New Homestead coach Cedrick Stewart will bring his life lessons to program

Cedrick Stewart (L) returns to his alma mater to coach this year after breaking into coaching in North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Cedrick Stewart)

BY BRANT PARSONS —Cedrick Stewart’s life was not going in the right direction.

Struggling in a world of gang violence and drugs while a sophomore in high school in Mississippi, Stewart’s mother sent him off to Homestead in the hopes that he could find a better path.

It worked.

Already a skilled football player, Stewart found another sport at Homestead High School under coach Wilbert Johnson that played a huge role in his life’s transformation.

“My mom actually sent me here to save my life,” Stewart said. “And that’s where I turned a near leaf and I found Coach Johnson and I found wrestling.”

The fact that it all happened in Homestead has never been lost on Stewart and when the opportunity arose to come back and coach at Homestead High School, Stewart jumped at the chance.

Even though he hadn’t lived in the area for over 20 years, Stewart always wanted to come back to the community that saved him and give back.

“I fell in love with the sport in this city and this city adopted me,” Stewart said. “I feel like I’m a hometown boy and everybody knows me from here, so why not come and give my expertise and my knowledge back to the city that I grew up in and made me a man.”

He will have some work to do to build the program back.

The Broncos last district title came in 2013 as Homestead’s wrestling program has struggled in recent years while struggling for continuity in the coaching staff.

Stewart is working hard to reverse that.

The wrestling room has been repainted and the weight room has been cleaned out. He also is working to create interest in the program through social media, through new uniforms and in everything they do as a program.

It’s already showing some dividends.

At an interest meeting a month ago, 33 interested students came out to learn about the wrestling team and Stewart has had success in getting them out for voluntary summer workouts.

“We are not going to be rebuilding forever,” Stewart said. “We want to make Homestead a successful program now and I want to make some noise this year and then even more next year.”

It’s a young team that Stewart will be working with as every person on the team right now is an underclassman this coming season, and he’s going to keep looking for more athletes to join the program.

Stewart plans to hit the hallways when school starts back up and he’s already met with coaches and teachers at Homestead to let them know the benefits of wrestling.

The focus for Stewart though will always remain on making a difference in young lives with his goals focused on keeping kids out of trouble, going to school, and having success on and off the mat.

“I used to be the one when I first arrived here trying to do drugs and alcohol but I changed,” Stewart said. “I felt something that now my life had a purpose and that was to serve other people and I look to be a testimony to the younger generations.”

The Homestead wrestling program, is already feeling the effects of that testimony.