‘We’re celebrating our sons’: Grant-Inderkum’s first meeting starts with grieving
Two grieving mothers met moments before kickoff of a high school football game Monday night. They know each other well because their sons knew each other well.
There were hugs, tears, laughs, and reflection. Their sons are gone, cut short by violence, shattering lives. But they live on as long as Nicole Clavo and Miasha Brown talk about them, and they do every single day.
Before Grant and Inderkum started their game in Natomas, Clavo and Brown had a jersey exchange at midfield, the names of their boys stitched on the back of the uniforms. It was a moving moment of unity, both teams for a moment part of one, the game called “My Brother’s Keeper” by organizers.
J.J. Clavo was a charismatic leader for Grant who wore No. 5, and Larry Hardy was a jovial and beloved player for Inderkum. He wore No. 4.
Hardy was killed in a domestic dispute at the hands of a relative nearly two years ago. Clavo was gunned down by someone he did not know six years ago, hours before a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff game, while on a food run with teammates. Struck in the neck by bullets, teammates frantically moved Clavo out of the driver’s seat and hustled back to the Grant campus, their safe haven where they felt safe. Clavo died before the ambulance could get there.
The last time Grant played a Monday night game? That same season in 2015, three nights after the shooting. He was gunned down by a teenager. Sacramento Police said the shooter picked Clavo at random. J.J. and his mother’s enduring spirit shadow the Grant program.
The jersey exchange had Clavo’s name on an Inderkum jersey and Hardy’s on a Grant uniform. They were brothers from different teams, their mothers bonded shared heartache. The mothers said they will cherish the uniforms.
“You can bring people and teams together through tragedy,” said Inderkum coach Reggie Harris, the one-time Grant assistant who used to teach young Clavo in class. Said Grant coach Carl Reed, “It’s a beautiful thing we’re doing here.”
Inderkum won 17-6 as Jayden Johnson tossed touchdown passes to Amani Pressley and Christian Benham-Sheppard, and he kicked a 25-yard field goal. The teams played hard. They joined together before the game and after. The biggest message came from the words of the mothers of the fallen players. They said in so many words before kickoff that all teenagers should seize opportunities, to love one another — and not to take life for granted.
In a game seemingly in the making for years, this was the first time Grant and Inderkum played. It was punctuated by tenderness well before the crashing of helmets of bodies.
“We’re here celebrating our sons,” Clavo said, beaming. “They were friends. They were brothers. It’s a wonderful moment.”
Brown mentioned her son’s name, including his nickname of “Pooter,” but she could not continue. She asked Nicole Clavo to help her. Said Nicole of Brown’s son, “he was an outstanding athlete. We lost him way too soon. It is important that we raise his name and remember him, as a wonderful athlete, a father, a son, a brother, uncle, all of those things.”
Brown added right away with a smile, “and a cowboy!”
“Larry as a boy wore cowboy boots and he loved to ride horses,” his mother said. “I’m very emotional. I’m honored and very touched.”
Nicole Clavo became a powerful voice in Sacramento against gang violence. She had dedicated her life to it. She created a nonprofit called Healing5 — the 5 representing her son’s jersey number — to assist families who have been struck by violence. Just over a year ago, she was hired to head Sacramento’s newly created Office of Violence Prevention. Clavo has said “every death of a child to violence is personal to me.”
On Monday, before kickoff, she said,”We’re definitely a family tonight. This is where everything begins, on the field. This is where our youth can excel, where they can get to know each other. This is where it begins. To get rid of the violence in Sacramento, it starts on the field. Most of our kids play youth sports. Cut out the boundaries. They’ll build that rapport on the field.”
THE BEE’S TOP 25
1. Folsom 2-0
2. Rocklin 1-0
3. Vacaville 2-0
4. Oak Ridge 1-1
5. Granite Bay 2-0
6. Inderkum 2-0
7. Jesuit 0-1
8. Capital Christian 1-0
9. Grant 0-1
10. Monterey Trail 0-2
11. Elk Grove 0-1
12. Christian Brothers 1-0
13. Pleasant Grove 1-0
14. Whitney 2-0
15. Sacramento 2-0
16. Casa Roble 1-0
17. Placer 0-1
18. Vanden 2-0
19. Yuba City 0-1
20. Cosumnes Oaks 0-1
21. Del Oro 2-0
22. Sheldon 1-0
23. Nevada Union 1-0
24. Roseville 1-0
25. El Dorado 2-0
Bubble teams (alphabetical order): Antelope (1-0), Bear River (0-0), Bradshaw Christian (1-0), Center (1-0), East Nicolaus (0-0), Johnson (1-0), Laguna Creek (1-0), Lincoln (0-1), Natomas (1-0), Pioneer (2-0), Ponderosa (0-0), Sutter (1-0), Union Mine (2-0), Vista del Lago (0-1), Winters (1-0), Woodcreek (2-0), Woodland (2-0). - Joe Davidson
Football schedule
All games kickoff between 7-7:30 p.m., unless noted
Thursday
El Dorado vs. Valley at Cosumnes River College
Friday
Valley Christian at Johnson, 5 p.m.
Davis at Rocklin
Vacaville at Cardinal Newman
Lincoln-Stockton at Oak Ridge
Monterey Trail at De La Salle
Lincoln at Whitney
Christian Brothers at Sheldon
Vista del Lago at Casa Roble
Capital Christian at Valley Christian
Salinas at Placer
Rio Linda at Roseville
Pleasant Grove at Laguna Creek
Clayton Valley Charter at Del Oro
Colfax at Galt
Cordova at El Camino
Cosumnes Oaks at Manteca
Yuba City at Pleasant Valley
Foresthill at Portola
Antelope at Foothill
River City at Woodland
Burbank at Vanden
Tracy at Franklin
Natomas at Rosemont
Ponderosa at Del Campo
Kennedy at Tokay
Nevada Union at Woodcreek
Center at Dixon
Riverbank at Delta
Middletown at Bradshaw Christian
Ripon at East Nicolaus
Marysville at Oroville
Biggs at Esparto
Saturday
McClatchy at Mira Loma, 10:30 a.m.
Edison at Grant, 11 a.m.
Golden Sierra at North Tahoe, 1 p.m.
Pittsburg at Folsom, 7 p.m.
Florin vs. Mesa Verde at Cosumnes River College, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 6:06 AM.