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Riddle to Return: Mountaineer is back after his mission trip to Sudan
Journal File Photo
Billy Riddle sits on the dock at his father's Camp Manna in Cooleemee.
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Published: June 19, 2008
Updated: 06/19/2008 01:15 am
Billy Riddle left Appalachian State's football program last summer when he felt led to do mission work in southern Sudan.
Now, after seven months in Sudan helping rebuild churches destroyed by a long-running civil war and enduring a bout with malaria that he contracted during his stay there, Riddle will pursue another calling.
He plans to rejoin the Mountaineers' football program later this summer and play a final season.
Riddle said that when he left the team last year, he had no plans to return to football.
"I was pretty sure that I would never play football again, that I was done with the game," Riddle said. "But while I was there I missed it, and I knew I was coming back to finish school. I thought about maybe doing some student coaching just to be part of the team, but the more I thought about it I knew wanted to play my final year."
Riddle, 22, a former Davie County High School player who lives near Mocksville, played in 36 games as a safety for ASU. He started two games in 2006 in place of injured defensive star Corey Lynch and was part of national-title teams in 2005 and 2006.
He hit the weight room Monday to begin his journey back to college football.
"I'm kind of hurting today," Riddle said, feeling the effects.
He said that his planned return to football will be a major challenge.
"It's been over a year since I've done any real physical training," Riddle said. "Physically, I'm weaker than I've been in a long time, but I know I'll be playing with a completely different view on life. Hopefully, I can be an encouragement to the team."
Riddle met with Jerry Moore, Appalachian's football coach, who was receptive to the idea of Riddle's returning for his final year of eligibility.
"We're excited about him coming back," Moore said. "He will provide a lot of leadership and experience, and he brings a lot of positives. He's obviously very aware of our program and how we do things. He'll be a huge plus for us."
Riddle first visited Sudan, the largest country in Africa, for two months in the summer of 2007. He returned to Sudan last September as part of a Samaritan's Purse project, just before the start of preseason camp for an ASU team that went on to win a third straight NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title.
He returned from Sudan in April and endured a relapse of malaria last month.
"I had to stay two nights in the hospital, but they got it wiped out and gave me some medicine that should completely clear it from my system, and I'm hoping that it won't come back," Riddle said.
He said that his experience with the people of Sudan was life changing.
"The stories that you hear from the people there are incredible," Riddle said. "They have been through things we as Americans can't imagine. I enjoyed life with them. Even though they live in so much poverty and with so much war and destruction there, they are very happy people. You would assume you would go there and just see sadness and helpless, needy people, but you see so many smiles. It's just amazing to sit down and talk with them. You learn it's not about their situation, that it's about their friends and family around them."
Riddle said that he never feared for his life while in southern Sudan, but that it is a dangerous region.
"My village was surrounded by a rebel group, and they came within four miles of the village," he said. "They're basically a band of pirates that roam around and rob, pillage and destroy. They attacked a village that I drove through every day on the way to a church we had built. They had looted and kidnapped some children. Fortunately, I was in a village that had a lot of soldiers at a garrison, and I felt pretty safe that the rebel group wouldn't come in.
"But I'll never forget seeing a large mass of families with all their possessions they could carry and clutching their children entering our village for safety.
"It really hit me the fear that those people have to live through."
Riddle has been speaking to churches and civic groups, and is continuing the development his own non-profit organization "Why the Woods" to aid people in Sudan. His organization recently sent money to help complete a classroom for a Christian school in one of the villages.
Riddle plans to continue his pursuit of a degree in English during the fall and spring semesters at ASU, then return to Sudan next May for two months before finishing his degree work at ASU in the fall of 2009.
■ Tommy Bowman can be reached at 727-7320 or at tbowman@wsjournal.com.
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