In Focus: Victor Is ‘A Light When There’s Darkness’
October 20, 2016 | Football, General
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
Azeem Victor was sick. A few days before Washington played Stanford, the linebacker was fighting an ear infection coupled with the congestion that comes with the change in seasons as summer fades to fall.
It was after practice. Victor had just finished interviews with the local media but, before he walked back toward the locker room, he stopped to talk about how his past influences his future.
He talked in low tones, his voice hushed by the way he felt and the wind whipping across the field. But, between sniffs as he tried to clear the congestion, he told his story. He talked about his reasons for starting the Azeem's Dream Foundation, which is aimed at providing assistance for kids who "need a helping hand and guidance."
For the Huskies' leading tackler, his life revolves around being "a light in the darkness."
He wants to be a positive influence for children in the community, because he has seen how devastating the darkness can be. He watched from a distance as it enveloped a friend – Quentin Dimitris.
Victor and Dimitris were teammates at Lynwood High School not far from Compton, Calif. At the time, Victor was a defensive end. Dimitris was a linebacker.
"He was just a monster," Victor said.
But, somewhere along the way, their paths diverged.
"He just got lost," Victor said.
Victor transferred to Pomona High School. He blossomed on the football field, developing into a Division I prospect. But he often thought about Dimitris, who quit playing football. They were friends. Victor wanted to help.
So, as he was preparing for prom, he called his former teammate.
"Yo, man," Victor said. "You've got to change your life."
Dimitris' response still haunts Victor.
"There's no hope for me," he said. "The only thing left for me is death or jail."
A week later, Dimitris was shot and killed.
"To get that call, it was just horrible," he said. "You don't want anyone to feel hopeless, to think they have nothing else to live for."
The reality of the darkness hit Victor once again recently when a family friend everyone called "Juggie" was shot and killed.
"He was pretty much an uncle to me," Victor said. "Just gun violence. He was with his family and he was just killed. It doesn't make any sense."
Victor shook his head. He took a deep breath.
"I hear these stories all the time," he said. "It's always the same thing. I hear the news and it's overwhelming always hearing the same thing over and over again."
But, instead of letting that feeling weigh him down, he is working to help, finding ways to honor the memory of Dimitris and Juggie. That's why he started the foundation.
"You have to be a light when there's darkness," he said. "These people don't have any guidance. Even the people pulling triggers, they don't have any guidance. They don't know what they're doing."
Victor has been close to violence. It has impacted his life. He wants to use his platform as a Division I athlete to help heal and provide alternatives.
"I don't have any fear to come across someone who has committed a crime and present them with something better, to give them life and to say, 'I forgive you,'" Victor said. "It's never a good feeling when someone feels like there's no hope. Shooters don't just affect the person who was shot. It affects families, too."
As thoughtful off the field as he is fierce on it, Victor is thankful for this opportunity to play football while establishing a framework to help others.
He is here, because he decided at a young age he wanted something different. He chose the light.
"It was just hanging around the right people, really," he said. "That's the big thing. You are who you hang with. I just tried to hang with the guys who wanted to be athletes."
And now here he is, a leader on one of the nation's top teams, an athlete maturing into a philanthropist.
"It's great just to be able to do something like this, to help and just give back," he said. "It's awesome. I've never been the type of person who wanted to take. I just love giving. It makes me happy and that's the biggest thing, just being happy."
With the season at its midway point and school in full swing, Victor does what he can with the foundation while ensuring he stays sharp both on the field and in the classroom.
He knows when to channel the aggression required to play at an elite level. And he understands how to put that away once he takes off his pads.
"You've got to know when you've got to be in that zone," he said. "When I wake up in the morning and have practice, I have a different kind of mindset than when I'm not at practice. Football is like a job. Once you're off work, you can just be yourself. You always want to be yourself. I just try to be laid back, just cool."
Victor is here because he deflected the darkness. He chose football. He chose to get an education. He chose to be the kind of person who puts others ahead of himself.
"I'm very thankful, because it could have been me at any point when I was younger," he said. "But it wasn't, and that means something. I'm blessed. I have nothing to complain about. I'm just trying to make my family proud, make my teammates proud, just do the thing."
