How ‘Cam Newton Drive’ didn’t quite catch on in Atlanta
UNINCORPORATED SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga.—Driving through the intersection of Scarborough and Welcome All roads just south of Atlanta, it is literally impossible not to think of Cam Newton.
Signs from every angle honor Newton, the Heisman Trophy winner, national champion, probable NFL MVP and potential Super Bowl champion. He grew up not far from here, attended Westlake High School right down the road, and one local politician wants to make sure everyone knows it. To that end, there are 25 signs honoring Newton dotted all over the area. Bill Edwards, a now-former Fulton County commissioner, spearheaded the placement of the signs, but only after an attempt to get the stretch of road named after Newton himself failed.
“He’s a hero,” Bill Edwards said. “He’s a role model for young athletes. He’s the son everyone wants, the brother everyone wants. He’s helped put south Fulton County on the map.”
There’s a hint of opportunism at the end of Edwards’ assessment of Newton. The area of south Fulton from which Newton hails is the only area in one of the largest counties in the country that isn’t incorporated as a city, which dramatically limits its political power. The area exists in the shadow of nearby Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, one of the world’s busiest, and while notable figures such as Tyler Perry have made their homes there, the area still encompasses lower-class, occasionally violent patches.
That poor image, both observed and self-inflicted, led Bill Edwards to push to honor Newton, unquestionably the area’s most notable product. Fame carries weight; fame trumps the little successes of the everyday.
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“[Edwards] was always trying to keep morale up, because that area was always getting the short end of stick as far as funding.,” said Johnny Edwards, a writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who’s covered south Fulton in depth. “Those signs are something he did to give people a sense of community identity.”
“When I was trying to get the street named, a woman said, ‘I was born and raised here, I graduated college. You didn’t name a street after me,’” Bill Edwards recalled. “Yeah, but you didn’t win the Heisman.”
The move to rename a section of Scarborough Road to “Cam Newton Drive” arose and died in 2012. Most residents opposed to the change simply didn’t want to deal with the bureaucratic hassle of changing their addresses on everything from mail to driver’s licenses, but a few expressed concern at two public hearings that naming a street after Newton, then just 23 and already coming off several bouts of negative publicity, could blow up in the area’s face.
“They were saying that based on his behavior in college, the shenanigans that he and his family have been either involved in or accused of, it’s likely he could become a disgrace like Michael Vick, an embarrassment,” Johnny Edwards said.
Newton has a semi-complicated relationship with his hometown of Atlanta, mainly because he has a habit of beating the city. His Auburn Tigers throttled the Georgia Bulldogs the one time they played. And while the Falcons have beaten the Panthers on many occasions, most notably to deny Carolina an undefeated season this year, Atlanta fans have had to watch from below as the Panthers have rocketed into the NFL’s elite.
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The Cam you’ll see Sunday afternoon, celebrating and rallying his team, differs from the Cam of Westlake High School only by degrees. He’s only been gone a few years, but people around South Fulton already speak of Newton in the reverential tones reserved for legends. He won a battlefield promotion to the varsity squad at Westlake as a quick, gangly ninth grader, jumping into the starting role when the school’s starting quarterback broke a finger. Newton’s first game came against Mays High School, and while Westlake lost that game 14-13, “the kid grew up that night,” his then head coach Dallas Allen recalled.
Newton grew four inches between his sophomore and junior years, and that was when, in Allen’s words, “Cam became Cam.” His high school games became the stuff of local legend: a Monday night game against McNair High in which he threw for 322 yards and ran for 114 … a playoff game where Newton had another 300-yard passing game and Westlake handed Statesboro its first home loss in three years … a game where Newton, benched for a half for an ill-advised school-hours visit to Waffle House, threw for over 400 yards and put 51 points on the board in the second half.
“When Cam was on that football field, he was the leader,” Allen said. “He was a coach on the field. If a kid stepped out of line, he corrected it.” Allen compared Cam’s journey to that of Allen Iverson, another preternaturally talented kid whose immaturity at times blocked a true appreciation of his once-in-a-generation skills.
He remains connected to his home in ways perhaps less conspicuous than civic boosters would like. He’s paid for uniforms and equipment for Westlake’s teams, and he stops by the school a few times a year, signing autographs and smiling, always smiling. And he doesn’t appear particularly moved by the idea of having a street named after him. Bill Edwards recently tried to get “Cam Newton Drive” off the ground again in the wake of Newton’s Super Bowl success, but Newton’s family told Edwards to stand down once and for all.
Nowhere outside of Charlotte will be watching Newton with as much hope and anxiety as south Fulton. There’s a watching party planned at Mustard Seed Barbecue, and should everything break Cam Newton’s way, there’s a parade in the planning stages, too.
“It’s very seldom we get lights here we can shine,” Bill Edwards said. “If he wins, we’ll have to put another plate on those signs.”
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
