I only spent only about half a year around this guy in a weightlifting class, and barely got to know him as a friend, but everyone in my community will agree with me that he was one of the good ones. Marcus was a friend that collapsed and died at a basketball tournament of a massive heart failiure at 16 years old. It sill gives me chills when I read it from time to time.Camden Star Dreamed of Reunion With GrandfatherFriends remember Marcus Warren's rich humanityBy PATRICK OBLEYStaff WriterThe dream was always the same.Marcus Warren's grandfather, deceased for so many years, was calling softly to him."Come with me, Marcus. Come with me."The dream was confusing for such a young boy. Why was grandpa calling for me?The Rev. A.D. Givens Little was amazed the first time Marcus came to him to ask about the dream. His wonderment never ceased during the next seven years as Marcus came to him again and again."You need to talk to him," Little would say."What should I tell him?""Tell your grandfather you can't go with him because there is still work for you to do here on Earth."That wasn't the only time Marcus had a vision. One time, Marcus told Little, "I saw you the other day talking before a lot of people. The crowd was white and black together."The memory of that conversation makes Little smile."Marcus always wondered why black and white couldn't get together a little more. Play ball together a little more. Have church together a little more. Work together a little more," Little said.Little motioned to the empty Camden High School gymnasium, where he had just presided over Marcus Warren's funeral."I just realized what Marcus saw in his vision. He was talking about this."TURNING THE CORNERVonnie Holliday enjoys coming home2 to Camden during his offseason from the Green Bay Packers. One of Camden's favorite sons, the Bulldog graduate and former North Carolina Tar Heel turned down his old street one day and spied Marcus playing basketball with some of his friends and cousins.It was time to put Marcus in his place."Marcus is a young man who was very much like myself," Holliday said. "He was a role model to kids like I try to be a role model to kids. He was always very competitive - to the extreme."Holliday pulled up to the basketball court and insinuated his way into the game. Soon, he found himself facing Marcus one-on-one.An NFL star versus a high school boy."Marcus dunked over me!" Holliday said with mock incredulity. "I was just wearing my flip-flops, but when Marcus dunked over me, I immediately went back to the car to get some tennis shoes that were readily available."During the offseason when Holliday wasn't in Camden, he was training in Atlanta. From time to time, he hauled Marcus to Atlanta to help him work on his football technique. Marcus was a defensive end on the Camden Bulldogs' wildly successful football team. He sported a state championship ring, earned during the Bulldogs' 2001 season. He played a key role on the team that returned to the state championship game this season.Holliday also made time to take Marcus to UNC to show him the campus and football facilities. Marcus was adamant about going to UNC once he graduated from Camden. Holliday had no doubt that Marcus would do so and would shine once he did."Marcus was on his way. I was joking with the guys back in Green Bay that my family was going to make my agent rich," Holliday said. "'Don't worry,' I'd tell him. 'My family will get you set for life.' "This past week, Holliday turned once more down his old street. He realized there would be no more pick-up games with his 16-year-old cousin."It took me until I got here and turned down the street. That's when it got real for me," Holliday said. "I turned down the street and saw all those cars in front of the house."ACADEMIC WORK ETHIC TOODon't think for a moment that an athletic scholarship was the only way Marcus was going to get into North Carolina.He breezed past his freshman courses with the same flourish he had when blowing past offensive tackles to nail a ball carrier in the opponent's backfield.He carried a 3.7 grade-point average that first year and added a 3.4 his sophomore year.His report card for this past semester revealed a 3.5.Teachers at Camden High delighted in Marcus' presence. On that final grade card, their comments were:• "Good attitude about work";• "Good work habits";• "Good attendance";• "Excellent student";• "A pleasure to teach.""Marcus' grandfather could have had a basketball or football scholarship, but he decided not to go to school," said Thoyd Warren, Marcus' uncle. "He always told us how hard it was for him not to go to school. He always pushed us to get our education. That's the foundation that helped shape who we are. That's kind of what the men in our family did."That work ethic in the classroom spilled over onto the football field and basketball court.Camden High basketball coach Ron McKie was caught off-guard recently when Marcus, his starting center, made a peculiar request. The team was boarding the bus to go to the Hilton Head Invitational, a destination Marcus ultimately wouldn't return from."Coach, I need you to do me a favor," Marcus said."Yeah?""Could you push me more? Yell at me more? Because I need to be a better player."McKie shook his head."I couldn't yell at Marcus," McKie said. "I like him too much."No one knew that Marcus, who lived and played with so much heart, would be betrayed by his heart during a game Dec. 21 in Hilton Head.A previously unknown and virtually undetectable congenital heart defect chose that moment to steal Marcus away. Just one person in 100,000 under the age of 30 has the defect - a time bomb that doesn't discriminate and goes off only in a moment of its choosing. It could have taken Marcus in his sleep just as easily as it took him that night on the basketball court."I liked everything about Marcus," McKie said. "I'm a better coach and a better person because of him."PLAYING HOOKYKendall Little's best friend walked up to him out of the blue at a youth camp at Francis Marion University."Hey, man, you play basketball?" the kid asked.That was all it took for Marcus Warren and Kendall Little, the reverend's son, to become virtual brothers.A few years later, Marcus and Kendall accompanied the Rev. Little to an awards banquet in Myrtle Beach. As Little prepared to deliver the keynote address, he asked Marcus and Kendall to fetch something for him out of the car.They never returned."We went out on the dock," Kendall said.Marcus, as he often did, struck up a conversation with a stranger who was fishing off the pier. Fishing was a hobby Marcus indulged in whenever he had a free moment."He was showing us how to catch those little silver fish," Kendall said.Afterward, the two walked the beach, occasionally picking up a seashell.Suddenly, they looked up and saw Little standing over them."I caught them," Little said. "They had been walking on the beach in their suits with their jackets slung over their shoulder. They said they were going to pick up some honeys. Stylin' and profilin', you know?"TEACHER. LEADER. BROTHER'S KEEPERBy far, the most rewarding times in Marcus' life, friends say, came during his work with the youth ministry at the Abundant Life Prayer, Praise and Worship center, founded by Little.Minister Hodari Williams worked closely with Marcus, who was president of the youth ministry. Williams was a mentor who, he says, became Marcus' student.Williams took Marcus and a select group to a camp called Project M.E.N., a rite-of-passage training course for young men, teaching them empowerment and motivation."I saw a part of him then that I had never known about," Williams said. "He was a leader. He was always a good friend to those who seemed to be outcasts."Last year, Marcus decided to teach Williams, a New Jersey native, how to fish."Marcus taught me how to hook the worm. That was awful," Williams said with a laugh. The two were a part of a church group camping at Sesquicentennial Park in Columbia. "He hooked the worm for me and when he walked away, we caught a fish. It was just a little one, though. We had to throw it back."Williams heard of Marcus' death while he was back home2 in New Jersey. He tried desperately to catch a flight to Columbia but was thwarted by the holiday traffic. He wound up taking a train and arrived shortly before he had to speak at Marcus' funeral."We should take Marcus' life as an example," Williams said during the service, "of how to show compassion and kindness and love to those around us."EVERYTHING YOU HAVE HEARD IS TRUEThrough his son's friendship with Marcus, Little became close friends with the Warren clan.When Paula Warren called Little to tell him of her son's passing, Little found himself questioning his faith despite all his training.He raced over to the Warren house and found Marcus' grandmother. She fell into his embrace and said, "Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on us."Little was shaken. He called on the Rev. Patrick Wise to come over to the house and help with counseling because he felt he was going to be of no use. Just as he thought he was going to crumble, Paula calmly asked him a question."What's that song that says 'by-and-by?'" she asked. "We'll understand it better, by-and-by."Little's eyes widen at the recollection of that night."The faith of this family kicked right back in," Little said. "They were all saying God will see us through this. God gave him to us for 16½ years. I was betwixt and between, but I realized then that Marcus had found his religion in time."Six days later, Little shared his momentary crisis of faith with the 3,000 who attended Marcus' funeral."We, too, have a date with death," Little said in conclusion. "We're going to leave this place one day. I'm so glad Marcus got his religion in time. I'm so glad I got my religion in time."Uncle Thoyd Warren had been there when Marcus was born and he was there as Marcus was laid to rest."We know that the Lord doesn't make mistakes," he told the gathering. "Marcus was just a bundle of love from the day he was born. People knew Marcus in a lot of places you wouldn't believe. We've gotten calls from across the country and around the world."Little has been to many funerals. He has heard many remembrances of the deceased."Folks say good things about people when they die. That's what you do," he said. "But these things we say about Marcus are true. They aren't things we're saying because he's gone. They are true."GOD'S GIFTMarcus Warren knew how he was going to die."I'm going to die," he would say to anyone within earshot, "with a basketball in my hands."That's just about how it happened."People and family have come up to me and asked, 'Why? Why Marcus? Why now?' " Little said. "I'm inclined to believe God needed a gift to give his son Jesus at Christmas. It needed to be a gift worthy of Jesus, so he reached down and called for Marcus."Marcus was worthy."
