Vince Lombardi once famously
said man's greatest achievement
is not in never failing,
but in rising again when you do fail.
Cameron Bab never really failed.
He just got hurt and he is risen again.
The former CBC star is
tonight's spotlight subject.
Corey Miller has this
inspirational look at his life.
If you're talking about football phenoms
from Saint Louis in the past 20 years,
you can't make a list without Cameron Bab.
There was a one game that he played really,
really well and the coaches kept
saying like he does stuff with
his body that's not teachable.
I'm like, but he's mine.
You know, like he's 9. Everybody
wants to play football, but
not everyone could play football.
Like Bab a star. From the start at CBC,
he was one of the most sought after
receiving recruits in the entire country.
You know, he was a generational type talent.
He was explosive.
He could jump out of the building.
He could, he could outrun you.
He could, he could out maneuver.
He could be out of work.
I used to see movies and stuff where
you see the football player getting
letters and all that, and then
they started coming to my house
and I have a tote that's.
You know, one of those
biggest totes you can buy?
It's about this tall,
and it's full of mail.
An ACL injury hampered his
senior season at CBC, but
soon it was on to one of the Premier college
programs in the country, Ohio State.
The Buckeyes have become known for
developing star wide receivers,
and Bab was Next up. Until life got
in the way.
He tore his other ACL in
practice freshman year, and
then he did it again in spring of 2019
when he told us that is just like,
man again. It was after that
third injury that Cam bathed.
The football player began to look
long and hard at Cam Bab. The person,
the question of just, you know,
God, whatever, what what do, what
do you want me to do? You know,
why am I going through this?
That question came into mind and
really just thinking about is
this football thing something
that I want to keep doing?
When you ask like Kimbab, who are you?
I just was so caught up in
I grew up playing football.
And so when you asked me who I was,
I was cambad the football player.
And that's that's all I knew.
That's all I was identifying as.
And someone that was taken
away for the third time.
I I didn't really know what
to what to do or who to,
for what to fall back on.
He called and he said, mom, I'm coming home.
He said I can't do this anymore.
When I picked him up from the
airport that night. And we sat on
the couch and we both cried and.
I said can you look at yourself
in the mirror and say I am OK
with never doing this again?
And he said no. And I said,
OK then that's what you have to decide.
Back to rehab. He went armed with
a newfound devotion to his faith,
and he did get on the field in 2020,
playing a role on special teams and
eventually becoming A-Team captain.
But the once hyped receiver was still
looking for that first college catch,
and yet another ACL injury
in 2021 didn't deter him.
Cameron Babb was getting back on that field.
4 ACL injuries,
6 total surgeries and all on November 12th.
This past season and his final
home game against Indiana,
Babb was cleared to play.
So he said
he's gonna get PT.
He might get some PT.
And of course we're like,
I'm like now what, you know.
Also means physical therapy, right?
Yeah, it was playing time.
I looked at CJ and talked to me and he
was like, bro, we're finally give you
the ball. He was out there by himself,
one-on-one, I was like,
Kim was out there one-on-one,
you should throw a fade, saw the ball
in the air. But again, I kind of just,
I don't really remember what happened.
I just know my handlers
out. And then it happened
and I had, I didn't see
it happen because I was crying so hard.
This time it's Cameron Bab.
Wow, that is a great story.
Not a dry eye around the scene in
the area that we were sitting in.
It was unbelievable.
Good season with the program. And
as he knelt in that end zone on his
scarred and surgically repaired knees,
Bab once again turned to his faith. The
past five years of of
thinking about a moment like
that where I can score and I can just
again glorify him and give thanks
and and all the times in my room
and I was in that position on my
knees asking God why and praising.
Praising him and just the moment that
you saw on Saturday, on that Saturday,
I've had that moment in my room
so many different times.
It was just me and him,
and that was just my way to
just tell him thank you.
Likely the only player to ever come
back and score a touchdown after two
ACL tears in each knee Bab story
is one of pain and perseverance.
The dream may not have gone as he planned,
but life gave him a moment
and a story to inspire others.
And if it wasn't for the
suffering that I had to go through.
You know somebody else has to go
through. I wouldn't be the man that
I am today standing before you.
I know what that dream meant to him
and it may not look what it what he
thought it was going to look like
but he's touched a lot of people.
I just wanted to as well like inspire.
You know young kids whoever
may be that may have an injury
right now or maybe going through
something and and they feel like
they want to quit or want to give up.
I wanted to let them know man
if I could do it. Especially
with you know if you have
Jesus with you if you,
if you're a father of Christ.
That, you know, you can
do anything through him,
this sport, man, this school.
Something different about these bucks,
maybe for sports.
Plus, in Saint Louis, I'm Corey Miller.