CHARLOTTE—If you give Shy Tuttle 30 seconds and an opening, he can run down half the roster of the team that helped him fall in love with the game.
"Steve Smith, Julius Peppers. I like Chris Gamble too. Stephen Davis. I used to swear I was going to be Stephen Davis."
The Midway, North Carolina native is built like someone who destroys ball carriers, not acts as one. But as a 7-year-old growing up an hour north of the Panthers home in 2003, being the next Stephen Davis was a kid's biggest dream.
"I never got to run the ball my whole life because they had a weight limit where I was from," Tuttle lamented, shuffling away from the 2004 Madden NFL video game set up during the Panthers media day, where the defensive tackle played with the roster he grew up watching.
"You couldn't be over a certain amount of pounds and if you were, you had to play O-line. So, I got to middle school, I finally got to run the ball in the championship game. I scored like three touchdowns finally."
Tuttle's career as a running back was short lived, but the hope to one day be a Panther was born. As he watched the Panthers go to the Super Bowl that 2003 season, his first cognizant memory of the NFL – "I hated the Patriots, that put a bad taste in my mouth on the Patriots. I still don't like the Patriots." – a dream began to form.
"This is a dream come true. It was always in the back of my head."
But for years, it was simply that, a dream. A thought of "one day" that would require a lot of work and a bit of luck to even become tangible. When Tuttle first entered the NFL in 2019, he wanted to provide a clearer path and example for those from his hometown.
On one side of the field at Oak Grove High School stood Shy Tuttle, in place and ready for the kickoff coming his way. On the other side of the field, 150 kids ranging in age from six to 12, vibrated with anticipation, ready to take on Tuttle, mano a mano…or mano a large horde of energy wrecking balls.
Tuttle took the kickoff, cut left and tried to use the sideline as a boundary to set up a running lane. The plan lasted for approximately three seconds before a missile disguised as a 12-year-old hopped up on adrenaline plowed into Tuttle. The two had been going head-to-head all day, with Tuttle happy to deliver a little tough love to a kid wanting to know what it's really like to play in the NFL. The Tuttle camper returned the favor, leading the charge to take down the 300-pound tackle.
When Tuttle finally emerged from the dog-pile, he was a little worse for wear, but smiling from ear-to-ear. This was what he had wanted when he first started the Shy Tuttle Foundation free football camp three years prior; a chance to give someone from his old neighborhood a memory and a touchstone for any NFL related dreams they might have.
"I never had anyone throw a football camp from the NFL when I was a kid," Tuttle reflected as he waited for each of the participants to line up for a picture with their local success story, adding that's why it's so important to return each summer. "All the kids from my neighborhood come to this high school."
Tuttle attended North Davidson High School, prior to Oak Grove being founded. With a brother and a cousin on the Oak Grove coaching staff now though, as well as his former defensive coordinator working as head coach at Oak Grove, the opportunity to host a camp closest to his neighborhood was too good to pass up. The neighborhood has responded in thanks.
"Each year is a better turn out and there were more kids. Each year it's grown," Tuttle bragged.
As the camp unfolded, Tuttle made a point to stop in on each drill, personally speak to as many campers as possible, shouts of "tell your mama I said hey" and bets with certain kids as he played defensive back, a reminder that for however long Tuttle might play in the NFL, this is still his home.
Tuttle is heading into his second year with the Panthers, and sixth in the NFL. Yet he still speaks about those who were his heroes growing up, getting positively giddy when talking about meeting Peppers. With that in mind, he headed home again this summer, promising to provide a concrete example for everyone there that even the wildest dreams come true.
