Fri, Sep 05, 2008
 He could have his choice of jerseys to wear, be it pro baseball or college football, but Devin Veal says he will be choosing to wear UA garb next season.
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Veal ready to focus on football
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Veal zeal is real deal Versatile senior tries to carry on dedicated spirit of late mother
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.22.2007
SIERRA VISTA
Two and a half years ago, Devin Veal lost his scorekeeper, his advance scout, his biggest fan.
He lost the woman that would drive home from Fort Huachuca, where she worked in the civil service, to put a meal in the crock pot. He lost the woman he paired up with when his father took his older brother to games, and she drove Devin to his.
He lost his youth basketball coach and the only voice he heard when he stepped up to the plate, the one that told him to keep his head in and his hands down.
Devin lost his mom, Tanya Veal, to stomach cancer on Nov. 21, 2004.
Within six months, his older brother, Donald, was drafted in the second round by the Chicago Cubs. His aunt, Janet Alexander, moved into their house to help raise Devin. His father, Donald Sr., spent time in Tucson, working in real estate.
A B-student, Devin's grades suffered. He would think about his mom, about the pain she was in only months before, when doctors initially could not diagnose her. That was the worst part.
"Devastating," he said.
Devin, a three-sport star at Sierra Vista Buena High School who will play football at the UA next year, found a way to keep her ideas living through him.
During her last weeks alive, Tanya had preached her values to Devin and his brother.
"She said to never stop working; always keep working hard," he said.
So that's what Devin did.
He wrote his mother's nickname, "Tonka," on his left baseball cleat, and "Veal" on the right. He sold the most coupon books for team fundraisers and put in the most community service hours for football.
He listed his mom as his hero on his MySpace.com page.
And Devin continued to work, knowing that he, more than any online or written tribute, carried her legacy.
'The next Jerry Rice'
Devin and Donald both thought they would be big-league baseball players.
Then came the first day of football practice. Devin, who had never played tackle football before, was hooked. He called it "more of a passionate game."
Donald's dream is now close to coming true. After being drafted by the Cubs in 2005, the left-handed pitcher, 22, has worked his way up to the Double-A Tennessee Smokies. Baseball America ranks him the No. 52 prospect in the country.
The baseball scouts have come calling for 18-year-old Devin, in part because of his genes. He's a right-handed hitter whose athleticism has allowed him to move from center field to shortstop and second base this season. Buena coach Bill Wright is amazed at how easy it all seems to him.
But football is Devin's first love. As a freshman, Devin was riding home from a Tucson baseball game with Wright at the wheel of the van when a sports radio talk show was discussing the NFL draft and the baseball players griped at the coach to change the station.
"Devin was in the back of the van and said, 'Coach, turn it up; I want to listen,'" Wright said. "Everyone's like, 'Why do you wanna listen to this?'
"The comment I remember him making was, 'Guys, I'm going to be the next Jerry Rice. I want to hear what's going on here. I'm gonna go do that.' "
He knew where he wanted to play, too. Any school could have offered him a football scholarship, Veal surmises, and he still probably would have gone to the UA.
Veal has told baseball scouts it would take a "real good" offer for him to sign and not go to the UA, where he verbally committed before his senior season. Veal, who has been told he will play wide receiver, has permission to try to be a walk-on with the UA baseball team.
More likely than not, though, Devin will play his last baseball game this week.
"At times, I feel like I'm living in my brother's shadow," Devin said.
Donald can see that.
"It makes it a little bit better, him playing football and me not playing football," Donald said in a phone interview. "You don't have to live up to your brother's hype."
Life without 'Tonka'
Devin stands 6 feet tall in shoes and has hair that seems to want to escape from under his baseball cap. In his face, he looks like his mom.
Tanya's nickname of "Tonka" came from a Mississippi friend who could not pronounce her name.
Devin's paternal aunt, Janet, still raves about her sister-in-law. She would wake up at 4 a.m. every holiday and start cooking. She coached basketball with emotion that still makes Janet laugh. She cleaned up after three men. She wouldn't let her kids watch television in their rooms, and didn't believe in fast food. She played saxophone at church.
She would videotape Donald's pitching performances and analyze them with her family at home, coming to practice the next day to tell Wright what they saw.
"She'd be the only parent that ever took notes at a pitching lesson," Donald said.
So when Janet moved in, there was an adjustment period. Janet was not trying to take Tanya's place.
"I was the mother figure he was looking for," Alexander said. "I tried to give him the love he was missing. It's hard. I'm not even filling a quarter of her shoes."
Devin opened up after a while, and grew close to his aunt.
After the initial shock, Devin got back on track, both in the classroom and while playing football, basketball and baseball.
Devin plays fantasy baseball and idolizes Alex Rodriguez, maybe the hardest worker in the sport. He doesn't go to parties much, if ever, and won't play video games. He can't stand losing.
Buena football player Jake Muasau, whose father died in 2003, said Devin is the ultimate teammate and friend. Devin has never let Jake down, and Jake finds that remarkable.
"I just want to be somewhat like him," Muasau said.
In fact, that's what amazes Wright about Veal. The coach doesn't believe in metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, but thinks Veal has an overwhelmingly positive aura. Knowing Devin's history makes it even more amazing.
Devin and his brother have turned something terrible into motivation.
"They wanna make their mom proud," Janet said.
Devin will take summer school at the UA and work out with the football team while living in a dorm. His brother doesn't doubt Devin will have success; after all, they both draw from the same inspirational well.
"Our parents would tell us that nothing in this world was given to you," Donald said. "That being said, those little things are in the back of your mind when you're having a bad day or don't want to work out."
It motivates Devin to go even further.
And to wonder what his mom would think of him now.
"I think she'd say, 'You need to work harder and harder,'" he said. "But I think she'd be pleased."
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