When Kylon Coombs found out he won the prestigious Paul Robeson Award, he felt his hard work had paid off.
The Rosedale Jets give out the award each year to a football player who has been with the organization for at least three years, and maintained an A grade average through that time, while being a leader on and off the field.
“He works really hard,” said his mother Camorine Farquarson. “He’s very dedicated to school and he’s very dedicated to football. He wants his team to win.”
Coombs, 14, played for the Jets from the pee-wee league all the way up to the group’s highest level, the 13-year-old division. He said he almost didn’t play his last season, but he decided to get back on the field, and his love for football was reignited.
When Coombs, a freshman at Thomas Edison High School, got home from school every day at 2:30 p.m., he started on his homework before the 5:30 p.m. football practice.
He said he “studied a little bit more” with hopes for the Paul Robeson Award.
“When he comes home, I don’t have to tell him to do his homework,” Farquarson said. “I have to give thanks, I’m blessed. He has manners. He’s very loving.”
Coombs also plays flag football and wants to join the track team. In addition, he has interviewed at several different schools in Queens and Brooklyn, and hopes to transfer and play football at Christ the King.
The teen is too old to return to the Jets, but has plenty of trophies to remind him of his seven-year stint with the organization. He won Defensive Player of the Year three times, and the Ironman Award three times, as well. Now, he can add the Paul Robeson Award to his collection.
“I’m sure every player at Rosedale would want that award. It’s like the greatest award and has a whole bunch of requirements,” he said. “I felt really good.”
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