North Carolina State University Athletics
This Is For You Dad
11/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 18, 2004
Before every game Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay takes a permanent marker to the tape that the athletic trainers wrap his wrists with. The senior linebacker from High Point, N.C., writes "Mom and Dad" on one side with his dad's initials on the other, then "Big Plays" and "Respect" on his other wrist. His late father, Freddie Lindsay, died from colon cancer Sept. 15, 1996, and since then, Aughtry-Lindsay has been inscribing the initials "FL" where you can feel the pulse of his heart.
"I always think about him and my mom going into the game," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "He is just a part of my life that I miss a lot. I know he's watching me and everything I do is with him in mind. From football to schoolwork, his memory keeps me focused. Along with having my mom on my side, the thought of him wanting me to do what's right helps focus me. "
The youngest of three children and the baby brother of two older sisters, Tanya and Michelle, Freddie and his father were inseparable.
"Everywhere he went, I wanted to go," Aughtry-Lindsay recalled. "He taught me a lot about being a young man. I was only 14, but I felt like I had learned a lot just from being around him, following him around and doing a lot of things with him wherever he went. A lot of times it was just me and him.
"He was just like me," Aughtry-Lindsay continued. "My mom always says that I remind her more and more of him. He was outgoing, outspoken and always smiling and happy. I was the greatest thing in the world to him. He always supported and encouraged me in everything I did. We had the greatest father-son relationship. It was a friendship. He was always a coach for my little league teams. Either him or my mom were at every practice. They were very involved."
Growing up in High Point, "The Furniture Capital of the World," both of Aughtry-Lindsay's parents worked in the industry. When Freddie Sr. first showed signs of the disease that was ravaging his body, Freddie Jr. remembers not realizing the extent of his father's illness right away.
"When he first got sick my mom was gone for about eight months, working in California and Canada," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "I was at home with my dad and I didn't know he was sick. He didn't know either. He thought he was just under the weather. By the time my mom got back, though, he was getting worse. He went to get checked out during my seventh grade year and found out he had cancer. It had come along real far and he started chemo. I thought he was going to be allright. He was still working, cutting the grass at home and things like that."
There was a point when Aughtry-Lindsay realized his father was getting weaker when one day he asked his son to finish cutting the grass for him.
"That was the turning point for me becoming a young man," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "He ended up in the hospital not long after that. That whole summer before eighth grade he was in and out of the hospital."
One week after school started his father passed away, the Sunday before his son's first game of the season. The grieving process is different for everyone and nobody would have thought differently of Aughtry-Lindsay for taking some time away from football and school.
"I didn't take off," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "I wanted to, but my mom knew that my dad wouldn't want me to because she knew how much he enjoyed watching me play. He would want me to deal with it, but not spend any time away from school or sports because of it. So I continued to play and I played for him. I went to school the next day and I didn't miss any practice. From that point on, everything I've done in my life has been for him."
Taking a personal loss and turning it into personal motivation seemed to begin the evolution of Aughtry-Lindsay into the hard-hitting defensive stopper that he is for the Wolfpack.
"He and his dad were so close," said his mother, Cynthia Aughtry-Lindsay. "Wherever one was, you'd see the other. I think that when his dad passed away, that motivated him even more, because that's when he really started to excel in football."
In addition to inking his dad's initials on the tape around his wrist before every game, Aughtry-Lindsay incorporates his father into his prayers. An animated player on the field, Aughtry-Lindsay keeps both his parents in mind throughout the game.
"I blow my mom kisses all the time and after big plays I look up to the sky because I know my dad is watching me," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "He's always on my mind, on the field and off the field."
Off the field, Aughtry-Lindsay will have 12 hours remaining after this semester to graduate. The sociology major relishes the approaching milestone of earning his degree this spring.
"That will be a really big deal," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "It is big to me and it is something my mom always wanted. My sisters never finished, so I'll be the first of her children to graduate from college with a degree."
With a successful career at NC State behind him and a degree in hand, Aughtry-Lindsay will turn his attention to the future and his dream of making a living playing football.
"I feel like my four years here have put me in a place to have a chance to play at the next level," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "That is what I've always wanted, to be a pro football player. After I graduate, hopefully I'll have that chance. I feel like it will happen."
When his playing days are over, which will hopefully be later than sooner, the sky is the limit for Aughtry-Lindsay.
"I've thought about teaching and coaching," Aughtry-Lindsay said. "I also want to start a business. I think I want to get into real estate. There's always money in real estate and that sounds like something I could start something of my own in. I know that that sort of thing just doesn't happen overnight, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes."
