NOTE: Full video of UNC WR Coach Lonnie Galloway discussing late Tar Heel receiver Tylee Craft can be found HERE and it's posted below this full transcript.
CHAPEL HILL - Tylee Craft left a lasting impact on the University of North Carolina community, both on and off the field. One person in particular, was Wide Receivers Coach Lonnie Galloway, who helped recruit and coach Craft in Chapel Hill.
Following Craft's service on Sunday, Galloway met with the media on Tuesday to discuss Craft's legacy and how he will impact UNC in the years to come.
Here's a transcript of Galloway's press conference:
Q: Really touching speech and everything that you had to say at the service on Sunday, specifically this one point where you have all the wide receivers stand up and acknowledge them. Just want to ask you, you guys had the wide receiver group today, what was that like?
GALLOWAY: “Today was a work day so we didn’t really talk about it. You know, obviously, Tylee’s always with us. Chris Culliver wore his jersey during practice today. They’re doing that on their own where they pass it around. [We] didn’t mention it obviously, but Tylee’s name will pop up every now and then, but today was just a work day and sort of let them get away from it for a day from Sunday and then today. The mood was good and we know if he was in that meeting room, he’d be telling them to come on or out there in practice telling them to move on. That’s what was going on today.”
Q: What’s one of the first few things that come to mind when someone says Tylee Craft’s name?
GALLOWAY: “Just a great young man and a person that gave everything he had for the last two and a half years. Quiet, self-motivated, wanted to work, wanted to please. Just a tremendous person to where he understood what he needed to do and how to do it and how to carry himself. You couldn’t ask for anything else. I mean he had a plan and he had a vision on what he thought his college life should be. Come here and get his degree, which he accomplished, and have a chance to play big time college football.”
Q: Can you take us through your relationship with him the last two and half years, really since he was diagnosed, but maybe more so the last year leading up to here recently? Just how your relationship grew and what were some of the things that you guys talked about?
GALLOWAY: “Always letting him know that I was there for him, myself and my wife. Just being able to see him work everyday motivated me and I would use that with our guys. Tylee would go take chem and radiation and then be at meetings. Tylee would go to class, [and] be mad when he was late from going to go get his treatment, and be late having to go take an exam. We talked about a lot of things as far as, he’s a Jets fan, I’m a Steelers fan, you know, those things. Just letting him know that I was there for him all the time.
"He never really [and] we never really talked about the disease because if you didn’t know he had it, you wouldn’t know he had it. It was one of those things to where I’d always check on him and see him, [and ask], ‘you good?’ “Yes sir.” ‘Anything you need?’ “No.” ‘See you at practice.’ “I won’t be here at practice this morning.” I didn’t treat him any differently in that aspect of it cause I wanted him to feel like he was obviously part of the team, but no different than any of the rest of them. It wasn’t one of those things where we talked about it a lot.”
Q: Is there something specific that Tylee said to you during y'all's relationship or something special that stands out that you’ll always kind of remember?
GALLOWAY: “Just for me to be myself with the guys and sometimes I feel like I could be a little strong on them. He’s like, “No, coach, they need it. We needed it.” I would get some confirmation sometimes with him. “You think I was too hard on them today?” ‘No, Coach.’ He was a good person to ask those questions because he knew how I am, excuse me, he knows how I am as far as what I expect in practice in those things. “Tylee, was I too hard on them today?” ‘No.”
“I also want y’all to know that Coach Elliott at the University of Virginia has approved to for his guys to wear the “13” on the back of the helmets so that’s really special for them to do, especially what they went through a couple years ago.”
Q: Is that something that you discussed or did somebody kind of push there? How did that come about?
GALLOWAY: “That would be a Jeremy question.”
SHARPE: “They reached out to our equipment people to see about getting a bunch of stickers.”
Q: Lonnie, at the end, when it wasn’t looking good for Tylee and you all were going over to see him I guess as much as you could while you’re still trying to get ready to play football games, what types of things were y’all talking about then? Was it any different than what y'all normally talked about? Were there certain things you were wanting to tell him, knowing it might be the end?
GALLOWAY: “No different you know, because he was around a lot. It was no different than when they admitted him to the hospital that, I know a couple weeks ago. It was no different than besides going over there, checking on him, messing with him, joking just to keep his spirits up. The thing for him was even though he was lying there in bed, he was still Tylee. I told him the Jets were going to lose to the Steelers, which they did. I know he knows that, but no different for the guys.
"We just wanted to make sure that he was comforted by people that loved him. The guys love him, this community loves him, the world loves him, all the news that covered what he meant for this school. What the school meant for him, making sure he received the things that he needed and his mom received the things that she needed for the family and as corny as it sounds, college is four years, but if you’re at the right place, the four years turns into 40. That’s one of the things that we told him. Coach Brown and I told him when we went down there five years ago with Coach Barnes at Sumter. We want to give you a chance to play. He had redshirted his freshman year, going through spring ball, going to get your degree, and we’re going to take care of you for 40 years.
"That’s what, after he got sick, the people around this community, around this university, with Coach Brown’s push, took care of him. Miss Sally [and] my wife took care of him and his family to where they knew, no matter what, that they would be taken care of. That’s what you want when you’re sending your child off to college. Football games are important, but at the end of the day, who are you sending your child to? We showed that family that we would take care of him, we’d take care of them all, but this time it really allowed us to show what decisions you make picking universities are decisions you need to make for the right reasons to go to that university. Obviously, football is a part of it, but who am I going to lead my son to to take care of.”
Q: Lonnie, what does it mean to you that now for years and years, UNC football players, whenever they pass by the nutrition room, they’re gonna see Tylee’s name? They’re going to learn about him from the plaque that’s going to be put up there.”
GALLOWAY: “The hard work that he strived to do while he was here, the way he carried himself around the university, the dedication, the motivation that he gave us all. He was a kid to where he would do just about anything that he could do to help us, help the room, help the team by just carrying himself as a 23-year old man that [was] dealing with something that he knew he had other things to do: his chemo, his treatment, his classwork. Being able to separate his distractions, which were huge distractions, to be able to accomplish his goal that he set out to do and that was to get his degree.”
Q: You talked a little bit about what it was like having him around on the field, talking to him at practice, things like that. Obviously, [he] became a student coach, I think it was in July. He had been at practice already, but what was he like as a coach? What was it like with him interacting with those others receivers you know going through drills?
GALLOWAY: “Tylee would always give his opinion to them. Dip your shoulder, use your hands, wrong step, those things. They respected him and always looked forward on game days when we do a couple little drills and the very last one he would be on as the defender, making them use their hands and stuff like that. He would have been a good coach. He would have been a real good coach.”
Q: What’s the biggest thing that you took from him in terms of life lessons or leadership lessons that apply as a coach?
GALLOWAY: “I mean there’s a lot. Tylee’s impressions that he left upon me was always go out and work hard, no matter what. You’ll try to find the right answers for the guys. Be the leader for the room. Them pushing themselves and them pushing me to make sure I’m on top of my game. Then, being able to handle distractions [and] being able to handle distractions because he did. He handled a huge distraction with sports. You’re in the football building for two and a half hours and come back for meetings. Then you gotta go to class and then you got families and stuff to deal with, but being able to separate when it’s time to go to work, it’s time to go to work and knowing that Tylee always knew once he left the football field, he had to go to class, he had to do his treatment.
"He knew that distraction was there so he could put it in situations to where for me using it with my guys, ‘hey, we’re at practice, make sure we’re focused on practice.” That’s what he’s helped me and helped the guys be able to deal with, being able to do all of the things that you want to do the right way.”
Q: Lonnie, what was it like when J.J. came up with the idea to wear the No. 13 against Georgia Tech? I mean it sounded like, from Mack, it was a pretty emotional moment for you. What was that whole process? Were you surprised?
GALLOWAY: “I’d been thinking about it and then I called Cat, who’s over in academics, and she said that some of them had talked about it. I called Miss September and asked and then I called J.J.’s mom and asked her if it would be okay. Then Miss September said “I want to make sure I see 13 go in the endzone so I told J.J. that. It was huge for him to be able to do that for him, to wear that jersey. It was great to see it go across the endzone with his name on the back.”
Q: Was that your idea? Who came up with the idea?
GALLOWAY: “I had thought about it…J.J. wanted to make sure it was clear and ask Coach Brown if that was okay and Coach Brown thought that would be great because I didn’t want to make one of them wear it. They all wanted to do it so I picked J.J. because he was the oldest and being from South Carolina.”
Q: Do you know who’s wearing it this week?
GALLOWAY: “To be determined.”
