'She gave me a new meaning': Damon Terry opens up on Aubrie, the one who changed everything


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Junior wide receiver Damon Terry poses with his daughter on Aug. 19 at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Being a Division I football player, full-time student and serving coffee at Tim Horton's comes with a lot of responsibility. 

At least that’s how Central Michigan wide receiver Damon Terry felt early in his college career. 

However, it wasn’t a test involving school or an opponent on the gridiron that changed Terry’s life. His imminent life-changing moment resided in the results of a pregnancy test on October 9, 2016. 

Unaware of the upcoming battle and unprepared for it, Terry was set to be a father.

Discovering the news in Mount Pleasant during the football season, Terry immediately made a FaceTime call to his mother, Tashan Terry, in Lansing. 

Tashan answered the call. She remembers Damon had an eccentric look on his face. Then, his girlfriend, Kiana Henry, popped into the FaceTime screen with a grin. 

The two informed Tashan of the news. At first, she thought it was a lie because Damon would often play jokes.

“Damon, quit playing,” Tashan recalls saying to her son. “Show me some proof.” 

Then, Damon showed her the pregnancy test as validation of what the future would hold.  

Recollecting on the moment, Tashan respected her son for being courageous enough to reveal the news.

“Oh my goodness, I wanted to kill him,” Tashan said. “At the same time, I understood. Damon needed something to help keep him motivated.”

During nine months of waiting, Damon thought long and hard about returning home to Lansing. He contemplated quitting the football team and dropping out of school to get a job in his hometown and raise his daughter Aubrie.

Aubrie, 1, born on June 27, 2017, pushed Damon to succeed. Thanks to support from his mother, grandmother and best friend Jonathan Carson, a senior defensive end on the football team, he decided to continue playing football and working toward his degree.

“She’s my biggest blessing and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Damon said at CMU Media Day on Aug. 19. “The best part of having her is there’s no way for me to stop (working). She needs me and I need her.” 

Though Damon considered it, Tashan would not allow him to move in with her in Lansing. Not as a punishment, but as a catalyst for success. His grandmother did the same. 

“Damon had a free college education he had to fulfill,” Tashan said. “I was not going to allow him to come home and quit all of that. We all help out. (Aubrie is) going to be taken care of.” 

“I didn’t know how I was going to play football, stay in school and provide for her,” Damon added. “But I’m making a way.” 

His grandmother, Sara Nick, had a son named Damon who passed away while Tashan was pregnant, giving her the inspiration to name her newborn son Damon. The name built a relationship, which skyrocketed through Damon’s childhood. 

“Before Aubrie, my grandma was what Aubrie is to me now,” Damon said. “She’s the most influential person in my life. I talk to her before every game and she’s always been there for me."

Carson entered Damon’s life in 2014. When the wide receiver took his official visit to check out CMU, Carson, just a freshman at the time, was his host.

On April 20, 2014, Damon committed to join the Chippewas and Carson kept in touch into his freshman year. Little did Carson know, his new-found best friend would soon become a father. 

“I never have really been around babies like that,” Carson said. “I didn’t know how he’d be able to go to school, play football and take care of a kid.”

Countless hours of conversation were spent between Damon and Carson regarding the thoughts of dropping out of school and leaving the football team. When Carson graduated in May 2018, it proved as another form of motivation.

“I was just telling him, ‘Bro, you have a year and a half left. If you grind, you can get through it,’” Carson said. “I just wanted him to stay with the football team and get his degree.” 

Damon responded to his best friend, “Yeah, I can do this.” 

Carson made it simple – he told his best friend not to leave him behind. It was the final shot at convincing him.

Damon stayed.

Considering the addition in Damon’s life, Carson stepped up to help Damon. He adhered to the role of Aubrie’s Mount Pleasant uncle and has been around as much as possible. The defensive end takes her for walks, ice cream trips and even drove to Lansing for her first birthday party. 

“Everything is better now,” Carson said of his friend’s situation. “He is going to be a big contributor this season as a junior, so everything is working out in his favor. I can’t wait to see what happens for him.”

The best friends often talk about the future, like when Aubrie goes on dates as a teenager. In the film Bad Boys 2, one scene features Martin Lawrence, the father, and Will Smith, the uncle, interrogating a 15-year-old boy who is about to take Martin’s daughter out. 

“When Aubrie gets older, that’ll be us,” Carson said of the film. “Damon and I will scare all her dates away.” 

The CMU coaches have also been able to guide Damon on his journey as an athlete and a father. When the Damon had to miss practice due to anything involving Aubrie, the entire staff understood. Head coach John Bonamego gave him advice throughout the pregnancy to help equip his player for a new game – parenthood.

Carson and Tashan remember multiple occasions where Damon has gone without in order to help others, especially Aubrie. He never allows her to go without a roof over her head, clothes on her back and food and drink. Damon never puts anything before Aubrie. 

“He has a heart of gold,” Tashan said of Damon. “There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to help somebody, even if he was in need. He’s a sweetheart, but probably doesn’t want people to see that side of him.”

Before Damon takes the field for the Chippewas, he calls Aubrie on FaceTime. As long as he gets a chance to see her face before playing, he’s satisfied. 

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