BEATING THE CURSE

By T.J. SIMERS

Jan. 14, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NASHVILLE —

It takes only a few seconds, his hand swallowing yours like a father’s cupping a baby’s curled fingers, to experience the intimidating size of Tennessee’s Jevon Kearse, the NFL’s rookie defensive end of the year.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, like some kind of Music City ambassador, the same guy who has used those giant hands and that 86-inch wingspan to flatten quarterbacks with unusual regularity this season.

Folks down here have known for some time they have something special in Kearse, nicknamed “the Freak,” because of his amazing athletic ability.

But it’s more than the wide receiver’s speed packaged into the frame of a 6-foot-4, 255-pound defensive end that will be chasing Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning in Sunday’s playoff game. It’s not the hands that pull you in, but the appealing draw of charisma that dwarfs the ordinary behemoth in the adjoining locker or across the line of scrimmage.

It’s a star quality, a little extra boost of energy and bounce to his step that suggest this guy could be one of the NFL’s great all-time players.

Former players such as Raider defensive lineman Sean Jones and current players such as Buffalo’s Bruce Smith have already likened him to Lawrence Taylor, who changed the game with his extraordinary athletic prowess.

“I don’t think it’s right to hear my name used in the same sentence as those great players,” Kearse says. “It’s still just an honor for me to be playing in the NFL.”

They don’t come along like this very often--shy, humble and dominating--and maybe that’s without knowing the rest of the story, a compelling tale of personal tragedy and individual resolve.

Although he does not talk in specifics, “The Kearse Family Curse” as one publication headlined it, has been chronicled in the Sporting News and ESPN the Magazine, as well as discussed on ESPN with Andrea Kremer.

In its detail, it should be a chilling message of impending doom for any offensive lineman who thinks he can somehow block Kearse from his intended goal.

He never knew his 24-year-old father because a gunman wearing a ski mask entered a Fort Myers, Fla., pool hall eight months before Kearse’s birth and shot Joseph Kearse Sr. dead. The local newspaper described his father as a “shakedown artist,” and a law officer called him “one of the baddest men in Lee County.”

A few years later, his paternal grandfather, George Kearse, 57, was murdered outside his home, just months before Kearse’s 19-year-old cousin, Danny, was shot and killed. Two years after that, his uncle James was killed by a bullet.

His cousin Marcell served time for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery, dying in a prison hospital. Cousin Albert shot and killed a man and is serving a life sentence.

His brother Joseph Kearse Jr. is serving a 7 1/2-year sentence in DeSoto Correctional Institute for attempted armed robbery, and according to the Florida Department of Corrections, one of his aliases is “Jevon Kearse.”

Five years ago, before the robbery attempt and before being imprisoned, Joseph Kearse had been stopped by police, and lacking a valid driver’s license, he gave authorities his younger brother’s name. When he failed to show for his court appearance, an arrest warrant for Jevon Kearse was issued.

When police responded to a call of loud music at a gas station a short time later, they found the real Jevon Kearse cleaning out his car. They handcuffed him and put him in jail until a day later, when fingerprints revealed they had the wrong man.

“It took a while to get over that,” he says, “but we are blood,” and so he did, writing letters and visiting his brother in prison.

Enough is enough, but there was more. Three years ago, two cars pulled into the Sabal Palm Apartment housing project parking lot in the Dunbar area of Fort Myers, and shots were fired. Kearse’s half-brother, Jermaine Demetris Green, or “Rocky” as everyone knew him, was hit in the head and killed. The police called it a drive-by shooting, the news reaching Kearse at the University of Florida and devastating him.

He now wears an “R.I.P” tattoo on his left arm with Rocky’s name and initials.

“When I’m on the field, I tell myself that the guy lining up across from me could be the guy that shot my brother,” Kearse said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle earlier this season. “Sometimes I ask myself what my life would be like now if I’d grown up with a father. Maybe my younger brother would be alive. Maybe my older brother wouldn’t be in prison.

“Then again, if I had grown up with a father, I may not have pushed myself to be where I am right now. Maybe I wouldn’t need to play football because my mom and dad would have jobs, and I’d still be in college working on my degree. By not having a father and wanting to help my family be financially stable, I guess that’s motivated me to be the kind of person and player I am today.”

It’s very possibly the birth of an NFL legend, one publication already asking several Titan players to “recall their ‘Freakiest’ moments,” after Kearse tore through the league in his debut with such flamboyance.

“I’ve never seen a human being run that fast,” explained teammate Josh Evans, after Kearse ran 72 yards to haul down Baltimore running back Priest Holmes.

Kearse set an NFL record for sacks for rookies this season with 14 1/2, and then added 2 1/2 more in his first playoff game. He also led the league in forcing 10 fumbles, recovering six on his own, and demonstrated it was no fluke with a hit on Buffalo quarterback Rob Johnson in the playoffs that forced a fumble for a safety.

“That guy’s motor never stops,” Buffalo’s Smith said in admiration.

Ram tackle Fred Miller, lined up opposite Kearse earlier this season, became so unnerved that he was penalized six times for false starts and drew another flag for holding onto “the Freak,” who also was known as “Wrecking Crew” in college.

“His eyes were so big--just watching me,” Kearse says in amazement.

His success on the field has prompted more scrutiny about how Kearse survived off it while growing up. If he makes it to the Super Bowl, it might very well become a made-for-TV movie.

His mother has been telling reporters the same thing when they call, “When you look at the family problems, someone had to break the cycle. I think it was smart of him to do the right thing. People thought he was going to do the other thing, but he did good.”

Kearse said he did the right thing because it made life easier for his mom, who was raising seven children. As a youngster he became friends with Cisco Navas, as the story goes, and moved in with Navas and his mother, away from the neighborhood that had taken its toll on his family. Navas now forms the basis of Kearse’s support group in Nashville.

After switching high schools and being made to study by Navas’ mother, Kearse became a National Honor Society student and narrowed his scholarship options to Notre Dame and Florida before signing on with Coach Steve Spurrier. He also became the first in his family to graduate from high school, and now is on the threshold of being known most everywhere in the country.

This would have been his senior year in college at Florida had Kearse, 23, not left early for the NFL draft. Now it’s tough to tell who’s getting the education.

Several NFL teams have to wonder now why they were so dumb when it came time to make their selection in the draft. Fifteen teams passed on Kearse, four who chose defensive players, before Tennessee took him.

How do you overlook Jevon Kearse?

“I see myself as a person with an eye on the prize,” Kearse said, which does not bode well for Manning’s good health. “It hasn’t been easy--my brother dying, not knowing my father and having only one parent--but I think I’ve been able to overcome the distractions. It was important to me to keep my head on straight, get an education and build something in my career.

“The thing is, I think you can be successful if you want to be.”

* CANTON CANDIDATES: Former 49ers Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott head the list of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Page 9

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tennessee Waltz

Regular-season statistics for NFL rookie of the year Jevon Kearse of the Tennessee Titans. (* Rookie record; ** Led league):

Tackles: 57

Sacks: *14.5

Fumbles forced: **10

Fumbles recovered: 6

NFC PLAYOFFS

Washington at Tampa Bay

Saturday, 1:15 p.m., Channel 11