The gritty streets of Compton, Calif., faded in the rearview mirror as Rasuli Webster and his mother, Ronella Rose, headed for new horizons. The Oregon strong safety, then 15 years old, says the move from Compton to Brea, Calif., was only 17 miles, but it was a world away.
“(Moving) opened my eyes to a lot of things diversity-wise,” Webster says. “It changed from me being the majority to me becoming the minority.
“My mom always told me, ‘Accept people and things for what they are. And never judge a book by its cover.’”
Moving to Brea was Ronella’s way of forcing Rasuli to open each book, he says, to discover the person that’s really under each cover. Ronella was confident that if Rasuli could learn to connect with those different than himself, he could be successful in life, Webster says.
At first, the going was rough. Rasuli says no one could pronounce his name (Ra-zu-li) and many just called him “Suli.” What’s more, teachers called on him routinely when he first arrived “until they knew I wasn’t stupid,” he says.
But sports made adjusting to a new school of 5,000 predominantly Caucasian faces a little easier. Rasuli played basketball, football and ran track, and he could often be found on one of the high school’s six sports fields.
His godbrother, Chris McMillan, also attended Brea and played hoops with Rasuli. He says the two spent a lot of time trying to escape lectures by McMillan’s father, who was “always preachin’ to the guys” about the importance of staying focused on the task at hand — in school and in life.
“At the time, we thought he was full of it,” Webster says. “But I understand what he meant now. He also told us not to take things for granted. And I totally understand that now.”
Rasuli has to understand that now. For seven hours each day he’s going to school or sweating at football practice. And, like teammate Keenan Howry, Rasuli says he doesn’t have a weekend. If the football team travels, players meet at 2 p.m. Friday and don’t return until Sunday’s early hours.
In his spare time, he hits the books — he’s an education major — or hangs with his friends.
“When I got here I actually wanted to be an EMS major,” he says. “But me and science didn’t get along very well.”
Each stride Rasuli takes on the football field helps him take another step toward success after college, he says. He’s not necessarily looking for National Football League success, although he’d play professionally in a heartbeat, but he hopes for success in whatever he chooses do to. Which, he hopes, isn’t the punchline of the Oregon football team’s jokes.
“The joke is, after college, we’re all going to hang out and get fat,” Webster says.
“I want to be successful in whatever I do. I want to have a family and be a good dad.”
If Rasuli’s mother, Ronella, taught him anything, he should do fine.
Eric Martin is a higher education reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at [email protected].