Each year, the Crew Soccer Foundation recognizes a high school senior who lives in Linden or attends a Linden area school, excelling in at least one sport, displays good character and leadership, and participates in extracurricular activities at school or in the community.
The 2012 Crew Soccer Foundation Student-Athlete Award winner Tremayne Tittle of the Linden-McKinley STEM Academy excelled in the classroom, on the football field and in the community to earn the latest installment of this honor.
Born in Zanesville, Tittle moved around a lot, living with various family members while his mother spent eight years in prison before moving to Columbus. With no father around and his mother away, Tremayne took it upon himself to be a positive influence in his little brother's life by doing well in school and taking part in community service activities.
"As a little kid, [my brother] was younger when we lost our mom [to prison] and our dad wasn't around," Tittle reflected. "I was like his father and I knew he looked up to me. I had to handle my business and I knew if my mom couldn't get things right, I had to help my brother get to college. I knew if I couldn't [go to college] and I knew if I didn't start doing positive things around him, it was going to be bad."
Tittle continued, "He likes to copy everything I do. So every little good thing or bad thing I do, he picks it up. That's why I got involved in the community, I just wanted him to be active and get scholarships, and be ready for college like I'm trying to do now."
Tittle spends two hours every Tuesday and Thursday tutoring kindergartners and helping them learn to read.
"Helping kindergartners actually learn to read -- we're reading to them and they're reading it back -- it's pretty cool," he said. "Little kids are the ones that admire us most. They want to be like the big kids. They think we're the kings and queens. Even if you're not even all that popular, to a little kid you're like the best thing on Earth."
Making strides outside the classroom as well, Tittle says his relationship with his mother has never been better. Tittle's mother has done everything to put her children first since her release, and he credits her for helping him through high school.
"She has devoted her life to me and my brother. I respect that," Tittle said of his mother. "Anything that I've had to do, she's been on top of me. These past four years, she's kept me on my game."
As part of the honor, the Crew Soccer Foundation will award Tittle a $1000 scholarship upon his enrollment in college. He hopes to attend the University of Cincinnati and study forensic psychology.
"I love the brain. I love what people think. I love that all our brains look the same, but we all think and talk differently," he explained.
"I like psychology a lot. I want to major in forensic psychology because I want to be a cop."
