Success suits middle-school star

He's been seen on national television, and his name has appeared in newspaper headlines.

• Photos

Back | Next

Back | Next

His athletic exploits attract attention - he booted a 48-yard field goal during a recent football practice, and last summer he blasted a baseball over the fence during a camp at Evans High School.

And those are merely minor achievements compared to what he has done with the pressure on.

The legend grew to epic proportions last January with a title in the NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass & Kick competition, and he followed that up by helping capture a World Series championship with the Columbia County Dixie Boys All-Star baseball team.

//

By any measure, Kevin Millward is big-time, and the 13-year-old has every reason to have a big head.

The talent is undeniable, but there's something else about this eighth-grader at Evans Middle School that sets him apart from many other sports standouts.

Millward stands 6 feet tall, and he doesn't have an inch of pretentiousness about him. He weighs 200 pounds, but he's not too big for his britches.

"Kevin is the same old Kevin," said Carter Morris, who coached the Evans Middle School football team last year when Millward was just a budding star, not a bona-fide national champion.

Morris says it's natural for the young Knights to idolize Millward, but the response to that adulation has been telling this season.

"Kids look up to him, and that's one of the things I've talked to him about many times," Morris said. "He's a leader, and he has to lead them in the right direction. Kevin has done a good job with that."

Millward hopes to repeat as Punt, Pass & Kick champion.

Photo by Jim Blaylock

Evans Middle teammate Teddy Leverett has known Millward since first grade, and he agrees that Kevin is the same old Kevin.

"Nothing's really changed," Leverett said. "You could see that everybody notices him more. He might be happier with himself."

Millward has a right to smile. Last year he entered the local Punt, Pass & Kick event with some small expectations, and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

He won the local and regional PP&K qualifiers to earn a spot in the NFL team championships, which were at the Georgia Dome in conjunction with an Atlanta Falcons game.

There, he blew away the other regional winners and advanced to the PP&K finals at the Tennessee Titans practice facility in Nashville.

Millward was ecstatic just to be there. The trip to Nashville coincided with the AFC Championship game between Tennessee and Pittsburgh, so he was guaranteed to at least see some exciting NFL action.

As it turned out, Millward made it onto the gridiron. He won the 12-13 PP&K division, and before the fourth quarter of the AFC title game, Millward made his way to the field.

There he was, on national television being introduced as the PP&K champion.

When Kim Millward thinks about the day when her little brother hit it big, there are mixed emotions - she's filled with both pride and amazement.

"He's always been dominant in sports so I knew he could do it, but it was still a surprise," the Evans High School senior said. "Of all the people in the United States, that he would win it ..."

But last week, as she watched Kevin play for the Evans Middle School football team, Kim provided a footnote.

"He's still the same old Kevin, still goofy," she said. "He enjoyed it while it lasted, but he didn't let it go to his head."

If anyone has reason to brag, it's Kevin Millward.

"His so-called 15 minutes of fame has lasted a long time," Tom Millward said of his son. "He's got a lot of notoriety. People see him and say, 'That's the kid that won the Punt, Pass & Kick."'

Still, other than becoming the big kid on campus at Evans Middle, little has changed for Kevin.

"If anything, it's humbled him and maybe helped him mature," said Mr. Millward, who helped prepare Kevin for the PP&K run, and has played a role in keeping Kevin down to earth.

"He comes from the Army, and he's strict on me," Kevin said. "He's humble, so I guess I picked it up from him."

Coach Morris, on the other hand, has noticed something different about Kevin this season, and it's a change for the better.

"Last year when he came out for football, he was not in shape. He struggled the first couple of games with conditioning," Morris recalled.

When the Knights began practice this season, conditioning wasn't a problem.

"If we need him to play every down in a tough ball game, he could do it," Morris said. "I told him, 'Kevin, you're going to be on the field when it counts, so you need to come here in shape,' and he responded well. He does everything you ask of him."

Millward plays quarterback, middle linebacker and placekicker for the Knights. He also is the punter, but Evans has been so dominant through three games this season, Millward hasn't had a chance to punt.

"We're playing great," he said. "Every time we get the ball, it seems like we score."

Since claiming the PP&K crown, Millward has grown about 2 inches. Over the summer, he started to turn baby fat into muscle, and his strong pitching arm helped the Dixie Boys win another World Series.

Though he is a national champion in football, baseball may be Millward's best sport. His fastball has been clocked at 82 mph, and his power at the plate already eclipses that of most high-school players.

"He makes it look easy, when it's harder than it really is," said Leverett, who has played baseball with Millward since they were seven. "I've seen him do some amazing things, things I couldn't imagine people doing."

Although he's always had a physical edge over other athletes his age, that's not the secret to Millward's success.

"His size helps a little bit, but I don't think that's his key," Leverett said. "He has a lot of inner strength, too. He doesn't give up and he's always trying his hardest."

That's the plan Millward will take into this year's NFL Pepsi Punt, Pass & Kick competition. He competed this weekend in the local qualifier at Blanchard Park, and although he's now in the 14-15 age division (he turns 14 next month), Millward isn't ruling out a repeat.

"I'd love to win it again. That's definitely my goal," he said last week after helping Evans Middle post a 42-6 win over Harlem Middle School.

Regardless of the outcome in this year's PP&K, Kevin will be the same old Kevin, yet deep down, he senses that something is different.

"Yes, it's a big deal in my life," he said of his shining moment last January in Nashville. "That shows me I can accomplish something big."