Patrick Garwo brings hope through football camp at Conwell-Egan

When Patrick Garwo was in middle school, his family didn’t always have material things, but hope was never far from home.

His parents, who fled Liberia separately, met in the U.S. through a family friend, eventually had children, and then helped extended family members flee Africa and chase the American dream.

“We lived in a two-room apartment,” Garwo, a former star running back at Conwell-Egan, said in a recent phone interview. “We had a bunk bed, another bed, and everyone else just found a way.”

Sometimes that meant living with 10 people in their small apartment, including a younger cousin who is now a coveted recruit.

Today, Garwo, who will soon begin his final football season at Boston College, wants to be a symbol of hope for kids in his hometown.

On July 1, the second team All-ACC running back will host the PGIII Youth Camp, which will take place at his alma mater.

The camp, which is for children ages 9 to 17, will feature mental health education, football skills training, and mentoring from several current and former Division I football players, including high school teammates with whom Garwo once dreamt of giving back to their community.

“You see a lot of people get lost to the streets or get lost not doing their school work,” said Garwo, now 22. “That’s really where my mind went. I wanted to do something back home, where I’m from, and let kids know that there’s hope …”

Garwo’s parents, Patrick and Linda, fled Liberia as it was ravaged by civil war in the early 2000s. Linda went to Overbrook.

After the couple had children, Linda’s eight sisters, some of whom had children, stayed, off and on, in Garwo’s apartment.

“I never lived in that house when they weren’t also taking care of our [extended] family,” Garwo said.

His mother worked two jobs, went to college, helped her sisters, and later earned a master’s degree.

“My parents found a way,” Garwo said, “out of no-way [situations]. They were able to get us to where we are today with basically an impossible task. So they gave me hope.”

But Garwo knew, even while at Conwell-Egan, that some high school teammates weren’t as fortunate.

So, he tried to set an example.

At games and during practices he was often observed encouraging teammates, trying to keep them engaged, motivated, and focused.

His attempts, however, weren’t always successful.

A few teammates even had college-level talent but were ultimately undone by tumultuous lives at home.

Neither teachers nor coaches could consistently reach them, either, but Garwo, despite his personal success, took his teammates’ struggles personally.

His 2,017 rushing yards as a senior were the most in a single season in C-E history. He also won back-to-back player of the year honors as a junior and senior. Yet, sometimes Garwo felt he like he could have done more.

“I felt that it was kind of like a failure on my part,” he said. “Some of them were as good as me, and they didn’t make it out because of distractions and a lack of hope.”

Today, though, Garwo says he would provide his younger self with sage counsel gleaned from his degree in applied psychology and human development and his strengthened relationship with God.

“You can’t fix everything,” he said. “That’s what God’s for. Try to bring people along, but not at the expense of yourself.”

Former Conwell-Egan defensive lineman Dwayne Majors wasn’t thinking about his own expense when he told coaches at St. Francis that a former high school teammate was on the market.

Majors, an undersize lineman, had already made a name for himself with the Red Flash, playing in 11 games as a freshman after graduating from C-E in 2019.

But when Wesley College, a Division III liberal arts school in Dover, Del., was rumored to close, Majors knew his friend Chauncey Kratee was looking to relocate.

It didn’t matter that Kratee played the same position.

“I never really thought about it like that,” Majors, a 5-foot-11, 260-pounder, said via phone. “I just gave him an opportunity and he took it.”

Kratee joined Division I St. Francis in 2021 as a walk-on. Last month, his coach told the 6-foot, 255-pounder that he had earned a full scholarship.

“Sometimes you just have to take the long way,” Kratee said over the phone. “Not everything happens the way you want it to happen.”

Soon, Kratee and Majors will coach at Garwo’s camp, fulfilling a dream the trio shared in high school.

“Pat always preached about giving back,” Majors said. “He was always that type of person. He was always saying that he would give back to where he came from.”

Like Garwo, Kratee’s mother, Marpue, is also from Liberia and pushed him to succeed on and off the field.

“I just want to give my knowledge,” Kratee said. “I’ve been through so much. I can tell [kids] everything that I know … and maybe make them a better player and person. That’s my main goal. There’s a lot of tricky stuff in the world. It’s not just about football.”

In addition to the trio from C-E, Shittah Silah, a Boston College defensive end from Somerset, N.J. (Mater Dei Prep); Oleh Manzyk, a linebacker from New Hampshire (Neshaminy); Jalen Goodman, a former defensive back at Villanova (Lower Merion); and Brandon Sanders, a former Rutgers wide receiver (St. Joseph’s Prep), are expected to coach at the camp.

Garwo’s brother Andrew, who played at Temple and UT-Martin (Conwell-Egan), will also be a coach. A third Garwo, Josh, the youngest, might also attend, but the sophomore at C-E focuses mainly on track and field.

Former Villanova running back D’Andre Pollard (Neshaminy), who once inspired Garwo, is also expected to coach.

“He lived in the neighborhood next to me,” Garwo said of Pollard. “Seeing someone have success ... that was hope right there.”

Garwo has been a model of success for his cousin, Sam Cooper, a sought-after senior running back and defensive back at C-E with double-digit scholarship offers from schools such as Syracuse, Pitt, and UConn. Cooper lived in Liberia until he was about 4 years old and later grew up in Garwo’s home.

“Without him in my life,” Cooper said of Garwo over the phone, “I wouldn’t have close to the same opportunities I have right now. Not just me, all of us. He leads by example and we all just want to follow what he’s done.”