‘Mama’s boy’ makes mother proud

He has made this walk before while thinking of her and will do so again.

She so badly wanted to be there for Senior Night in high school, so badly wanted to give him a hug and tell him how proud she was. Moms love those moments. They live for them.

Casey Flair is sure she will be watching, that he again will feel her presence on an evening when another chapter of his football career ends.

This is what she will see: a young man who represents college football at its most extraordinary and significant state, whose commitment on the field and service to others off it eclipses any number of wins by which most define achievement.

UNLV will honor 16 seniors before tonight's kickoff against Wyoming, and it wouldn't be wrong for those at Sam Boyd Stadium to clap a tad harder and cheer a bit louder when Flair is introduced. Think of most players as piston rings to the engine that is any college program. Think of Flair as one of the cylinders.

Not just for his play, although who could have imagined a former walk-on wide receiver from a prep football wasteland like Alaska would enter his final home game at UNLV as the program's all-time leader in receptions with 195?

Not just for his enhanced maturity, for learning between last year and this how better to channel his aggressive edge and avoid personal fouls that hurt his team.

Not just for his schoolwork, which has seen Flair earn a degree in psychology, currently hold a 4.0 grade-point average in graduate school while pursuing a master's in public administration, twice be named first-team academic all-district and be awaiting word on whether he will be chosen the school's first academic All-American in football.

Not just for his unbelievable desire to serve both here and in Alaska, of which UNLV officials say there have been few if any players in the program's history who compare to Flair, a community service All-American in 2007.

Not just for some of it, but rather all.

"First and foremost, Casey is a great person," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "He is amazing in how good he is to people and kids, a credit to himself and his family and this football program."

Flair is one of three final recruits from the John Robinson tenure who will draw pregame applause tonight, with David Peeples and Mario Jeberaeel the others. Robinson promised Flair a scholarship when the wideout walked on in 2004, and Sanford honored the pledge once taking over the following season. Safe to say, the risk paid off.

Flair is an example of where hard work and resolve gets you, a model all those kids he now hosts at nonprofit summer football camps in Alaska can follow when others tell them theirs are impossible goals to reach.

He implores them to dream as he did when no scholarship offers came and no one was all that interested in a kid from East Anchorage High, from a place that produces college football players about as often as Nebraska does surfing champions.

Flair will recall it all when walking with his father, Tony, tonight. He will think of his brothers, Yancy and Jesse, and his sister, Tiffany.

Mostly, he will remember her.

Linda Flair passed away on the final day of Casey's junior year. She had watched Senior Night that season and told her son how much she looked forward to sharing the experience with him the following fall.

"But then she got sicker and sicker, and it finally took her," Casey said. "I'm a mama's boy at heart. I love my dad very much, but I was definitely closer to my mom. As sick as she became, she always drove me to football practice and had dinner for our family every night. She always had a smile on her face as she continued to fight through everything for a long time.

"We talked a lot on those drives to practice, when she taught me a lot about life, about never doubting yourself and what you are capable of accomplishing."

If he scores a touchdown tonight, he will bend to one knee as he has every time when reaching the end zone since his mother died. It's his way of honoring her.

If that happens, clap a tad harder and cheer a bit louder. Heck, do it anyway.

Winning records and bowl berths are nice and important, but you can't build a base for success without players who are strong not only of skill but of spirit.

You can't build anything to last without kids like Casey Flair.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.