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UW football: Late friend a source of inspiration for St. Jean

Jim Polzin  —  4/04/2008 11:07 am

His sister broke the bad news over the phone on March 18. Too early to be some sort of cruel April Fools' prank, Culmer St. Jean thought immediately. But too shocking not to be, he convinced himself.

The linebacker for the University of Wisconsin football team began working the phone. St. Jean called some of his friends back home in Florida. He called his high school coach, who now coaches in North Carolina. Chris Metzger assured St. Jean he'd find out the truth, then called back with confirmation.

Ereck Plancher, St. Jean's longtime friend and former teammate, was dead at the age of 19.

"I was still in disbelief," St. Jean said, "until I got home this past weekend and saw it for myself."

St. Jean was one of more than 3,000 people who gathered inside the Lely High School Auditorium in Naples, Fla., last Saturday for Plancher's funeral. While his UW teammates were back in Madison practicing, St. Jean was watching the guy he had known since their days on the Lely Seminoles Pop Warner football team be put to rest.

"I never expected him to die this young," St. Jean said Thursday. "He was a good kid. He played hard. He did everything to the limits. I'm not surprised he went the way he did because he was doing his best. I just didn't expect him to go this early."

On the morning of March 18, Plancher went through voluntary strength and conditioning drills on the Central Florida campus in Orlando. Spring practice was set to begin the following day and Plancher, a wide receiver, was looking forward to it.

After lifting, Plancher and his teammates ran for about 10 minutes. The team huddled for a brief chat afterward, then began walking off the field when Plancher fell to one knee. It was obvious he was in agony, and UCF trainers provided CPR to Plancher before an ambulance took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A preliminary autopsy didn't reveal a definitive cause for Plancher's death,

'Pretty much perfect'

A few months earlier, shortly after UW's loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, St. Jean had caught up with Plancher in Naples over winter break.

The two talked about how excited they were about where their respective football careers were headed.

St. Jean had just finished a redshirt freshman season in which he played in 12 games, including two starts at middle linebacker. Plancher, who is a year younger than St. Jean, had redshirted during the 2007 season.

"We were talking about what it takes to make it to the next level," St. Jean said of the friends' lifelong dreams of playing in the NFL. "The coaches were really excited about him coming in. He had a chance to do big things."

In many ways, Plancher already had, according to St. Jean.

"Stand-up guy," St. Jean said. "He was pretty much perfect. He worked hard. He respected women. He took care of his younger brother. He was a role model for the community. Everybody learned something from him. He was a 3.9 (grade-point average) student in high school, 3.4 in college. Never really cursed. Outgoing. God blessed him with a lot of talents."

Great memories

St. Jean and Plancher helped turn around a Lely program that went 0-10 in 2002, which St. Jean spent on varsity as a freshman. The Trojans advanced to the playoffs the next three seasons.

The game that stands out in St. Jean's mind came near the end of his senior season in 2005. Lely was set to play at rival Naples High in the Coconut Bowl with a playoff berth on the line. Naples had won the previous two meetings by identical 42-0 scores; in 2001, the season prior to St. Jean joining the team, Naples routed Lely 85-0.

The night before the 2005 game, St. Jean and Plancher talked about how the game would play out.

"He was talking about how he was going to be the first (Lely player) to score at Naples High in like five years," said St. Jean, who played quarterback; Plancher played running back. "But I beat him to it. I scored first, he scored second."

Lely overcame a 14-0 deficit to win 21-14, the Trojans' first victory in seven tries over their rivals.

St. Jean will remember that night forever. But he also will cherish the times he shared with Plancher out of the spotlight.

"My favorite times were before practice," St. Jean said. "We would just hand off the ball to each other and chill and talk about anything. It went from football to women to church. We just talked about everything. He asked me my point of view, I asked him his. That was our time."

Source of inspiration

St. Jean was on spring break in Madison when he heard the news about Plancher. He had planned to fly home to Florida during his week off, but plane tickets were too expensive.

A week after Plancher's death, St. Jean and the Badgers returned to the practice field. After climbing the stairs from the locker room to the McClain Center field, St. Jean realized he had forgotten to put his jersey on.

"I was kind of off a little bit," said St. Jean, who understandably was still coming to grips with losing his friend. "But then I just focused and buckled down and went forward."

One testament to St. Jean's resiliency is that he was singled out Thursday by UW coach Bret Bielema as one of the young players who has stood out this spring. St. Jean, who is splitting time with Elijah Hodge at middle linebacker, said there's a reason he's playing inspired football.

"I use Ereck as motivation," St. Jean said.

It'd be natural during a time like this for St. Jean to take a step back and ponder his own existence. After all, Plancher was a healthy athlete in the prime of his life. Couldn't the same thing happen to the 6-foot-1, 229-pound St. Jean no matter how strong he is or how fast he runs or how healthy he appears?

St. Jean doesn't see it that way. In fact, the thought of backing off makes him cringe.

That goal two friends have been working toward for a long, long time now -- the one about making it to the NFL someday? St. Jean is more motivated than ever to achieve it.

"The way I look at it, Ereck gave it 100 percent, so why don't I apply that to my life and give it 100 percent?" St. Jean said. "He went out respectfully, I think. He was pushing himself to the limit. He was doing something that he loves. And he went to a better place.

"I figure that it would be a nice way for me to go out, if anything, doing something that I love and pushing myself to the limit."

Jim Polzin  —  4/04/2008 11:07 am