ORLANDO, Fla.--- “It’s a rough story let's say that. It’s not a fantasy.”
That’s how Tommi Hill describes his life. On the outside it might look like a dream come true. He’s a star receiver and defensive back at Edgewater. He made the state title game last season, this season he hopes to win, next year he’s committed to play for Herm Edwards at Arizona State.
As he sits in the Edgewater stands looking out on an empty stadium he finishes describing his story, “It’s rough around the edges. It made me become a man at an early edge.”
No One Wins Alone
Right now Tommi lives with his teammate Kye Rivers and his family. After practice most days you can find them still competing on Playstation 4.
“They say that was pass interference,” Tommi yells.
“I told you I was going to score,” Kye shouts back.
They are in the middle of a heated game of Madden.
“That’s how they do it all game long,” John Glenn says from an armchair. “They sit there and go back and forth over who can catch, who can score.”
John is Kye’s step-father and has taken on the role as Godfather in Tommi’s life. Tommi moved in with the family this fall.
“I tell him look you can stay here as long as you like and stuff, but I want you to stay focused,” John says. “You had problems before, I had similar issues when I was younger not having my father around in life and my mom had to do a lot of raising us up. So I know kind of where Tommi is coming from.”
John and Kye are just two of the many people to help Tommi. In the game of life, no one wins alone.
“Look at the score!” Tommi yells triumphantly.
“you didn’t beat me that bad though,” Kye says.
“Look at the score!” Tommi repeats. His 49ers have just defeated Kye’s Seahawks 21-12.
A Tampa Kid
Tommi's story starts in Tarpon Springs, Fl where he grew up with his mother, Loretosha Wallace and his two sisters. By the age of five Tommi started to realize his family situation was not normal.
“It was just a lot of bad situations in my life,” Tommi remembers. “My mom was on stuff, dad really wasn’t there but he was trying to. Other than that I just had to make my decision and make myself better.”
Tommi says his mother was battling an addiction to drugs. In April of 2015 Pinellas County court records show she was arrested and charged with retail theft, resisting an officer, and child abuse.
“It was not like she was doing it to not care about us,” Tommi says. “She was like was going in stores stealing food to make me and my sisters eat. She used to always make us eat before she ate, so I still appreciate her to this day.”
At that point the courts and the Florida Department of Children and Families stepped in.
“It was a discussion you know between my sister Brenda, my older sister, and my brother Milton,” Doug Wallace remembers. Doug is Loretosha’s brother and Tommi’s uncle. About a week after the arrest he began the process of becoming Tommi’s legal guardian.
Finding a Football Family
“This is pretty much where all the training began right here,” Doug says as he walks through a field behind a church near his house. Doug had already raised two sons of his own and had a passion for sports. It wasn’t an easy transition for Tommi, but the two bonded over sports.
“We’d come out here and set some cones up and I started teaching him how to run routes,” Doug says.
Only there was one problem.
“First practice he couldn’t catch. Couldn’t catch,” Doug says.
Local trainer and Tommi’s Pop Warner coach Lo Wood remembers the practice too.
“We got this phrase you can’t catch a cold in the north pole,” Lo says. “I’m telling you he missed all the passes and he know he did so he can’t say he didnt. But he was athletic.”
Lo Wood has trained central Florida football stars like Ha Ha Clinton Dix, Karl Joseph, and Matt Milano who have gone on to NFL careers. He figured he’d put Tommi at defensive end, but after a month of training Tommi had transformed his teams offense as a receiver.
“I never like throwing the ball in youth sports, never,” Lo says. “Once we got Tommi it changed. He just dominated Pop Warner from there.”
By the time Tommi was a freshman in high school he already had an offer from Florida State. He played his freshman season at Evans High School and then transferred to Edgewater. It was around that time that his father, Tommy Hill, started coming back into his life.
“He always be like Tommi point at me,” Tommi says as he walks around the Edgewater end zone after practice. “Every time I score or do a big play I always tell him you come point at me. That’s a happy celebration for me.”
These days Tommi points even if he can’t see his father pointing back.
On the morning of March 15, 2019 Tommi’s father was riding his motorcycle on US-92 outside Tampa. According to a crash report Tommi’s father attempted a pass near Carmack road. He collided with a car in the other lane and was vaulted from his motorcycle. He died on the scene.
“After that I just passed out. Not passed out but cried.”
Tommi wears a necklace with his father’s picture around his neck and has his death day tattooed to his wrist.
“Every time I score I always tell him let’s ride. So it was a big impact.”
Faces in the Crowd
“R-I-P my pops,” Tommi says as he points to the tattoo on his wrist. “That’s what I came for.”
Tommi is finishing warm ups. It’s October 16, 2020 and Edgewater is about to take on the Osceola Kowboys.
“I’m looking at a bunch of dudes that have shared their hearts about lives they’ve lived that have been tough,” Edgewater head coach Cameron Duke says to his team before kick off. “We get a chance now as a family to show that love to this county, to the central Florida area and to the daggum state.”
When Tommi plays you won’t see his mother or father in the stands, but that doesn’t mean he’s alone.
“Let’s lock up Tommi!” John Glenn is there cheering on Kye and Tommi.
“There you go Tommi! There you go Tommi!” His uncle Doug shouts as Tommi nearly makes an interception in the end zone.
Another face in the crowd is Demetrius Crane. “Alright Eagles!” she cheers.
Demetrius runs the non profit SEA Community Corporation and a program called Street 2 Cleat. She helped Tommi raise his SAT score and considers herself his Godmother.
“As long as he plays he knows we will be there supporting him because we are his family now,” Demetrius says.
In the 4th quarter Edgewater quarterback Canaan Mobley takes a shot deep. He’s got Tommi downfield. Tommi leaps over two defenders and glides into the end zone. The touchdown gives Edgewater the lead. Tommi points to the crowd, his new family cheers back.
Edgewater wins the game 31-24 on a strip sack fumble returned for a touchdown in the final seconds. Tommi would then make the final tackle to seal the game.
“I told you I was coming,” he says as he walks off the field.
“He’s had a lot of people in his life that have helped him in a positive direction,” Edgewater head coach Cameron Duke says. “You’ve watched him grow and mature as a young man and that’s a testament to so many people.”
Tommi Hill is Edgewater’s son.