Better Every Day

By Justin Braden

Louisville, KY –

Many people think that football is just a game, but it is more than that. For many young men in this country, football is not only an opportunity - it is the only opportunity – for them to make anything out of a bad situation they were born into.

Student-athletes like Jamal Porter, a junior offensive lineman out of Butler High School in Louisville, Kentucky, are models for the positivity that can come out of the game. 

“I started playing football at the age of 6. I grew up in the projects so being the biggest kid out there, I didn’t have a choice but to play. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I had to figure out something to get me out of here.”

The Park Hill housing project is one of the most notoriously dangerous places to live in the country, and good people like Jamal and his family often end up trapped there, surrounded by drugs, murders, and violence that plague the community. 

“I’m thankful to my mom. She believed in me enough to move me out of there. She asked me if I was going to make it in football and take it seriously. I told her yes, and she focused, and gave everything to move us out of here.”

Before his junior year, Porter made the transfer to Bulter High School – a place that would provide him with more opportunities to better himself on and off the field and was immediately welcomed by the coaching staff, school administrators, and teachers. 

“The coaches told me to come over here and get my life straight. I’ll always be grateful for that. It changed my life. Everything is different here. The principals and the teachers care so much about me. I joined the ROTC program. They always keep me on track. If I need something, they never let me down. They never hold anything against me, they just want to make sure I’m ok. ROTC has been a great challenge.”

KHSAA's strict sports regulations only allowed Porter to play two games in his junior year because he transferred, but in those two games he started at left guard and center, his impact was felt immediately by this team, and the opposition.

The 6 foot 2, 340-pound offensive lineman is known to his teammates as “Big Mal,” but that nickname has two meanings. Jamal is more than just a big man, he is a dog on the offensive line, and he will maul a defender to create a running lane for his backfield. 

“My favorite part is blocking and looking up and seeing my best friend in the end zone. The dudes I play with have been my best friends growing up. So, looking up and seeing them in the end zone celebrating is a great feeling. Just knowing that I helped them make that happen. I helped him reach his goal.”

In the first grade, Jamal wrote an essay where he clearly outlined his goal to use football to make his life better, but even his teacher was skeptical, telling him that it would never happen. He proved her wrong. 

“My writing teacher, she asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote that I wanted to be an NFL player and buy my mama a house. She laughed in my face and told me to be realistic. I still have that paper. She gave me a zero on it. I put it in my pocket and kept it for motivation every single day.”

The reality is that many student-athletes use sports to craft their negative environment into positive success, and the stories of young men like Jamal, who have locked down and made changes in their lives to become better, should be celebrated. 

Jamal is still writing today. He writes his goals down every season and spells out a clear vision for success in them, both athletically and academically. He has set a high bar for himself and his teammates heading into his senior season. 

“I’m going to maintain a 3.5 GPA. Win 7 games. Win a district championship. We haven’t won a championship in forever, so winning one would be lovely. Be a better leader. I’m big on leadership on the field and on the field. My coaches push me to help everyone be better, so I push my teammates to be better. They look up to me. So, I know if I’m doing the right thing, they’ll follow right behind me. They see I can do it, so they know that they can do it.”

Porter also plans to make the Senior Bowl and believes that he has spelled out a clear path to get himself more exposure and scholarship offers during his final season at Butler, but despite his positive life changes, he has continued to face adversity in 2024, this time with the loss of his father in January.

“My father was important my whole life, but he just passed away. He’s a big reason that I continue to play and push myself as hard as I do. I play through him now. We take those moments for granted until we lose someone. So, I never take anything for granted anymore.”

Jamal credits his friends and family for helping him overcome the loss, but the pain of losing a father does not go away in a few short months, yet the young offensive lineman continues to take anything negative that comes his way and use it as an opportunity to be thankful for those that have helped him accomplish all that he has in life. 

“I would like to give thanks to everybody who pushed me, especially Coach Mills, James, Jojo, Jae, Coach Cross, Coach Crook, Coach G. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for pushing me to better every day. My mom took a chance, and I will never be ungrateful for it. She believed in me and that’s all that I needed. She just knows that I can really make it, so I can’t let her down.”

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