As they sat and answered questions for the media in the jubilant moments after winning the school’s first state football championship last Saturday, Clayton High head coach Mike Musick and team captains Michael Goldsticker and Jeff Waldman couldn’t stop smiling and just let the words flow.
Sometimes they answered questions they weren’t even asked. They talked about how excited they were to be state champions and how proud of themselves and their teammates and coaches they were. They even talked about what a dream come true for them winning the Show-Me Bowl was.
But through all the excitement, there was one Clayton player who wasn’t saying much. He really never seemed to smile. And if you didn’t know the final score, the look on his face would’ve made you think the Greyhounds lost.
And that’s because Clayton Mr. Everything Jairus Byrd had more than just the state championship on his mind. He had more than winning on his mind. Matter of fact, the 2003 All- St. Louis American’s Small School Offensive Player-of-the-Year, had so much on his mind it wasn’t until after a congratulatory hug from his dad after the press conference that the younger Byrd could do more than mumble a few words at all.
“I can’t believe it, Dad,” the younger Byrd said. “I can’t believe we did it. I just can’t believe we won.”
What a sweet moment that had to be for a young man who this time last year was the center of a controversy he did nothing to cause.
“That was so much pressure for one young man to have to deal with,” Musick said. “It was all so unfortunate. But it was really tough on Jairus because even though his talents put him in the spotlight, he really is kind of a quiet kid unless he knows you.”
The considerable spotlight Musick referred to was the scandal of the 2003 prep football season when Clayton, which had won its first nine games of the season and was considered a strong contender for the Class 4 state title last year, didn’t even get to play in the playoffs because Byrd was ruled ineligible because he and his parents didn’t live in the Clayton district and the Greyhounds were forced to forfeit all those wins.
The whole incident was a series of mistakes mostly made by the administrators at Clayton High. The Byrd family moved to St. Louis last summer after Jairus’ father, Gill, was hired as a defensive assistant coach by the Rams. When the family moved, they were living in a hotel near the Rams’ practice facility in Earth City, which is not in the Clayton school district.
But the Byrds wanted Jairus to go to Clayton because of its high academic standards and agreed to pay out-of-district tuition. The Clayton people told the Byrds that by paying tuition Jairus would be eligible to play sports. What they didn’t know was he was supposed to sit out one year.
“We made a mistake,” Clayton High athletics director Rich Grawer said. “We completely misinterpreted the rule.”
Instead Jairus played. And played great. He led the Greyhounds in rushing and touchdowns last year. He was even a key contributor on defense and special teams. Had Clayton been allowed to play on the playoff stage, Byrd might have even won the area’s player-of-the-year award.
“That kid No. 8 (Jairus’ jersey number) is a dynamite player,” longtime MICDS head coach Ron Holtman said after Byrd scored three touchdowns, made 11 tackles, and two interceptions in a Clayton win over his team in a 2003 game. “I know he just moved here. I wish he would’ve moved into our district.”
And the legendary coach wasn’t the only one wishing Jairus had moved into their district. Unfortunately, Clayton’s dream season unraveled the night before the Greyhounds regular season finale. That’s when they got word that there was some question about the then junior quarterback/safety/kick returner/every clutch situation playmaker’s eligibility.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Byrd said. “I thought everything was cool. But then all of a sudden it was over.”
Clayton was stripped of its nine wins and told it had to wait till next year.
“It was all we thought about,” Goldsticker said. “It was all our dream to win state someday. And it just broke our hearts when they took it away.”
But Clayton came back with a vengeance this season. Storming through the regular season and playoffs with a 12-1 record before last Saturday’s title game.
And in the game, Byrd played like a man possessed. He either ran the ball himself or threw a pass on 33 of Clayton’s 58 offensive plays. In the fourth quarter and overtime, he handled the ball on 22 of 26 plays, including a fourth-and-goal run for a touchdown that sent the game into overtime and a fourth-and-goal pass for a score that gave Clayton the lead in overtime.
“Coach always says big players step up in big games,” Byrd, who had 292 yards of total offense with a TD run and three TD passes, said. “And I consider myself a big-time player. So I knew I had to step up.”
And boy did he. Even on defense, where he ended both of Webb City’s final regulation drives by forcing turnovers. Then the shot heard ’round the Clayton world, where he made the big hit on the final play to preserve the win.
“I just saw them give the guy the ball and I was getting blocked and I thought ‘Oh my God, he’s gonna score,” Waldman said. “But then I saw Jairus come from outta nowhere and just blow the guy up. I saw him go down and I knew we had won. It was indescribible.”
And that’s exactly what Jairus Byrd has meant to the Clayton football program since the first day he showed up at practice.
“We knew we had a real special talent in Jairus when we first got him,” Musick said. “We were just hoping we could help him develop into something truly great. And it was just so great to see him play so well in such a big game. I’m just happy for (Jairus).”
The coach didn’t really finish that thought, in mid-sentence he stopped to give his star a big hug.
But that was when Byrd was still trying to wrap his mind around what just happened, so there wasn’t much of a response. But that scene with his father minutes later was really all that needed to be said.
