On the morning of December 4, Freddie Burden joined a phone call with his mother Velma and his brother Willie Jr. It was the one-year anniversary of the death of Burden’s father Willie Sr., who died a year ago at the age of 64 awaiting a heart transplant. Velma was on the phone from Statesboro; Willie Jr. was calling from Washington, D.C., where he is a first-year law student at Catholic University. Freddie, Georgia Tech’s venerable center, was at his apartment near campus.
The phone call lasted between 30 and 45 minutes, Burden recalled. Together, they shed tears, spoke prayers and felt peace.
“It was comforting,” Burden said. “We just kind of collected our thoughts and everything and just still remain at peace with it.”
A chapter will close in Burden’s life Dec. 31 when the Yellow Jackets play Kentucky in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. It will be the final game of Burden’s career and the conclusion of a year that has been an uplifting rejoinder to a most painful 2015.
