Columbus’ captain nearly died in a July shooting. He inspired a state-title turnaround
Brandon McDuffey, Henry Parrish and Courtney Holmes had spent the entire July day together. The three Columbus seniors have been friends since their childhood growing up together in Goulds. They went their separate ways on the night of July 20 and, just a little while later, Parrish got a phone call he couldn’t believe.
Holmes had been shot out front of his home. A stray bullet hit him in his right buttock, and traveled through his colon and liver. The star safety was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital and Parrish headed there as soon as he could.
“I was with him the whole day,” Parrish said. “It was right after I left.”
Holmes was suffering massive internal bleeding. He was vomiting blood. He had to be revived twice.
“I was just scared for my life, honestly,” Holmes said.
His teammates were all there as soon as they were allowed. Parrish was at the hospital right away, but couldn’t see him until the next day when all the Explorers gathered at the Miami hospital to see their captain.
Football was the first thing on the defensive back’s mind.
“Once he realized that he was fine and he was going to be back alive,” star wide receiver Xzavier Henderson said, “he said, ‘What time’s practice?’”
Holmes spent about two months in the hospital. He returned to school on the second day of class. He returned to the field on the first day of November for Columbus’ win against Delray Beach Atlantic.
The Explorers (11-4) were just a game better than .500 at the time. They haven’t lost since, ending the season on a seven-game winning streak and a dramatic 21-20 victory against Apopka in the Class 8A championship Friday in Daytona Beach.
“All he was thinking about was football when it happened. All he was thinking about in the hospital was how he was going to come back,” McDuffey said, “and that’s what he did. He came back and we won.”
A miraculous rally in the state championship capped Columbus’ improbable run to its first state championship, and it was spurred, at least in part, by Holmes’ even more miraculous recovery.
The Explorers were just 4-3 after a 35-point loss to University in October. When they gathered for practice the next day in Miami, Holmes gathered his teammates for a players-only meeting.
“That just wasn’t Columbus football,” the strong safety remembered telling his teammates. They were just a year removed from a two-point loss in the 8A championship to Jacksonville Mandarin and they were far away from any chance at avenging the loss.
“I was disappointed in them,” he said.
A week later, Columbus lost by one to Dillard. Coach Dave Dunn felt like it was a turning point. The next week, the Explorers beat Coral Gables to start the seven-game winning streak. Holmes was back on the field the next week in Delray Beach. Their leader was back and Columbus was invigorated.
He’s an easy captain to follow. When he was young, Holmes’ mother was killed in a hit-and-run, leaving his grandmother and extended family to raise him. In 2016, he watched his aunt and two cousins get shot, and killed by his aunt’s boyfriend. He was close with the shooter and thought about quitting football, but he never did. The Michigan Wolverines offered him a year later, although his playing career hasn’t been smooth since.
Even before he got shot, Holmes was working his way back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The shooting kept him off the field for most of this season and he’s still not quite back to where he was. He lost 20 pounds in the hospital and his speed was sapped. As soon as he got out of the hospital, he started working with the goal to get back to win a state title.
“As soon as I got out of the hospital, I just hit the gym, like every night,” Holmes said. “I was in the gym at 2 in the morning, early in the morning, grinding, lifting by myself.”
Even when he was in the hospital, his visitors would always get asked about what was happening with the team. Star defensive end Elijah Roberts, who also grew up with Holmes, said he went to visit him just about every day and Holmes would always want to know when practice was or what the team was working on.
It was all because he cared about the team. It was also because he wanted to be ready to chip in as soon as he could. He said he regained all his weight in about a week. He just had to get his speed back and get caught up to what Columbus’ new coaching staff was doing from there.
“I just knew I had to come back and play with them boys,” Holmes said, “because they were there for me and I’m there for them.”
The Explorers came about as close to losing as possible Friday before a miracle comeback. Columbus scored two touchdowns in the final 3:21 to erase a 20-7 deficit against the Blue Darters, and then converted a two-point conversion with eight seconds left to stun Apopka (12-2) at Daytona Stadium.
Although Holmes only recorded one tackle, he was the energizer on the Explorers’ sideline. Columbus got the ball back down by two touchdowns with 4:37 left and Holmes sought out Parrish before the Explorers took the field. He just reminded his friend not to give up.
“”If he can do it, then why can’t we?” Roberts said. “All he could think about, he said, was the team, his whole time in the hospital, so if that doesn’t drive you to go hard, nothing does.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2019 at 12:10 AM.
