Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994 TAG: 9405180085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Keaton, you see, is the Rev. David Keaton and football is not his higher calling.
"I knew from the time I was 7 that I wanted to be a preacher," said Keaton, whose father, Joseph, is the pastor of Central Baptist Church in Roanoke. "I would wake up in the morning with preaching in my heart. It was just a burning desire that wouldn't go away."
And, it hasn't gone away.
"A lot of people would misconstrue this as me giving up the ministry," said Keaton, who leaves next week for the Colts' camp. "If I can serve God in the church, I can serve Him on the football field. I'm not backsliding. I haven't lost my identity."
Keaton, a 1988 Northside High School graduate, already had rejected an opportunity to try out for the NFL's New Orleans Saints.
"The Lord gave me the confidence to do this," Keaton said. "A lot of people don't have the opportunity once. I've had it twice. To be honest with you, I had stopped working out, but I couldn't rest about that, either."
Keaton came to the attention of the Colts, a Canadian Football League expansion franchise, at a tryout camp March 6 in Tampa, Fla. It was hard to miss the athletic ability that produced clockings of less than 4.3 seconds for 40 yards, 16 repetitions at 225 pounds in the bench press and a 38-inch vertical leap.
What Keaton didn't have was a reputation or a position.
"That's the catch about wherever I play," Keaton said. "The Colts told me they liked me as a kick-returner. They'll start me out at wide receiver and, if that doesn't work out, we'll try defensive back.
"The Colts didn't want to work me out; they wanted to have me under contract before anybody else could work me out. I thought two years in the CFL would be good experience and let me show some productivity, plus the field is wider and longer."
In what almost seems like an earlier life, Keaton was a running back at Northside, where injuries kept him from having a particularly noteworthy senior year. He went on to Lees-McRae Junior College in Banner Elk, N.C., where he was a defensive back.
Keaton finished his college career at Glenville State, an NAIA program in West Virginia, where he was a wide receiver as a senior but had little in the way of statistics.
"Receiver was probably the best position for him," said coach Jim Hickam, who favors an option running game at Northside. "For us, it was a matter of matching him with a position, but we were always aware of his speed. I admire his tenacity for staying after this."
After graduation, Keaton would attend pro camps during the week, then return to Roanoke on the weekend to preach. He was approached in November 1992 to become the pastor at Reed Street Baptist Church, where he served for 11 months until he resigned effective the last week in April.
"I haven't played football in two years," said Keaton, who preached as recently as the weekend at his father's church, "but I always had in mind that this was something I wanted to do. It was something that kept gnawing at me. The speed is still there. I'm ready. I'm anxious."
Keaton received a two-year non-guaranteed contract that was negotiated by Prime Time Industries, a Roanoke-based group that includes former VMI basketball player Greg Fittz, recent Washington and Lee law graduate Darren Haley and Roanoke businessman Stan Hale.
"It's kind of unusual how we got together," Keaton said. "Greg wanted to sell my father some insurance and they got to talking about professional sports because Greg had played [basketball] professionally.
"My father asked Greg to talk to me about the reality of professional ball and how hard it is to get on a team and make a good living, but when Greg got a look at my highlight film, he didn't discourage me. He encouraged me."
by CNB