rate was just going crazy. You knew she felt his presence there. I know that she knew he was well.”

‘He just did a bad thing’
Many people in Saundra Adams’ position would show bitterness. In 1999, she was looking forward to being a grandmother. Instead, she became a single mother, taking care of a special-needs baby, her only biological child murdered. There is no end in sight to the work she does. She believes Chancellor will always live in her home, needing care, and will stay there even after she is gone.

But she has chosen to become a spokesperson for domestic violence and to fill Chancellor’s heart not with vengefulness, but with love.

“I just can’t say how great she is,” Hickey says. “That woman has devoted her life to her grandson, and she’s done a wonderful job. She is happy. So many people could be bitter. But she isn’t. She’s a remarkable woman. Saundra Adams is one of my heroes.”

Says Adams: “I choose to cherish what I have left more than mourn what I have lost. Cherica is not gone. I look at Chancellor and I see her.

“I tell Chancellor that his mom was shot, and his Daddy is in jail because of that, because Daddy did a bad thing. He is not a bad person, he just did a bad thing. And so that’s why he has no parents here with him.

“But I don’t want Chancellor ever thinking that any part of him is bad. Because there is nothing that is bad about Chancellor.”

‘Are you happy?’
It is twilight now at the horse farm. An earlier drizzle has let up, and there are a few streaks of pink and purple in the sky. The 83 acres of Misty Meadows look like a landscape painting come to life. Harry Swimmer, who founded Misty Meadows with his wife, looks up fondly at the boy on the horse.

“Are you happy, Lee?” says Swimmer.

“Yeah!” Lee says, smiling even more broadly.

Lee sits up straighter in the saddle and looks forward. He clucks softly at the horse. Raider starts moving again.

And then Chancellor Lee Adams – the boy who was supposed to die 16 years ago – rides off into the sunset.
Good but tough to read... thanks for sharing.
 

RaminExile

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a little harsh on Tebow there i think ....i mean i might be wrong (and it wouldn't be the first time ammirite) but because of the way the media treated him (following asking his teamates about TT instead of him etc) doesnt really make him a bad team mate does it? .... unless he forced his religious beliefs on people,,, i mean being on a list with the likes of meshawn and owens ..

You gotta feel for Tebow. He's done nothing wrong. But it is an unwritten rule not to talk about your faith in these days. What a shame. Sure, it was a distraction for his teammates because he got so much ridiculous attention when he wasn't a very good NFL player. He might have been a decent full back if he'd have wanted to have been one I guess, but his playing ability wasn't why he got the attention. That shame of the matter is he ends up on a list like this with these a-holes when he's a really good man.
 

LesBaker

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That was a great story @Prime Time thanks for posting it. Some dust got in my eye when I was reading it.

I just have to say this. That woman is fine if she forgives, that's her call. But IMO she has gone too far and trying to force the killer and that kid together is a big mistake that will probably have some emotional distress and who needs that.

When I read the part where she said this:

“The main reason I want Rae and Chancellor to one day have a relationship is because (Chancellor) is his son,” Adams says. “And that’s why I chose early on that I would forgive Rae. Because I don’t feel like I can offer unconditional love to Chancellor if I don’t forgive Rae. That’s his father. It’s a part of him. Chancellor wouldn’t be who he is without Rae. I want them to bond, or at least to meet again.

My jaw dropped. I'm just speechless, Caruth wanted that kid and Cherica dead, and yeah he wouldn't be what he is without Caruth. He wouldn't have a dead mother and so many serious issues to have to deal with. Thanks pops!

Anyway she lost me there, I don't get it.
 

Faceplant

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I won't read another word about Caruth until I hear he has been brutally and slowly MURDERED.......then I will want all the gory details.
 

Zaphod

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Okay, it's pretty bad when even the wife calls Mr. Haley a closet gay.

Speaking of the wife, she was the unfortunate witness to Neon's prime time display of douche baggery at the St. Louis airport.

Apparently, he was "trying to be covert" about his identity with sunglasses and was making a scene as he refused to take them off at the security check point so that the security dude could verify his identity. 5 minutes go by and eventually an incredible hulk version of Brock Lesnar (way taller than the 6'2" version that you know) says, "Dude, we all know who you are. Nobody gives a frack(edited). Move on." So Deion lowers his sunglasses as he looks at the dude who shouted it, sees incredible hulk, then turns back to the security guy and says, "We good?" Then, as my my wife says (who is African American so please don't get offended), "That nigga run for the gate". Apparently a lot of people were laughing at that.

Just a different wild story you don't hear every day.
 

Roman Snow

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Okay, it's pretty bad when even the wife calls Mr. Haley a closet gay.

Speaking of the wife, she was the unfortunate witness to Neon's prime time display of douche baggery at the St. Louis airport.

Apparently, he was "trying to be covert" about his identity with sunglasses and was making a scene as he refused to take them off at the security check point so that the security dude could verify his identity. 5 minutes go by and eventually an incredible hulk version of Brock Lesnar (way taller than the 6'2" version that you know) says, "Dude, we all know who you are. Nobody gives a frack(edited). Move on." So Deion lowers his sunglasses as he looks at the dude who shouted it, sees incredible hulk, then turns back to the security guy and says, "We good?" Then, as my my wife says (who is African American so please don't get offended), "That nigga run for the gate". Apparently a lot of people were laughing at that.

Just a different wild story you don't hear every day.
Love these storied. I call them "Forest Gump" moments. I tried to get a thread going a few months ago with guys detailing their encounters with athletes and other famous people. Maybe I'll try again...
 

shaunpinney

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Charley Haley, sounds like a prize dick...

I'm surprised to not see Titus Young on the list??
 

LumberTubs

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Charles Haley may not have been around at the time of 24 hour news cycles and social media but he was around at a time when NFL players were more unhinged than they are now and at least one of his teammates would have been a crazy SOB that would have kicked the shite out of him if he was caught "knocking one out."

Not sure I buy that particular part of his story.
 

-X-

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #32
Charles Haley may not have been around at the time of 24 hour news cycles and social media but he was around at a time when NFL players were more unhinged than they are now and at least one of his teammates would have been a crazy SOB that would have kicked the shite out of him if he was caught "knocking one out."

Not sure I buy that particular part of his story.
There's been more than one account of him doing that.
 

tempests

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I would swap Tim Tebow out for Todd Marinovich.

"Robo QB" spent his playing days begging for teammates' urine so he could pass his drug tests. Heroin, amphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, the former first round pick loves them all.
 

LACHAMP46

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Rozier joined a black supremacist religious group that required its members to murder white people and return their body parts to the cult’s leader. Rozier admitted to murdering seven people, and he received a 10 year prison sentence after making a deal to testify against the cult leader.
As much as I follow the NFL...I have NEVER heard of this....o_O...just unbelievable..

And you should never offer a guy like this 10 fucking years....the mf'er is walking around today???? Geez!!!
 

LesBaker

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I would swap Tim Tebow out for Todd Marinovich.

"Robo QB" spent his playing days begging for teammates' urine so he could pass his drug tests. Heroin, amphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, the former first round pick loves them all.

That's just pathetic. o_O