When Anthony Dunn was 10 years old and experiencing the enormous and sometimes frightening challenges faced by a black youth growing up in the small community of Manassa in southern Colorado, which has virtually no African-Americans, he suffered a tremendous loss.
It was summer vacation and Dunn’s 11-year-old brother, Boto Bolongo Dunn, was in Denver, spending time with his father. Anthony Dunn was playing baseball when a family member came to him, bringing news that his older brother, and best friend, had taken his life.
“He was happy when he left for Denver,” Dunn said. “But all of a sudden I got the news. Everybody was looking for me to tell me what happened. To this day, I don’t know why he did it. His name means ‘magic river.’ My mom got the name out of the Koran.”
The tragedy happened 16 years ago, piling more weight on Dunn’s frail shoulders. But Dunn also had a toughness developed through a childhood of turmoil and a dedicated grandmother who would not let her family fall by the wayside.
Dunn, a rookie with the Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League, looks back on his complicated life. His small-town roots and past turmoil have not prevented him from having success replacing injured Rich Young, an important player when the Crush became the Arena- Bowl champion last year.
“Anthony has worked very hard to step in and make a contribution,” Crush lineman Kyle Moore-Brown said. “He has a good future in this league.
“In life, you can ride up and down on the elevator. He got off the ride when it was going badly. We’re all impressed with him for that.”
Dunn, 25, has adjusted to the arena league ways of playing football on both offense and defense. He ranks sixth on the team with 26 tackles as a linebacker, and he has scored two touchdowns as a fullback going into the Crush’s bye week before it begins postseason play May 27 or 28.
“This is the most fun I’ve had in football,” said Dunn, a former Northern Colorado star. “I’m a defensive player, but the offense is what makes it so much fun. I feel being with this team has raised my level of play. They’re the defending champions and there are standards that have to be met.”
It didn’t take long for Crush coach Mike Dailey to form an opinion of Dunn.
“I liked him from the beginning,” Dailey said. “In our very first meeting when we started training camp, he was sitting in the first row. He took everything in. He wanted to learn everything he could about this game, which was new to him. He carried himself as a pro from the first day.”
Dunn calls the Crush his new family. But he also hopes for a career in the NFL – where he spent time with the Tennessee Titans in 2003 and 2004, and most recently on the practice squad for the Houston Texans last season.
About 50 friends and family members traveled from the San Luis Valley to cheer for Dunn when he played in a preseason game for the Texans against the Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High in 2004.
While focused on his football career, he has indelible memories of his brother and grandmother, LaVeryl Dunn, a resident of Manassa for 90 years before she died three years ago.
“Grandma saved us,” Dunn said. “Without my grandmother I could have been in a far worse place. I’m thankful she was there for us. She never saw me play professionally. She died the year I went to the Titans. I never got to give anything back to her.”
Dunn’s childhood was turbulent. His grandmother, his mother, Jill Dunn, and two older brothers, Shane and Ron, are white. Anthony, Boto Bolongo and younger brothers Adam and Albert are black.
“The six boys had five different dads,” Dunn said. “They all left us.”
Dunn’s father lives in Nigeria.
“I’ve never seen my dad,” Dunn said. “He left the country before I was born. He used to write me letters. We communicate some by e-mail and telephone.”
Dunn was 8 when he left the family home in Thornton and went to his “safe house” in the San Luis Valley.
“Our grandmother took us all in,” Ron Dunn said. “We were looked at as outcasts. But our grandmother was looked at as a pillar of the community.”
Times were even tougher before the move.
“The police were at our house a lot of times,” Anthony Dunn said. “We were alone a lot of times. It wasn’t a good situation. I had an abusive stepfather.
“It’s a little embarrassing, but every family has problems. It was a piece of heaven to go to Grandma’s house.”
Jill Dunn remembered the trials of being a single parent.
“I worked a lot and did the best I could,” she said. “It wasn’t easy as a biracial family in Manassa, but could have been really difficult if he wasn’t related to almost everyone in town. I’ve done some amazing things trying to get things square for my children.
“I called my mom Saint Grandma. The boys thought she could do no wrong.”
Jill Dunn works weekends as a registered nurse at a Colorado Springs care center.
“I’m happy that Anthony is playing football,” she said. “I wish it were in the NFL, but it’s good that he’s playing.”
Ron Dunn saw the hardship his younger brother endured.
“He didn’t grow up easily,” Ron said. “He didn’t fit in until he got to high school and started to excel in athletics.”
Dunn attended Centauri High School in La Jara and was a standout football and basketball player. When considering colleges, Dunn looked at Adams State in Alamosa just a few miles north of Manassa, but wound up shining at Northern Colorado in Greeley.
“I’m so proud of what Tony has done for himself,” Ron said.
Dunn still has a soft spot in his heart for Manassa and its people. He knows it is famous for another athlete, Jack Dempsey, the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1919-26, who was known as the “Manassa Mauler.”
“There’s a park in town and a museum for Jack Dempsey,” Dunn said.
He knows he has a ways to go to be remembered that way. But he now has a chance.
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
