Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 20, 1993 TAG: 9310200026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
When the phone rang at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Joe Crocker didn't have to wonder who was on the line.
Word had filtered down to North Carolina that Virginia cornerback Greg McClellan had been injured against Florida State and that Crocker might make his first start Saturday against the Tar Heels at Scott Stadium.
The caller was Crocker's older brother, Sean, who has started at corner in parts of four seasons for the Tar Heels.
"On some weeks we talk just about every day," said Joe, a redshirt sophomore. "We've always been like this. I can tell him anything."
There might be some taboos, such as the teams' respective game plans, but this week they needed to get their respective guest lists in order.
"We're talking maybe 30 to 35 people, counting family and friends," the younger Crocker said. "Sean told me he has about 25 tickets, [but] my mom will probably sit in the Virginia section.
"Last year, she wore a Carolina sweat shirt and a UVa hat. Maybe this year it will be a UVa sweat shirt and Carolina hat."
The family home is in Wakefield, a small town in peanut-rich Sussex County. Older brother Travis was the first to distinguish himself at Sussex Central High School. He then played at the University of Richmond.
"I don't want to make it sound like the typical single-parent family life," said Travis, 25, who is a businessman in Richmond, "but my mom's what kept us going. She always drove home the fact that education, not sports, was our livelihood."
Elizabeth Crocker's parents had died at an early age, so she also helped raise one of her brothers, Charles, who lived with the family and was a strong male influence for the Crocker brothers.
"My mother wasn't going to let me play football," Travis said. "My uncle [Charles] had played at Sussex Central and had broken a nose and messed up his knees, but he convinced her to let me play. We always said that he saved her $150,000 in college tuition."
Education was stressed to such an extent that when Travis got a "C" in math as a junior, his mother threatened to pull him off the football team.
"She made it very clear that she would not tolerate that," he said. "I was unwillingly made an example of; Sean and Joe saw what she almost did to me and learned their lesson."
When Sean called Joe at 6:30 a.m., it wasn't to irritate his brother.
"I just wanted to catch him before he left for class," Sean said.
Sussex Central, despite an enrollment of barely 300, has established itself as a football power under coach Dwight Reagan and has sent more players to college than high schools many times its size. Included in that group is Reginald Givens, who was a standout linebacker at Penn State.
It was during a scouting trip to watch Givens that North Carolina discovered Sean Crocker during a 1988 Group A playoff game. His only other option was Richmond, which was going through a coaching change, or he might have joined Travis as a Spider.
"I don't think they wanted to go to different schools," Reagan said. "It just happened."
Carolina had an abundance of defensive backs in 1990, so the Tar Heels did not make a big push for Joe Crocker, whose final choice came down to UVa or Virginia Tech. At 6 feet and 196 pounds, he is the biggest of the brothers, all of whom have played cornerback.
"Joe is probably the most physically talented of the three," Reagan said, "but all were outstanding competitors. And they were never in any trouble. I'm not going to say they came from a bad neighborhood, but there was trouble around them."
Sean and Joe Crocker played against each other last year, when North Carolina defeated the Cavaliers 27-7 in Chapel Hill, but Joe was coming off an ankle injury and got on the field for only four plays. After missing three earlier games with a torn tendon in one of his fingers, Sean played with a cast on his wrist against UVa.
"Last year, when they won, it was a pretty crushing defeat," Joe said. "He was like, `I told you so.' After the game, we were walking off the field and he was just smiling, looking down on his little brother."
The injury to McClellan was not as severe as originally thought, but it did give Crocker more than three quarters' experience against top-ranked Florida State and Heisman Trophy candidate Charlie Ward. After that, he isn't about to be intimidated by the prospect of being on the same field as his brother, Sean.
"I just played in front of 80,000 people," Crocker said, referring to the crowd and media gathered at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. "When you're on the field playing, the crowd doesn't really affect you, but it does help to know you played in front of that many [opposing fans]. How could you be nervous in front of people you know?"
by CNB