This Rambo is a mama's boy
Henry Burris's go-to guy is pretty well-adjusted, for a CFL star
Allen Cameron, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
Ken-Yon Rambo's transformation from prospect to Canadian Football League star has taken four years.
His transformation from strong-minded kid to self-professed mama's boy? Well, that took just one ill-advised walk home from school when he was in the second grade in Lakewood, Calif.
"He was seven," begins his mom, Juanita, from her current home in Cerritos, Calif.
And he had to walk past a really busy street near a mall, and I always picked him up at school. But I was late picking him up once, and he walked home by himself. I was so scared, I was shaking, because he could have been hit by a car.
"It must have been six blocks, as a little kid. And he was so happy because he made it home. But he got in big trouble for that. He'd remember that well."
Oh, you bet he remembers it well.
"I was so proud of myself," says Rambo, the Calgary Stampeder wide receiver who enters Week 6 of the CFL schedule as the league's leading receiver, with 35 catches for 519 yards in five games. "I felt like I was grown up.
"I walked all the way home, and I got in the house, and I was happy. I said, 'Mom, I'm home!' And she said, 'What????' That's all I heard. Whap. Whap. Whap. Tore me up. Then she started talking again: 'Don't you ever do that again.' I remember it like it was yesterday. I never walked home again, and I learned my lesson. Respect my mom's wishes."
For the most part, that hasn't really been an issue. Rambo, who turns 30 in October, is the only child of Juanita, who's spent 39 years as a flight attendant with Continental Airlines, and Cedric, a field technician for Verizon Telephones.
And while both played a major role in his upbringing, there's no doubt about whom Ken-Yon will turn to in times of stress.
"Oh, yeah, I'm a mama's boy," he says with a smile. "I love mom to death. Pops is good, too, love him, too. But I'm a momma's boy. Yeah, I'm that.
"She came up from nothin'. She was raised up (in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where she was a high school basketball and track star) brushing her teeth with twigs. She went through a lot of stuff growing up, a lot of stuff she probably hasn't told me about. She's a strong woman and that's why I look up to her. A great person."
Rambo inherited his athletic gifts from both parents. His dad was a star defensive back in college and got pro tryouts with the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers (his signing bonus: "Oh, I got a little bit of gas money," Cedric says with a smile).
