Wiedmer: Ralph David Abernathy Sr. would be proud of RDA IV

Tennessee running back Ralph David Abernathy IV, shown during 2013 while playing for the University of Cincinnati in a game against Purdue, is among the offensive options the Volunteers have as they prepare for a new season. Abernathy, who missed most of last season because of injury, is a graduate student at Tennessee and playing for the Vols as a fifth-year senior, eligibility-wise. He is the grandson of famed civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy Sr. and the brother of Vols freshman defensive back Micah Abernathy.
Tennessee running back Ralph David Abernathy IV, shown during 2013 while playing for the University of Cincinnati in a game against Purdue, is among the offensive options the Volunteers have as they prepare for a new season. Abernathy, who missed most of last season because of injury, is a graduate student at Tennessee and playing for the Vols as a fifth-year senior, eligibility-wise. He is the grandson of famed civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy Sr. and the brother of Vols freshman defensive back Micah Abernathy.

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KNOXVILLE - The pictures hang in Juanita Abernathy's Atlanta home, stark and troubling reminders of the rocky road her late husband, the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Sr., traveled to seek racial equality and justice for all.

"They're pictures of when their house in Montgomery was bombed," said Ralph David Abernathy IV, the grandson of the famous civil rights leader and a senior running back for the Tennessee Vols.

"He died before I was born, but I know the stories. I'll never downplay my grandfather's greatness."

How great a football player the 5-foot-7, 161-pound Abernathy will turn out to be remains to be seen. Before his senior season at Cincinnati ended last fall after just two games due to injury - which allowed him to come to Tennessee as a graduate student, be eligible immediately and join his brother Micah, a freshman defensive back - Abernathy had scored 13 touchdowns over his career with the Bearcats, for whom he was a running back, kick returner and slot receiver.

Said the 22-year-old Abernathy on Friday of his reunion with his former Cincinnati coach Butch Jones, who is preparing for his third season leading the Vols: "I'm just trying to jell with my teammates. Because of my brother, I'm probably closer with the freshmen right now. Just trying to impart a little wisdom to them. In football years, I'm like a 50-year-old."

Imparting wisdom, hope and love was his grandfather's great gift, of course. It was a gift he shared with the late Martin Luther King Jr., who often referred to Abernathy Sr. as, "The closest friend I have in the world."

The day after King said that in public for the final time on April 3, 1968, Abernathy Sr. held him in his arms on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King had just been fatally shot by James Earl Ray.

That was 47 years ago. Eleven years before that, the Abernathy home was bombed in Montgomery, Ala. Most of the parents of the Abernathy brothers' Big Orange teammates weren't yet born at the time of the 1957 bombing. More than a few were born after King's assassination.

So it's little wonder that many of the current Vols pleaded ignorance Friday when asked what they knew about Abernathy IV's grandfather. Even quarterback Josh Dobbs, who has known both Abernathy brothers for years due to the trio's Atlanta roots, admitted he needed to "learn more" about the late Abernathy's considerable role in the civil rights movement.

"I know Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard runs by Turner Field," Dobbs said. "And I know he was a great man."

To help extend that limited knowledge of a truly great man, UT runnings back coach Robert Gillespie recently had Abernathy IV stand before his position teammates and "give a little bit of my family's history."

It is a request young Abernathy never tires of fulfilling.

"It's never a burden," said Abernathy, who was born two years after his grandfather's death at age 64. "My father (who's also a minister) has always told us, 'Every king has both a crown and a cross to bear.' I know I have a standard and expectation I'm supposed to live up to."

The long shadow of the King family also comes into play. When both men were alive, their families often dined together, Abernathy IV's father calling MLK Jr., "Uncle," much as King's children called Abernathy Sr. their uncle.

"My dad and aunts and uncles are all close to them," Abernathy IV said. "I know a majority of them."

But befitting an older brother, he knows Micah best, which is probably the biggest reason he came to Knoxville for his final season of college football.

"I told my parents I didn't want to make a decision (about where to finish his college football eligibility) until Micah made his decision," he said. "But I was happy he chose Tennessee. We've never gotten to play together before. Playing with my brother is amazing. And Coach Jones is like family."

Abernathy said that some things about Jones' football family at Cincinnati and the one he's creating at UT are similar. Certain mantras, such as "63" and the "power of one," are the same. So are certain offensive plays and blocking schemes.

But the 22-year-old with a finance degree said there is also much different about UT compared to the current American Athletic Conference school that competed in the Big East Conference during much of Abernathy's time there.

"You had size in the Big East, and you had speed," he said. "But you didn't have a lot of guys who had both. Here, everybody has size and speed. Everybody's trying to make it to the NFL."

There's also apparently much more good food at UT's Smokey's training table than could be found with the Bearcats.

"Steak and filet are a weekly thing," Abernathy said with a grin. "That never happened at Cincinnati unless you won a game."

What happened in Montgomery 58 years ago and in Memphis 47 years ago should never happen again. But it did on June 17 in Charleston, S.C.'s historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, with 21-year-old Dylann Roof murdering nine black men and women during Bible study.

Because Abernathy IV's mother, Annette, grew up in Charleston, the family had already planned to be there on June 28 for a family reunion. Due to the murders, they all went to church that Sunday morning at Mother Emanuel.

"I'll never forget the love in the air from everyone in the church that day," young Abernathy said. "Black people, white people, everyone. I've never been a part of anything like that."

Love in the air. Turning horror to hope.

Whatever happens or doesn't happen for UT's No. 5 on the football field this fall, the high standards and expectations first set by Ralph David Abernathy Sr. are alive and well in RDA IV.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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