(S8) - PT 1 - Draft Party

[37thchamber]

Draft night was strange for Antoine Delacour. While he has a large family, and several friends who were excited to celebrate the beginning of his professional career, there was little fanfare in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana. Instead, Antoine was at the NSFL Draft in person, with his "date" -- his octogenarian grandmother Lucille. Owing to his father's absence, and his mother's frequent travel for work, Antoine was effectively raised by his grandparents; Lucille alone since he was nine, in fact, following his grandfather moving into a nursing home. "It might not have been the wildest of nights," Antoine jokes, "but grandma had a great night. She complained later that she didn't get to meet Cam Newton, though."

After the first day of the draft passed without his name being called, Antoine returned to Lafayette with his grandmother, and spent a relatively low-key night with friends the following evening, right up to the moment he was selected by the Baltimore Hawks. "It was kind of surreal," he recalls. "But once I hung up the call, the room went nuts. I remember I ended the night rapping on stage at the Scorpion Club with my cousin Jay, and Jasmin's younger brother Drew... and some girls asking if they could be in our video. I don't think they even knew I played ball."