Youboty family now cries with joy
OSU cornerback came to U.S. from war-torn Liberia
By Doug Harris
Cox News Service
SAN ANTONIO — Ohio State University sophomore cornerback Ashton Youboty took an instant liking to football after arriving from West Africa as a child. But immigrating to the United States offered more than just an outlet for his considerable athletic skills.
It also provided an escape from war.
The Big Ten co-leader in interceptions was just 5 years old — the eldest of John and Jeannet Youboty’s four children — when fighting broke out in his native Liberia.
Two rival rebel groups clashed for power in an attempt to overthrow the government, eventually assassinating president Samuel Doe and sending the country into turmoil.
“We had several (relatives) who passed away through the war,” Ashton Youboty said.
“I was definitely fortunate to get out. The others, who couldn’t get out, weren’t so fortunate.”
In 1990, the first full year of strife, an estimated 10,000 civilians were killed and approximately one million people — about 40 percent of the population — were left homeless, including the Youboty family.
A high government official, who had been held captive by rebels for two weeks, described the situation in a Dayton Daily News account of the day as “sheer anarchy.”
“Every house is opened and looted. When they see your house, they chase you out with your family. If you resist, they kill you.”
Cities were darkened. Stores were shuttered. Food was scarce.
Jeannet Youboty remembers the streets being so overrun with rebels that venturing anywhere required stealth.
“You couldn’t even wear shoes because your were afraid they would shoot where they heard a sound,” she said. “You were on your tiptoes. When they’d shoot, you’d lay down flat on your belly.
“We had to find our way to the (American) Embassy. That’s how we escaped.”
Jeannet Youboty had siblings in Philadelphia, and she was sure her family could find refuge there, too. But getting them out of the country together would prove to be futile.
The nation’s lone airport was closed. The U.S. Marines were evacuating civilians by helicopter to neighboring Sierra Leone, but only a handful at a time.
And Jeannet Youboty had to make the most agonizing decision of her life: flee with a 5-month-old baby who desperately needed medical attention — trusting the others would manage to find a way out, too — or stay behind and contend with the ruthless rebels.
“I refused (to go) the first time,” she said. “I refused the second time. The third time, my baby was sick. There was no hospital open, no clinic. I ran out of food for the baby. I didn’t have breast milk. I was forced to come.
“I cried until they calmed me down. I didn’t know if I would see my children ever. But you can cry until you cry blood — it doesn’t mean anything to them. They only airlifted U.S. citizens and people with green cards.”
She waited nearly a year for the rest of her family to come. But come they did.
“It was freedom — free at last,” she said. “I saw my kids were alive.
“We cried. We cried. We cried. This time, I cried with joy.”
Ashton Youboty was three weeks shy of his seventh birthday when he fled the country and remembers little of the ordeal. But he does recall discovering an American institution that brought him immediate delight: football.
“We’d get up in the morning and play football from 8 o’clock on,” he said.
Blessed with his mother’s speed — she was a national-caliber sprinter before marriage — Ashton Youboty showed such promise that his parents were compelled to move again to join relatives in the football hotbed of Klein, Texas, just north of Houston.
Ray Kenjura, Klein High School’s coach then, first saw Ashton Youboty (pronounced U-BOAT-ee) as an eighth-grader and knew the program had just landed a surefire star.
“He had tremendous speed,” Kenjura said. “And we never measured his peripheral vision, but sometimes you’d think the kid had eyes in the back of his head.”
Kenjura remembers one kick return where Youboty left opponents scattered like driftwood on a rugged beach.
“We were playing on an AstroTurf field, and I think he stepped on every piece of (turf) from the 50-yard line on,” Kenjura said. “It was just an incredible run back. In fact, on the film, you could see that one kid missed him three times.”
Ashton Youboty drew his first scholarship offer from LSU, and the rest of the major powers followed suit.
Kenjura had sage advice for all recruiters.
“He’s one of those guys that if you told him something, you’d better tell him right — because he’s going to do it exactly the way you told him,” Kenjura said. “He’s the kind of kid you win ballgames with.”
The Buckeyes certainly have found that out.
Ashton Youboty has racked up a team-high four interceptions, including a dazzling pick in the 37-21 victory over Michigan. He has been the Buckeyes’ steadiest defensive back, registering 11 pass deflections — five more than any other player.
But his breakout season hasn’t exactly come as a surprise to him. Ashton Youboty knew he could become a key contributor after graduating from high school early and enrolling at OSU in time for spring ball before the other freshmen arrived.
“The first guy I covered was Mike Jenkins,” Ashton Youboty said of the future NFL first-round draft choice. “I was nervous. But once I saw I could run with him, I was confident. It was just a matter of getting in my stance and playing ball.”
The Youboty family will make the three-hour trip to San Antonio on Wednesday to see Ashton play in the Alamo Bowl — “I need about 30 tickets,” he said anxiously — but not every member of the clan has learned to embrace the sport.
Jeannet Youboty’s protective instincts tend to make her son’s games unbearable to watch.
“I never liked (football),” she said. “It’s too tough. When I watched the games (in high school), I’d cry. The lady beside me would ask, ‘What side does your son play on?’ I’d say, ‘It doesn’t matter. They’re all somebody’s children, and they keep knocking each other down.’ ”