Roman's Trahan seems headed to Pitt

ON SATURDAY, Roman Catholic High School senior Hezekiah Trahan will head to Pittsburgh to watch Pitt take on No. 24 Notre Dame at Heinz Field.

The University of Pittsburgh already made a scholarship offer to the 6-4, 250-pound defensive end, and Trahan says it could be time to collect.

"Yeah, I might sign," he said, sitting in a conference room inside the school's Broad Street campus wearing an even broader smile. "It might be a done deal."

The 18-year-old, who recently received second-team All-Catholic honors, wants it to be a family trip, so the blended bunch will make the nearly 5-hour trek.

But to understand the significance of the journey, you have to know where it began.

Adopted as an infant, Trahan struggled with a learning disability growing up, suffered a devastating loss this summer, and only recently met his biological mother.

On Saturday, one special person will make the trip in spirit only, says Trahan.

Hezekia's adoptive mother, Bernadette Trahan, passed away Aug. 25 after battling cancer. She was 58.

"She was my No. 1 fan," he said. "She pushed me in everything. She always wanted the best. I love her so much. It's really simple. She's my angel now."

Mother and son bonded over the sport they loved. Trahan's older sister, Toria, 34, describes her biological mother as a "football mom." Bernadette pushed him into the game at 10 so he wouldn't be pulled into the streets.

She nicknamed him "Buca" (neither Hezekiah nor Toria is sure of its origin), but sometimes "Pumpkin" slipped out during games.

"Who is she talking to?" Toria joked from her Folcroft home. "He's like the biggest person on the field and she's calling him 'Pumpkin.' Now, everybody on the field knows him as Pumpkin."

To her children, the Trahan family matriarch was "everything to everyone." Toria was 16 when her mom and stepfather, Lawrence, became foster parents and eventually adopted Hezekia.

Toria watched as her mother cared for the various children who cycled through their Overbrook home. Later, the family adopted two more sons, twins Devin and Lawrence, now 15-year-old freshmen at Roman.

"There was just something about those three [boys]," said Toria, whose boyfriend, Leonard McCullough, also is a father figure to Hezekiah. "It was just a true, sincere connection."

That bond was tested when Hezekiah struggled with dyslexia - difficulty with accurate word recognition, decoding and spelling.

In first grade, he realized he was different than the other kids, and they let him know, every day. His parents prodded him to practice, but he resisted.

"I don't want to, I can't," he told his mom when she pushed. "Then I would cry and get upset. But when they stopped pushing, I was like, 'Hey, where'd they go?' "

Both parents backed off in fifth grade, and Trahan eventually found a work ethic he later transferred to the field. He sought tutors, read books and sounded out words.

"Same thing with football," he said. "Practice. If I know I can't run that fast or need to work on my footwork, I'll work to get better."

Those improvements have landed Trahan, who also was second-team All-Catholic last year, offers from Pitt, Coastal Carolina and UMass.

"He's long and athletic," said Roman coach Joe McCourt. "He's physical and he can play anywhere on the defensive line. [But] as a young man, he's just exceptional."

Trahan chose different adjectives to describe his skill set when he first started playing.

"I didn't know anything," he said with a laugh. "I was terrified. I was scared. My first year I was terrible."

"I never really expected this to happen," he said of college offers. "But I always looked ahead and I always wanted the best. And this is what happens when you work hard."

As for his biological mother, the two met in October for the first time. Trahan doesn't know all the details surrounding the adoption, but says he has forgiveness in his heart.

A record of his earliest history is on file with the agency that brokered the adoption.

"I haven't read my story," he said. "I don't want to read it. I'll probably read it later down the line."

For now, his focus is on this Saturday, and fulfilling the potential Bernadette always saw in him.

"She started something that I wish she was here to see," Trahan said, "but I know she's already watching."