The first Chucky Mullins Scholarship Committee Football Camp took place at the Russellville High School stadium May 22. The event helped raise scholarship money and was an opportunity for young football players to get instruction from former University of Alabama All-American running back and NFL first-round draft pick Trent Richardson.

The RHS Class of 1988–Chucky Mullins Memorial Scholarship Committee, led by organizer Skye Hamilton, decided to hold a football camp this year for the first time, and the event was well-attended by children in two age groups. Youth ages 8-12 kicked off the camp in a morning session, and players 12 and older took the field from noon until 2 p.m.

Some members of the RHS coaching staff also participated in the event.

The committee usually holds a golf tournament to raise funds, but this year decided to change things up.

“It was an honor to be out here today and to just be a part of the camp,” Richardson said, “just for everything that it means. My coaches always tell me, you’re always one play away from playing your last play. To be a part of this and have these kids come out here, it meant something to me because these kids want more in life. They want to do better, and they want to be great.”

Mullins graduated from RHS in 1988 and went on to play football at the University of Mississippi. The “Never Quit” legacy of Mullins lives on in the hearts of the Russellville and Ole Miss people.

It is important to former Vanderbilt football player Brad Gaines, as well. Gaines was also on hand for the camp and is featured in the SEC Storied documentary entitled “It’s Time,” which tells the story of Mullins and Gaines and the tremendous friendship that formed between the two players after the tackle in the 1989 game between the Rebels and Commodores that left Mullins paralyzed.

Richardson credited the Class of ’88 for being hands-on in the planning of the camp and for the way they kept him in the loop about the event in the days leading up to it. “They told me the cause, and I said there’s no way I can’t be a part of this. I’ve got to be a part of it,” he explained.

The group is planning to make the camp an annual event – and Richardson, the two-time national champion and 2011 Doak Walker Award winner for the Crimson Tide, said he is on board for the future.

“I can’t wait to be a part of it next year. I’ll be here next year for the camp, and we’re going to do it bigger and better,” he said.