WEST TAMPA — Calvin Dickey Jr. would have attended his own camp.
He would have been coaching it, too — down on the field, in the trenches, right where he belonged.
His former coach, Ray McNeil, knows this, even if Dickey — “the big man, with the big heart” — would have taken a gentler approach with the younger, greener players.
“If I kind of got on a kid,” said McNeil, who coached Dickey at Carrollwood Day School, “he would pull him aside, work with him and bring him up to speed. That was big for us. … Even if this wasn’t a camp in his honor, he’d be here coaching with me. 100% coaching and talking with kids, working with kids, everything like that. He’s a great kid.
“And I miss him.”
That spirit drove the second annual 50 Cal Big Man Camp, a free clinic held June 7 at The Trench Academy in West Tampa, where Dickey once trained and coached. The camp — run by the CJ Dickey Foundation, which his parents started after his death — drew 50 young linemen, the number Dickey wore.
On July 10, 2024, Dickey — known to everyone as “CJ” — was at his first practice as an incoming freshman at Bucknell University. He was doing “up-downs” with teammates at the school’s Pascucci Team Center in Lewisburg, Pa., when he collapsed. He was treated at a hospital for a high heart rate and died two days later. A Montour County autopsy report obtained by NPR in January of last year cited “exercise collapse associated with sickle cell trait,” rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure.
CJ was 18.
In his honor, parents Calvin Sr. and Nicole founded the CJ Dickey Foundation to, in its words, “share his story and raise awareness about vital athlete safety issues, including NCAA protocols for managing sickle cell traits and preventing heat-related emergencies.”
The foundation does more. Its 50 for 50 scholarship program has helped send five student-athletes to college, paid for through donations and with money the Dickeys had set aside for CJ’s own education.
“We have plenty,” Calvin Sr. said. “We wanted to find something positive to take from this. We want kids to be able to go to college and play sports, just like CJ was going to. We feel that’s what CJ would have wanted, too.”
The foundation also launched the camp, free to its 50 participants and open to players from elementary school through high school. Coaches drill them on offensive and defensive line technique, proper training and nutrition — and, above all, health awareness, with a focus on the sickle cell trait and rhabdomyolysis that killed CJ.
McNeil hosted the camp at The Trench Academy, where CJ trained and coached, and was all in from the start.
“I call it a symposium because of everything we include, not just working in the trenches or one-on-one,” McNeil said. “This is a big man camp. At Carrollwood Day, CJ played both ways and never came off the field. So I coach differently now. Being aware of (rhabdomyolysis) and overheating just opened my eyes to a lot of things — how it hits people close to us. So now it’s what can be done about overexertion, not having proper hydration, not checking for pre-existing ailments.”
Nicole Dickey couldn’t agree more.
“CJ always … had the biggest heart, but he was always the biggest kid,” she said. “This camp is a little different, because while the boys get to have fun and play football, the focus is health and safety and talking about (rhabdomyolysis). That has become our passion, the positive out of this — to provide education on everything that comes with playing sports.”
At the camp, the 50 linemen ran through drills, learned to take care of their bodies in a yoga session, heard a pep talk from Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie offensive lineman Paul Rubelt, ate lunch and capped the day with a one-on-one showcase.
The Dickeys are happy with how the camp has grown in just its second year. They easily find 50 eager “big men,” and they like hosting at The Trench Academy, where everyone knew CJ. Parents watch their kids perform, and many of CJ’s former teammates and friends stop by to help or simply to see the family.
“I think CJ would’ve loved this,” Nicole said. “I also think he’d be out there coaching and playing every chance he got. He always did. From football to 10 years of baseball with the Wesley Chapel Storm, he was always playing something and wanted to be part of it. He met so many people through the different schools and sports, and that’s what’s been great.
“To see his football brothers come out — it’s special. We know all their families and they know ours, so it means so much. It’s so emotional to see his teammates and friends here in CJ’s honor.”
The CJ Dickey Foundation
For more information, visit www.incalvinshonor.com.