Every football player must choose a number. Some choose a lucky number, others choose it based on an athlete they grew up admiring.
Ole Miss offensive lineman Robert Conyers’ number means a great deal more than that. It represents the life and legacy of his beloved friend and teammate Park Stevens.
During spring practice after Conyers’ freshman year, he met Park Stevens. Standing at 6-foot-8 with long blond hair, Stevens was a goofy and fun-loving walk-on offensive lineman who transferred from East Central Community College.
“At first, I see him, and he is like 6-foot-8, and he’s got this long blonde hair, and I’m just like ‘Man, who is this big goofy guy?’” Conyers said. “He was just one of those guys that you felt like you knew for your entire life. He had that kind of impact on people.”
Park Stevens, affectionally known around his home town of Columbus as “the gentle giant,” was a caring young man.
“One year, I’ll never forget, he had first asked for a PlayStation 3 for Christmas, and about a month before, he asked us if we would buy his teammate Mike a North Face jacket instead because he didn’t have a jacket of his own,” his mother Gail Stevens said. “One weekend, Stevens was playing in the Grove Bowl, and the next he was back home escorting a special needs girl to her prom. It was just the kind of person Park Stevens was. He lived to care for other people.”
Conyers and Stevens quickly became close friends. They became roommates and spent the summer of 2013 in Oxford taking classes and going through summer workouts.
Later that summer, as the Fourth of July approached, Conyers, who was from Miami and unable to go home, planned to go home with Stevens to Columbus for the weekend. Stevens left Oxford on July 3. Conyers ended up having a test that day and instead planned to drive down the next day to meet Stevens.
Stevens was about an hour away from home when an 18-wheeler pulled out to cross four lanes of traffic. Stevens hit the back of the 18-wheeler in his pickup truck and was killed on impact.
Stevens’ parents were vacationing in the mountains with their older two children and their families at the time of the accident. They received a call from a relative with the devastating news.
It was an unbelievable shock, a devastating loss and a test of faith to a close-knit family.
“You’re just numb to it all. You do everything with this armor around you. You’re trying to prove to everyone that you can be strong, and it’s hard,” Gail Stevens said, describing the first year after Park’s death. “It is literally your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night.”
Shortly after Stevens’ death, his family made the decision to stay involved with the football program and carry out the legacy of their son.
“Park had a dream, and we made an agreement to finish that dream,” said Gail Stevens.
Conyers also made a decision after Stevens’ passing to switch his number to 75, Stevens’ number.
“I wanted to make his parents feel the way they should feel about having their son out there on the field,” Conyers said.
It created a bond between a family mourning the loss of their son and a football player honoring a lost friend.
“He has become our fourth child. He is just like a son to us,” Gail Stevens said.
Conyers said he often refers to them as Mom and Pop. He turns to them with a problem he may face or if he misses them and just wants to catch up.
“We take care of him and he takes care of us, but the main thing is he never fails to tell us he loves us,” Gail Stevens said.
When Conyers takes the field next fall, you will see the number 75; a number that represents more than just the starting center. It represents a loved, Christian young man whose life was cut short. It represents a family carrying out the legacy of their lost son and a young man honoring a lost friend. It represents a bond between the Stevenses and Conyers, who became a son to them.
“The first time we saw it, it took our breath away.” Dean and Gail Stevens said. “Now, when we see it, we see our son because we see Robert as our son too. When we see Robert, we see Park too.”
This upcoming season would have been Park’s senior season. Park’s parents Dean and Gail, along with Conyers, work to keep Park’s legacy alive.
“God has a plan for everything,” Dean Stevens said.
He said he and Gail Stevens have learned a lot from the legacy their son left behind.
“If I can be half of the man that Park was in his twenty short years of life, then you can call me successful,” Dean Stevens said.
Conyers has also learned a lot in the two years since the accident.
“Every time I start to feel sorry for myself about something, I just think it could always be worse,” Conyers said. “Nothing felt worse than that day.”
The story of Park Stevens is an example that great things can come out of bad situations. Dean and Gail Stevens continue to be an active part of the Ole Miss football family. Whether it’s sharing a daily Facebook post with words of motivation or the text they send every morning to as many as 40 players, they want the team to know they are thinking of them and encouraging them.
“We always tell them that life is not promised after today and to always be working on the impact you are leaving in this world,” Gail Stevens said.
For Conyers, the legacy of Stevens provides a sense of encouragement for him.
“Park is a reminder of the good things in life,” Conyers said. “It’s a reminder that there is a good side to everything. Nothing has to get you down. That is how you should live.”
