Dan Schaefer had seen the new kid in town a few times before. He remembered specifically seeing him play in the same basketball league the previous winter against his son, Max.
But this time, as Schaefer watched the new kid take part in the first Little League practice of the season on the same team as Max, something caught his eye that seemed a little peculiar given how good of an athlete the kid seemed to be.
"He didn't know how to hold a baseball bat," Schaefer said. "He was kind of holding it like a cricket bat or something."
Schaefer, who was officially the team dad but not the head coach, asked if he could work with him and quickly learned why Amara Darboh was so unfamiliar with something so American.
___
On the Seahawks' roster, Darboh's hometown is listed as West Des Moines, Iowa.
And indeed, the wide receiver says he will always consider that city his home.
As Schaefer quickly found out, though, Darboh's story starts in Sierra Leone, where he was born on Feb. 1, 1994, roughly three years after the start of a civil war that ultimately would see an estimated 70,000 killed and more than 2.5 million in a country of roughly six million displaced.
Among those killed were Darboh's parents, Solimon and Kadita, when Darboh was 2 years old (Solimon was a member of the country's military).
With no parents and no home, Amara Darboh and a group of other family members — he says he has 13 brothers and sisters overall — soon became part of the more than 500,000 to flee the country seeking refuge, first to Gambia and then to Senegal, ultimately traveling more than an estimated 400 miles.
In Senegal, the family was approached by a church group, Christian Lutheran Services, located in Des Moines, about being sponsored to relocate to Iowa.
Schaefer says the woman who had become something of a stepmother to the family liked that idea.
"She said it was bountiful," Schaefer said. "Iowa was an agricultural state, and she thought that would be the best place to bring everybody."
Initially, the group — which included Darboh's sister, Lovetta — lived in a group home. Lovetta, 12 years older, essentially was in charge of Amara.
But soon after the meeting at the Little League field — Amara had gotten a scholarship to pay for his entry fees — he was making the Schaefer's house something of a second home.
"He came over one day and he started hanging out more and more and we began to get to know him more and more," said Dan Schaefer, co-owner of a construction company. That led to Darboh playing on a basketball team Schaefer coached, and Schaefer getting to know Darboh's family, which within a few years asked Schaefer and his wife — Max is their only child — if they'd be willing to take in Amara.
"They told me that it's a cultural thing where they are from that if they can place their kids or loved ones with another family that can help them with opportunities that it's common," Schaefer said.
___
The Schaefers first became guardians of Amara, then adopted him when he was 17.
If Darboh stood out for his quickly emerging athletic skills — he was a standout in basketball and soccer — and attentiveness in the classroom, he also was soon regarded as just one of the boys by his peers.
Dan Schaefer, though, would sometimes look at Amara and think, "Man, what did this kid see?"
Asked on the night he was drafted in the third round by the Seahawks what he remembered of Africa, Darboh said: "Fortunately for me, I remember the good parts right before we left. I remember playing soccer with my older brothers. I remember the food. I remember family members. I remember going to the market with my brothers and sisters."
If the Schaefer family quickly became Amara's, Lovetta's voice remained heard.
And one topic Lovetta felt strongly about was football. She hated it.
"She thought it was barbaric," Schaefer said.
So Lovetta didn't encourage it when Amara turned out for a flag football team in the sixth grade.
Schaefer said when the season ended Amara called football "boring" and didn't intend to ever play again.
But in the ninth grade, his exploits in basketball and soccer well known by this point, the football coach at Dowling Catholic approached Darboh about giving it another shot.
Despite getting a late start on the season, he caught three touchdown passes in his first game, after which he made an admission to Schaefer — he'd had trouble at times seeing the ball.
A visit to the eye doctor — the first he'd ever had — revealed he needed glasses.
"He caught three TDs and he needs glasses?" Schaefer said, laughing. "Watch out."
___
Soon, football was his main sport.
Standing 6 feet 2, and 205 pounds entering his senior year of high school, he was a consensus four-star recruit considered among the top 35 or so receivers in the country with offers from the likes of Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan. On his visit to Wisconsin, then-senior quarterback Russell Wilson talked to Darboh and a few other recruits.
But he signed with Michigan, then coached by Brady Hoke.
Jeff Hecklinski, then the Michigan receivers coach who helped lead the recruiting of Darboh, was taken by Darboh.
"He's been through more than you and I can probably ever imagine and so you know two things about him," said Hecklinski, now the offensive coordinator at Indiana State. "No. 1, he is a survivor and (No. 2) he's tough."
Darboh's resolve was tested his second year when he suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury during training camp.
But Hecklinski said Darboh "didn't pout," instead attacking rehab as enthusiastically as he could.
"There's never a 'feel sorry' moment with him," Hecklinski said.
On a loaded Michigan team that led all colleges with 11 draft picks, Darboh — now listed at 6-1, 216 — led the Wolverines in receiving with 57 catches for 862 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior, including eight catches and a score against a loaded Ohio State secondary.
Hecklinski thinks the Seahawks got a steal taking Darboh in the third round, saying, "He's physically as good-looking as they come from a receiver standpoint."
"He plays the way he looks," Hecklinski added. "He's going to look physical and he's going to play physical. He's got really strong hands, he plucks the ball — he will pull it right out of the air."
___
Darboh, Schaefer and many friends and family gathered in West Des Moines for the draft.
By then, it had been apparent for a while he had a legitimate NFL future.
Still, for Schaefer, memories of the road it took to get to that moment were never far away (a significant one took place in the fall of 2015 when Darboh officially became a U.S. citizen, something he said was "a weight lifted off my shoulder.")
As the call from the Seahawks arrived, it hit Schaefer that the kid he'd once shown how to properly hold a baseball bat now was being congratulated on becoming an NFL player by Pete Carroll.
"It gives you goose bumps," Schaefer said. "It's just a once-in-a-million-lifetimes kind of thing to see happen."
About the Author
