Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 19, 2022 15 Deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and various other over- seas outposts after Sept. 11, 2001, and everything that went into more than two decades of military service caught up to Ramsey after his recovery from COVID. Delirium didn't hold him hostage anymore. Depression did. StopSoldierSuicide.org reports veter- ans are at 57 percent higher risk of suicide than those who haven't served. There were 6,146 veteran suicides in 2020, the same year Ramsey's life took a turn. Mili- tary suicide deaths are projected to be 23 times higher than the number of post- 9/11 combat deaths by 2030. Ramsey is aware of the numbers. He's saddened by them. He labors to reverse them. He formed the Tennessee chapter of Music For Veterans in January of this year. A nonprofit whose slogan is "peace through music," the organization pro- vides safe spaces for veterans to socialize and heal through playing instruments and relishing in the sounds of them. That Fender guitar has dug Ramsey out of some "dark holes" "If you have a nightmare at 3 o'clock in the morning, it's hard to get to a ther- apist," Ramsey said. "But if you can pick up a guitar and that can ease your anxi- ety for that morning and get you back to sleep, that hopefully will make a differ- ence in whatever you're dealing with." Kollie is mindful of those sorts of struggles. His head coach, Hayden Chandley, and linebackers coach, Ron Sillman, at David Crockett are military veterans. Two of his best friends, Mark Seidler and Gage Skalecki, are currently in the armed forces. Seidler is at the U.S. Army post in Fort Carson, Colo. He ships off to Korea for a nine-month deployment in June of next year. Skalecki is in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was on duty in Kabul when the United States turbulently evacuated its troops from Afghanistan last year. Kollie said he "didn't know how to operate" when he couldn't communi- cate consistently with Seidler in basic training and Skalecki in deployment. "He knows what sacrifice looks like," Seidler told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "It holds a spot in his heart because he's a real personal guy and a caring guy for the ones that he's close to. He's always mak- ing sure the ones around him are good." Kollie donates a part of his prof- its from his name, image and likeness (NIL) proceeds to Music For Veterans. He shares social media posts support- ing the cause. His family immigrated to America to flee the Second Liberian Civil War when he was a toddler. If anyone knows what it means to say freedom isn't free, it's Kollie. "They've done a lot for our country," Kollie said of veterans. "They're really selfless. Kevin Ramsey and my friends embody that. They're selfless guys, al- ways putting others first. I'm drawn to that. That's how I try to be; selfless. I'm just really appreciative of our military and what they've done." BEING BETTER Ramsey had a good reason for not be- ing at the Notre Dame game when Kollie scored the touchdown vs. Clemson. He was a special guest of Lea's and Lezyn- ski's at Vanderbilt's military apprecia- tion game versus South Carolina. When Kollie plucked the ball out of midair off a blocked punt and sprinted 17 yards past the pylon, Seidler was more than 1,100 miles west of where Ramsey shed prideful tears on Vandy's field. "When that happened, I was literally screaming in the barracks," Seidler said. "Chills up my body like, 'Wow. He's re- ally doing that.'" "It was like old times seeing you carry the rock into the end zone," Ramsey said he told Kollie. Seidler, two years Kollie's senior, also played linebacker at David Crockett. They've been friends since middle school. Seidler suited up for one season at Texas Wesleyan, but he wasn't on a full scholar- ship. The pandemic hit hard, and student loans did too. He enlisted in the Army with intent to return to play collegiately in 2024 or 2025 without worrying about tuition. It was always the duo's dream to play college ball. When Kollie excelled as a 1,000-yard running back and a 1,000- yard receiver in addition to being a menace on defense and special teams, he took a town of just less than 6,000 residents by storm. The big offers didn't go Seidler's way. But if he wasn't going to get them, it was no small consolation for them to go to his best friend. "Everybody in Jonesborough knows him," Seidler said. "So seeing him on the stage he's on now, making plays versus top-ranked teams, I literally get chills watching it because there is nobody more deserving. This is what we talked about years and years in advance." Ramsey went to six games during Kol- lie's freshman season at Notre Dame. He went to four of the first nine this year de- spite numerous weekend obligations with Music For Veterans. When Kollie had a minor case of COVID in September 2021 and missed two games, Ramsey Face- Timed him so the two could watch the Irish together hundreds of miles apart. He sympathized with the loneliness. Seidler watched eight of Kollie's first nine games this season from his bar- racks in Fort Carson. He was in the training field for the one he missed. There are authentic connections be- hind such devoted acts of support. But that's a two-way street. Kollie has always been there for Ramsey and Seidler. And they're always going to be there for him. They don't have to be in South Bend to show that. They can do it from Ten- nessee, Colorado and even Korea. It won't always be about a 60-minute game played under the lights on Satur- days, either. It'll be about deep conver- sations when the car is in cruise con- trol. It'll be about lighting candles at the Grotto and phone calls with loved ones in times of need. It'll be about a middle-aged man retir- ing as a Lieutenant Colonel from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., after 23 years of service relocating to his native Tennes- see, meeting, coaching and befriending a young man whose family fled to the U.S. to avoid a violent overseas civil war. It'll be about Fender guitars. "There are better things in this life than football," Kollie said. "The game will end for everybody at some point. I'm always looking past it to see how I can be better." ✦ "The more I was able to remember about Prince and his recruitment and all the trips we went on helped to bring me out of it. My family, Prince, a lot of players I coached and a Fender guitar probably saved my life." RAMSEY