Posted 1:13 am Friday, February 12, 2010
Bullard Standout Prospers
A Family's Love Guides The Way
By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer
BULLARD -- It had all the makings of a community-wide celebration for a man and his adopted family.
Staff Writer
BULLARD -- It had all the makings of a community-wide celebration for a man and his adopted family.
Students, friends, coaches and administrators gathered Thursday in the Bullard High School auditorium to watch one of their own fulfill a dream of playing college football.
BULLARD’S Marquez Franklin (front, center), who signed a football scholarship with Tyler Junior College, had a crowd of family supporters on Thursday. That included guardians Bill and Kelly Wood, who are at either side of Franklin.
Senior Marquez Franklin is headed to Tyler Junior College on a scholarship, but that is only a small part of this 18-year-old's story. His is a story of love and understanding.
Franklin, who is black, has lived "officially" with his white family for almost three years in Bullard. But his relationship with the Wood family -- including sons Ryan, Jess, Chris and Cade -- goes back to middle school.
Ryan, also a senior, and Marquez became friends and Ryan introduced Bullard's future quarterback to his parents, Bill and Kelly.
"He had lived with aunts and uncles (in middle school) and they couldn't take care of him. He was going to have to go back to inner-city Dallas," Kelly Wood said. "It's such a good community here; he really didn't want to leave. He approached us and it was a brave question to ask for a little boy -- he's not a little boy anymore."
Marquez attended early elementary school in Bullard before moving back with his real mother in Dallas, where he lived the next few years. But the situation was far from ideal, and thus his mom asked that Marquez come back to Bullard and live with relatives.
The Woods stepped in when it looked like Marquez would have to leave Bullard, where he was already making friends through athletics.
"It's a difficult decision that the whole family needs to be in on, and then it's an easy decision that you don't even need to think twice about because it's a little boy that needed a home, and we had the means and the room and the place in our heart," said Kelly, who works part-time as a radiation therapist.
"I thought we were going to make a really big difference in his life and change his future, and he's made a huge difference in our life," she said. "He's opened the doors to a lot of different situations that we wouldn't have been aware of. We've become more tolerant -- an unbelievable example for my kids to learn that you don't know what you're dealing with just by outside appearance."
Kelly said some of their friends were against the Woods taking guardianship of Marquez, but the family didn't listen. Those same friends have changed their opinions now, as one woman mentioned as she was leaving the signing ceremony.
"The whole community has helped us do this," Kelly said. "We've provided a lot but we've had so much support. There are people that said maybe you shouldn't do it, but we didn't listen and it's really been wonderful."
Kelly said the family has not been able to formally adopt Marquez -- he still talks to his real mom -- but they do have power of attorney to allow them to make medical decisions and for the school to contact the family on Marquez's behalf.
Marquez is big and strong with a deep voice, but he spoke barely above a whisper on Thursday. He said he's wanted to play college football since he was a little kid.
"It was very exciting. I really wasn't expecting this many people to come out, but I enjoyed it," said Franklin, who is also a standout basketball player for head coach Robert Sampson and a teammate of Ryan. "I'm very grateful for them taking me in their home. I just thank them a lot for letting me stay with them and being a part of the family."
Bill said Marquez has always been quiet -- and initially kept to himself -- but has now come out of his shell.
"He's grown up a lot in the last 3 1/2 years," said Bill, a division manager for Baker Corporation.
TJC head football coach Danny Palmer, who was at the signing, recruited Marquez as an "athlete" who could end up playing safety on defense.
"We signed him because we know he's a good athlete and feel like he'll fit right in," Palmer said. "He's real strong. He played a lot of positions here at Bullard. I'm impressed with his presence on the field."
Both Bill and Kelly Wood spoke of how Marquez has matured over the years, from a very shy and timid kid to one with growing self-confidence. He's no different than his four younger brothers, from unloading the dishwasher to doing the laundry.
"Immediately he came into our family and my children accepted him as a brother," Kelly said. "They pick on each other like brothers do. He shares a room with Jess (age 15). I don't think there was ever a time that the kids didn't immediately accept him. I think as adults you have trouble getting over some of those boundaries right away."
The Wood home has always been a big hangout for Ryan's friends, and space is at a premium. Bill is trying to fix that problem. Their house is two-story, but …
"The upstairs isn't done," Bill said. "We've been adding on for seven years. We'll get there one of these days."
Notes:
The Bullard boys basketball team has two games remaining in the regular season. The Panthers (23-9, 7-1), tied for first with Tatum in District 17-3A, are scheduled to play Gilmer at 7:30 tonight at home and then go to Tatum on Tuesday.
