The dream of a football future may have been shattered for a high school athlete seriously injured at a training camp.
Lamont Baldwin, a star receiver at Archbishop Carroll High School who was getting some attention from Division I college programs, averaged four catches per game and more than 15 yards per catch and scored eight touchdowns in six games last season.
Lamont suffered a fractured skull during a drill at the Northern Virginia Riddell All-American Training Camp Elite Skills and Lineman Showcase at the Dulles Sports Plex. He was airlifted to a hospital where he spent about a week, including two days in intensive care.
"When he did come out of ICU, one hour he knew us, and two hours later he'd be crying because he can't tell who we are," said his father, Gregory Baldwin.
Lamont has had to relearn how to walk and talk and has trouble hearing out of his left ear.
"I witnessed my child learn how to walk again," Gregory Baldwin said. "I witnessed my child have to learn his name, date of birth."
Two other players were seriously injured during passing receiving drills. Identical drills were being run at the same time from opposite sides of the facility at the Dulles Sports Plex. The drills ended in the middle, which is how four players collided. The receivers were running hard and looking back at the quarterback, unaware of the drill developing on the other side of the facility. None was wearing pads or helmets, said Archbishop Carroll coach Rick Houchens, a spectator at the camp.
Gregory Baldwin hired a lawyer to investigate. He said he doesn't want this to happen to any other young athletes.
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As for Lamont's future, "Lamont is strong," his father said. "Lamont still watches football tapes. Lamont gonna come back one day -- shock the world."
