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Coleman gone but not forgotten
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They laid Mandel Coleman to rest this week, in good Georgia earth. But they will never bury his marks. Not on his family. Nor on Meadowcreek High football. “Oh, he was so good at it,” Brangela Coleman says of her husband. “Mandel loved football. They wrote stories about him in the paper all the time.” Yes, they did. “Coleman’s four touchdowns lift Meadowcreek. …” Mandel Coleman, a headline-grabbing back, put Meadowcreek football on the map. By the time his all-state career ended in 1990, Coleman produced more than 3,000 yards and 42 touchdowns and gave fans of the new Norcross school plenty to shout about.
“He made people respect Meadowcreek,” teammate Eric McDonald says. With good reason.
“Probably one of top two or three kids I ever coached,” says Dacula High’s Kevin Maloof, who started the Meadowcreek program.
With players like Mandel Coleman, along with his brother, Jason Ward, David Hendrix, Cornell Thomas, Adrian Woolcock and Jason Nichols, the Mustangs rose to winning heights the school hasn’t repeated.
Says Maloof: “We had a great tradition for the Meadowcreek kids today to look back on.”
There they will see the effects of Mandel Coleman.
“Mandel played with great heart,” Maloof says. “His heart was bigger than he was.”
As fate would play out, a diseased heart, and other complications, felled Mandel Coleman. He died April 27, at age 33. This time, there would be no newspaper headlines.
“Coleman Hopes He Can Fulfill Radio Announcer’s Claim.” We pour tons of newsprint and truckloads of ink on young, gifted high school athletes, touting their exploits. Then their lives mostly disappear from these pages.
Newsworthy no more.
So sad, kids whose best days are past, I once believed. Sparked by memories of teammates and friends who, long after their “glory days,” stood on street corners boasting of how good their life used to be. Recently, I even had a parent say he did not wish such fortune on his son.
That got me to thinking. Mandel Coleman’s life, and death, changed my position. You know, just because a high school hotshot doesn’t go on to star on the next level, as they say, that does not equate them with failures. We just no longer tout their successes.
” ‘27 Sweep’ Pushes Mandel Coleman Into Limelight.” Far from the headlines, life flows on.
It did for Mandel Coleman.
A season at Georgia Military College was more successful on the field than off. Youthful missteps, of which details are not important, ended Coleman’s football career. It did not, though, stop his living.
He married his sweetheart, Brangela Kinaya Bell, a Grady High girl who nonetheless cheered for Mandel Coleman — No. 46 in the Meadowcreek program, No. 1 in her heart. Two children, Brianna, now 12, and Mandel Jr., 5, completed their circle.
No headlines trumpeted this Mandel Coleman, hard worker, dutiful husband and father.
Then, in 1999, Mandel complained of breathing difficulty. It took a while to diagnose, but a virus had attacked his heart. Mandel underwent a transplant in 2000, and tumors were discovered a month later. They would return, along with more heart problems.
The ultimate battle was on.
“Mandel was one of those kids, no matter what was going on in his life, when he walked on that football field — man, he was a fighter,” recalled Keith Maloof, the Norcross coach who assisted his brother at Meadowcreek. “Through his friends, I hear he kept on fighting.”
“Coleman puts it all together in Mustangs’ last game.”
“They gave up on him so many times,” says Brangela Coleman, who works for a court reporting firm, “and each time he made it back home.”
When Mandel left the hospital in February, the longtime churchgoer gave his life to Christ. “I was there when he was saved,” his wife says. “It meant so much. That’s enough comfort right there.”
Still, Mandel Coleman’s homegoing proved hard. Kevin Maloof, a tough hombre, was moved.
“Not only was it one of the saddest days of my life, but one of my proudest,” he says. “To see Mandel’s teammates grown up to be such fine people. They hugged me, … and I cried.”
Which led Kevin Maloof to offer a final tribute: “Mandel got his life in order, and it’s a great testament to a great kid. It’s a great story.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: J.C. Clemons
Comments
By Eric L.McDonald
May 5, 2006 11:31 AM | Link to this
J.C.’
I want to thank you for doing this piece not only for the Coleman & Ward Famliy, but for the Meadowcreek Mustangs Football fans and school to let people know that what we did was historic. I am Just glad that I could help in anyway to see that the Mustangs tradition would not be made a mockery anymore.
By JEWELL ROLLEN
May 5, 2006 02:14 PM | Link to this
AS USUAL YOU DID A GREAT JOB MAKING AND BRINGING THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A GREAT KID AND MAN TO LIFE. I MOVED TO GEOGIA AND GWINNETT COUNTY IN 1987 AND DID NOT FOLLOW HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS UNTIL SOME YEARS LATER. I WAS NEVER AWARE “THE CREEK” HAD EVER HAD ANY SUCCESS. MY CONDOLENCES TO HIS FAMILY, COACHES, AND TEAMMATES….
By Dot Richard
May 9, 2006 03:05 PM | Link to this
Mr. Clemons,
Thank you for a great article. My daughter went to school with Mandel and we attended every game. Mr. Coleman was certainly a joy to watch along with his teammates. This was a great group of kids and the coaches took this team of transferees from Norcross and Berkmar and molded them into a “team”. They acheived what no future Meadowcreek team has even come close to acheiving. David Hendrix went to to play and graduate from Georgia Tech, then played for the San Diego Chargers.
I was elated to read this story and the fact that Mandel got his life together.
Again, thank you. The Meadowcreek programs has been much maligned through the years and I hope this will open peoples eyes to the fact that early in their history they indeed made a mark.