Thanks to Charlie Wyett of The Sun newspaper for granting fulhamfc.com permission to publish the following feature on striker, Clint Dempsey.
Should Clint Dempsey find a way past Arsenal’s defence today, he will look up to the sky in a silent tribute. The Fulham striker dedicates each of his goals to his late sister Jennifer, who died suddenly at the age of 16.
And Dempsey admits that terrible moment in his life 11 years ago, along with other tragedies and near-misses, has been the inspiration behind what is a truly remarkable personal story.
Dempsey was raised in his nan’s caravan in the remote East Texan town of Nacogdoches. When he first started to take football seriously, he was forced to make a gruelling six-hour round-trip to Dallas three times a week with his father, Aubrey.
One of Fulham’s current better performers in an otherwise poor season, 24-year-old Dempsey now faces an equally tough journey in football terms to help guide Roy Hodgson’s team out of the rotten mess they currently find themselves in.
Yet everything in Dempsey’s life, both in terms of his professional drive to the fact that he is a thoroughly decent bloke, can be traced back to the time of his sister’s death. One of five children, Dempsey, who still sends money home to help his family, said: “When we were young, Jennifer would draw a picture of her being a tennis player and sign an autograph.
“I would draw a picture of me being a professional soccer player and sign an autograph. These were our dreams. Then one day, when I was 13, she fainted. We took her to hospital and she had a brain aneurism. About two weeks later, she passed away in hospital. We got the call to go and visit her but the sad thing was we couldn’t say goodbye.
“By the time we got there, we had already lost her. It has an effect on you. It is a nightmare and every time you wake up you can’t believe she has gone. It is such a loss, a life-changing thing. But you have to be strong.
“I now hope she is proud of me. Whatever I can do to help my family out in financial terms, I do. You cannot forget where you came from and mum and dad made so many sacrifices. Dad was a carpenter but also had some land with deer. He sold that to help finance all his children’s activities, including Jennifer’s tennis.
“The strange thing was that even when we were younger, she said to me ‘If I ever die, I will help you get the ball in the net.’ And that’s why I look up to the sky now whenever I score.”
Five years after the tragedy, 6ft 1in Dempsey was in college and proving to be an extremely good footballer. A big fan of hip-hop, his mates asked him whether he fancied going to a gig. He added: “I couldn’t go with them because I only had 20 bucks. They ended up going and, on their way back, it was dark and wet. Their car slid, flipped and an 18 wheel lorry hit the top of it. My friend Grey was killed instantly and my other pal, Chefik, severely injured.
“The two in the back were not harmed. But I know if I had been in the back, I would have been severely injured as I am very tall. I was 18 at the time. It was just crazy. The weird thing is that that summer my dad got in a similar situation with myself, my mom and brother in the car. It was 3am, dad was tired and lost control. We turned over but landed on our wheels and were able to get out. We were close to something happening.”
A couple of years later, he was by this time a rising Major League Soccer star with New England Revolution, earning a relatively modest £50,000 a year. Then he was asked to join Houston rapper Big Hawk to record a track ahead of the 2006 World Cup.
Dempsey, a devout Catholic, revealed: “I was always a big fan of Hawk. We worked on a project together in November 2005, which was great. But he was shot dead in the February of 2006. Unfortunately, it does happen. It’s part of life. We all die at some time but, unfortunately, some die before others. No matter, though, I’ll never let this or other things get me down. I have family, my friends and my faith. Whatever happens, it is meant to be.
“You have a chance to make things for yourself. Once it happens, you can’t do anything about it.”
After initial interest from Charlton last January, Fulham and Everton both came in for Dempsey. The MLS chiefs finally decided to accept a £1.5million offer from Craven Cottage.
Dempsey, whose hero as a kid was Diego Maradona, said: “In MLS, a player has no choice over where he is sold to. But Fulham is a great club and hopefully, I will stay here for a good few years. It has changed a lot under the new manager and we are all working as hard as we can to get ourselves out of our present situation.
“Reading are 13th on 22 points, just seven more than us, and a few other teams are around. Hopefully, we can start getting some wins. Arsenal is a tough game. They have some great players and are doing well. My aim at the start of the season was to get at least 10 goals and I would certainly like to do that.
“Playing for Fulham and living in London is something I love. I’m now married and extremely happy here. The quality of all the different types of food is a big thing for me. There is Italian and Asian cuisine, along with Portuguese.
“It has opened my eyes, after growing up where I did. It was all Texan barbeque stuff. I also live only eight to 10 minutes away from the training ground, which is great as I can sleep as late as I can. I love sleeping. It’s one of my favourite things.”
