COLUMBUS’ FASTEST MAN GIVES BACK

Royce Caldwell is a prominent name around Columbus, as the fastest man they have seen and for his work in youth sports around town.

Caldwell started a youth summer track league and coaches in the youth football league in Columbus where his team lost in the semi-finals this year.

“I wanted to come back and be that kind of role model to these kids because I did not have that growing up,” Caldwell said. “With everything that I experienced I feel like I can help these kids and give them a good foundation to build their athletic careers and lives on.”

Before any of that though Caldwell was a student and athlete for the Columbus Cardinals from 2010-2014. He played football in the fall and ran track in the spring and his reason for running track makes a lot of sense.

“I honestly ran track because I wanted to stay in shape for football,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell saw a lot of success in track. One of his biggest accomplishments was setting the school record at Columbus in the 100m dash with a 10.26 second time and breaking the 200m record with a 21.1 second time. Caldwell credits his high school track coach for his success in track.

“If it was not for Stuart Taylor, I would not have been successful in track,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell was so successful in track that he went to the state meet all four years. He placed 5th as a freshman, 3rd as a sophomore and 2nd as a junior before winning State as a senior.

That speed was a natural gift Caldwell said he always had and that speed helped him succeed on the football field. As a slot receiver, defensive backs struggled to keep up with Caldwell’s speed, so he was always a threat on offense. Something that colleges took note of.

Caldwell received a few offers from smaller schools for track and some of his friends and family pushed him to pursue track, but Caldwell’s heart was elsewhere.

“I loved football, in hindsight I probably should have picked track, but my heart was set on football,” Caldwell said.

When the time came, Caldwell verbally committed to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Shortly after though he decommitted because of a coaching change.

“The new coach coming in did not recruit me and he was going to want to bring his guys in, so I started looking at other schools,” Caldwell said.

It did not take him long to find his next school. Soon after, Caldwell committed to play football at New Mexico State. As for the reason why he chose New Mexico State, it was simple in his mind.

“My mom fell in love with the place and with her loving it so much it was an easy decision for me to go there,” Caldwell said.

During his time at New Mexico State Caldwell played in 30 games, caught 62 passes for 792 yards and scored eight touchdowns, including 1,170 all-purpose yards. After his final season he decided to participate in the pro day and put himself in front of a lot of NFL scouts and ran a 4.27 40yard dash.

Caldwell said he knew he was not going to get drafted to the NFL but once the draft ended, he received a phone call.

“I remember being at my cousin’s house (Monte Wilson) and we were watching the draft and I knew I was not going to get drafted, but once it ended my phone started ringing and it was an Arizona number,” Caldwell said. “They told me they liked my speed and invited me to a rookie minicamp. That was the moment I realized, people are watching you even if you think they aren’t.”

Caldwell went to camp for the Arizona Cardinals in a full circle moment as he was a Cardinal once again. This was the best moment of his athletic career because he was getting an opportunity to practice at an NFL facility while under contract of an NFL team and he even got to meet an NFL legend.

“I got to meet Larry Fitzgerald, he sat in meetings with us and he would share advice to us young guys,” Caldwell said. “I was starstruck too, I was taking pictures of his locker and just trying to soak up as much as I could.”

Caldwell was also in camp with former NFL first overall pick Kyler Murray and he said that overall, it was the greatest experience ever. After rookie minicamp Caldwell was cut by the Cardinals and he said that’s when he learned that the NFL is a business and it is cutthroat.

“It was a great experience, but I wanted to take those experiences, come home and use it to help somebody in some way,” Caldwell said. “I did not play in the NFL, but I was given an opportunity and learned a lot and I wanted to pass that on to the kids and the community.”

Caldwell is still in town working in both Colorado and Austin County, coaching, teaching and motivating the next generation to be better and accomplish more than he did.