Tyra Ramsey couldn’t believe what she was hearing from the doctors.
They were telling Ramsey, who was expecting her third child, to not take the pregnancy to term. Prenatal exams and scans indicated her baby might have complications, including Down syndrome.
“The first doctor I saw told me I shouldn’t have (him),” Ramsey said. “He said it wasn’t going to be a viable pregnancy. That was devastating news to hear because I didn’t feel any different with this pregnancy than I had with my two other pregnancies.
“They said that the measurements were off and that there would be difficulties. That it was better just to terminate the pregnancy.”
There was no way Ramsey was giving up on her baby. She got a second opinion from doctors at MUSC and, while they agreed that her child might have issues, it wasn’t anything that the family couldn’t overcome.
“I prayed about it and just trusted in the Lord,” said Ramsey, who is the Berkeley County School District director of transportation. “It was crazy. They said the baby would never be functional and all these different things, but MUSC doctors said there were programs out there that can assist you and I just decided right there that I was going to keep my baby.”
Caden Ramsey, star football and basketball player and pride of Cross High School, was born just a few short months later.
“I didn’t have any complications with Caden’s birth,” Tyra Ramsey said. “Caden required a little extra assistance, it took him a little longer to read and do some other things, but we have a great support system around him. We were lucky to have some old-school teachers that taught with old-school methods and that really got him started on the right foot.”
One area where Caden has never had any issues – maybe problems being better than everyone else – was in athletics. When Caden was in preschool, he told his teacher that he wanted to be a football player one day.
Mission accomplished.
The 6-foot-5 tight end/wide receiver is more than just a football player – Caden Ramsey is one of the top multi-sport athletes in the state, having been named all state in basketball and track and field.
Last week, Ramsey verbally committed to play football at the University of South Carolina.
“Anything that involved running or jumping or had a ball in it, he’s always been the best,” Tyra Ramsey said. “He’s been like that since birth.”
Cross High School football coach Shaun Wright took notice of Ramsey when he was still dominating on the playgrounds, oftentimes going up against boys two or three years older.
“Caden is special and has been from the very beginning,” Wright said. “Caden just loves to compete. His tenacity on the football field, the basketball court, or any sports, really, he plays as hard as he can. He’s just a great athlete and a great competitor.”
Ramsey reminds Wright of another former standout at Cross High School, Rod Wilson, who rarely came off the field for the Trojans and became a defensive star at South Carolina and later played in the NFL. Wilson has won three Super Bowls as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“There are a lot of similarities between the two, but Caden might be a better overall athlete,” Wright said.
Wilson and Tyra Ramsey are cousins.
“Rod keeps up with Caden, always sending him encouraging text messages,” she said.
Caden’s competitive nature can sometimes get the best of him, including his sophomore season when he was suspended for a playoff contest after tossing his helmet on the sidelines during a game against Allendale-Fairfax.
“Caden wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Wright said. “He was upset that we’d just thrown an interception and that’s not what we preach in our program, so I suspended him the next game.”
Without Ramsey in the lineup, the Trojans were easily defeated the following week by Bamberg-Ehrhardt.
“I learned my lesson the hard way because I let my teammates down,” Caden said. “They needed me and I wasn’t there for them. It hurt so bad not to play, but I think it was a good thing for me. I knew what I needed to do going forward.”
A sentiment shared by his head coach.
“It was a blessing in disguise because he’s been a great teammate since then,” Wright said.
If there was any doubt about Ramsey’s impact on the Trojans, they were erased during last year’s playoff game against Lake View in the Class A Lower State finals.
With less than a minute left before halftime and Lake View moved the ball inside the Trojans’ 5-yard line, Ramsey intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned the ball 104 yards for a touchdown. The Trojans wen ton to win and play Abbeville in the state finals.
“Playing Lake View is always a big game with a big crowd,” Ramsey said. “I knew we needed something to happen. That we needed someone to step up and make a play and that’s what I did.”
As a junior, Ramsey caught 40 passes for 749 yards and nine TDs, while also leading the state with 13 interceptions. This year, Ramsey already has 22 receptions for 367 yards and three TDs, despite getting double-teamed on just about every play for the third-ranked Trojans (4-1).
At 215 pounds, Ramsey is projected to be either a tight end or wide receiver with the Gamecocks.
“He plays every sport, so it’s hard to keep weight on him,” Wright said. “Focusing on one sport, getting into their weight training and nutrition programs, I think he’ll put on 20 to 30 pounds in his freshman year alone. I think he’ll be 230 or 240 pounds. And he’s a lot faster than people think he is.”
Ramsey doesn’t care where he plays at the next level.
“I love defense, too,” he said. “I’m gonna play wherever the coaches want me to play and where I can help the team.”