MANSFIELD — Many are familiar with the athletic prowess possessed by Cameron “Cam” Todd, having watched the Mansfield Senior quarterback help lead his team to the Division III state championship game earlier this month.
But what some may not be aware of is the impact the 18-year-old makes when he’s not on the football field.
Cam carries an abundance of joy with him wherever he goes and makes it his mission to share that joy with others.
Puzzled by his zeal for life, others will ask him how he could possibly be so happy at 7:30 in the morning on a school day, but that’s just Cam being Cam.
“I have nothing to be upset about,” he said. “God has blessed me with everything. Yes, I get frustrated sometimes, but at the end of the day, I have everything I need.”
Cam is the son of Fred and Denise Todd. He has an older brother, Jackson, and twin sister, Olivia.
From kindergarten through 10th grade, Cam attended Ontario Local Schools. The decision to transfer to Mansfield Senior was one of the hardest he’s ever made, he said.
“It was definitely not easy,” he said. “I spent countless nights praying and wondering what I should do, what’s best for me and my football career.”
Ultimately, he felt at peace with the move, but it didn’t come without its own set of challenges.
“When I transferred to Senior High, there were a lot of rumors about me and no one really knew me. All they knew was that I was coming from Ontario,” he said. “People would label me as ‘not an inner city kid’ and (thought) I had no right to go in there and that I was just going to take over, which was kind of scary in a way. I had a lot of pressure put on me.”
Due to transfer rules, Cam had to sit out the first five football games of his junior year.
“I got to play the last five and that was not very good at all,” he said. “I thought about quitting football.”
Feeling defeated, Cam wrestled with self-doubt.
“I felt like I wasn’t good enough and that people were going to remember me as the kid who went to Mansfield and disappeared,” he said.
But with prayer and the support of his family and church, Cam entered his senior year with newfound determination.
“I couldn’t see myself leaving the sport that I’ve been playing since I was in third grade,” he said. “I told myself that I’m just going to give it my all. I’m just going to finish off the season and whatever happens, happens.”
LISTEN TO CAM TODD ON WEST 4TH & GOAL:
The Tygers ended their remarkable 13-2 season after making history with their first-ever state finals appearance in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, where they fell 14-7 in overtime to Trotwood-Madison.
On the way home, Cam said he sat on the bus in silence, feeling proud of his team.
“I wasn’t even mad at the fact that we lost,” he said. “I was just so happy for my team and happy for how far we’ve come.”
‘A natural leader’
Cam admitted it took some time to feel comfortable and confident as a team leader. But if you were to ask Mansfield Senior’s head football coach Chioke Bradley, he’d tell you Cam is a “natural leader.”
During Cam’s first season with the Tygers his junior year, he was voted team captain by his teammates after demonstrating superior leadership skills in the offseason, according to Bradley.
“Cam was voted to be our captain as a junior by his peers knowing he had to sit those five games because his peers had seen his passion and they felt his love for his teammates, and they had already been following his leadership all spring and throughout the summer,” Bradley said.
Cam was always the first to arrive at workouts and quick to offer words of encouragement to his teammates; he also gave players rides to and from workouts “so that everyone was getting better and a ride wasn’t going to be their excuse not to get better,” Bradley said.
“Cam was what we always needed to get over the hump as a football program,” Bradley added.
In true leader fashion, Cam exemplifies “impeccable character,” said Bradley, who recounted a situation in which a player from an opposing team, who was “running after Cam all night trying to take his head off,” broke his leg during a game, ending his football season.
“Cam ran over to their bench and gave that same kid a hug and told him he would be praying for him and to hang in there,” Bradley said. “Now I didn’t tell him to do that; no one told him to do that. He did that all on his own because that’s just how Cameron Todd is wired.”
It’s not just on the field that Cam makes an impact, but at school, too.
His math teacher and uncle, John Grant, is among those who can attest that. Grant said Cam is a friend to all, determined to help everyone feel like they belong.
“Not many students go out of their way to try to help less fortunate students, but I witnessed Cameron do this on many occasions during lunch,” Grant said.
Bradley, who works as a SPED paraprofessional at Senior High, said Cam mentors middle school students during study hall, which is just “one example of many examples where Cam is displaying impeccable character.”
More than an athlete
Earlier this year, Cam had an epiphany that radically changed his perspective on identity.
“It didn’t really hit me until this year that no matter what I do on the football field that doesn’t define me as who I am; it just defines me as an athlete, which is a small part of who I am,” he said.
He’s also a Christian and is not at all afraid to talk about his faith in the Lord, which grew out of an unfortunate experience.
His sophomore football season at Ontario was cut short when he broke his ankle in the middle of the season. His friend, Kyle Woods, who had invited Cam to church since grade school, again extended an invite during this time.
“I had nothing else to do so I said I’d go,” Cam said.
What he didn’t anticipate was the immediate sense of belonging he felt upon walking through the doors at Berean Baptist Church.
“Everyone there was so welcoming, and they didn’t know me as ‘Cam the quarterback.’ They knew me as Cameron, Kyle’s friend who’s new to the church,” he said.
He started getting more and more plugged in and “investing into something more than sports for the first time really,” he said.
He chose to dedicate his life to Jesus and was later baptized. On the day of his baptism, he shared, “The day my friend (Cameron Friend) started living with God is the day I started living for him.”
Cam was close friends with Ontario student, Cameron Friend, who died in March 2017 from complications due to a bone marrow transplant.
Cam continues to take part in church activities, attending Bible study most Sundays and youth group on Wednesdays.
Phil Leineweber, Berean’s family pastor, said he’s had the privilege of getting to know Cam over the last couple of years through Berean’s youth program, “SURGE Student Ministries.”
“He doesn’t push his faith on others, but it is definitely part of who he is,” Leineweber said. “I think he continually is trying to become more like Jesus, something that is not easy and quite remarkable for a young man of his age.”
Leineweber echoed Bradley, calling Cam a “natural born leader.”
“Through his optimism, confidence, and charisma, Cam influences any group he is a part of. He does so positively, as well,” Leineweber said. “He encourages students on the fringe to come in and be part of the whole. He does not discriminate with his friendships but uses his social influence to build up others no matter where they are on the ‘totem pole.’”
Leineweber said he’s watched Cam help students come out of their box, valuing them for who they are.
“There have been times when we split up into table groups to pray or talk about our faith and lives and Cam has gone and joined a group of entirely sixth-grader boys to encourage them and keep them on track,” Leineweber said. “This kind of selfless concern for others makes him an unbelievably positive influence.”
‘Just make the world better’
Cam plans on attending college after graduation, saying he has a few schools in mind, without naming any specifics.
He hopes to play football in college, “and if football doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world,” he said.
As for a future profession, Cam said he is considering such careers as high school counselor, principal or youth pastor.
“I want to impact the youth and just make the world better,” he said.
Wherever life takes him, he wants to make a difference in the lives of others.
“It seems like this world we live in is always chaotic and it doesn’t need to be,” he said. “It’s so simple what we need to do: we need to just love each other, and I feel like that’s something that I can do.”