Feature article on Bess

IBA = InsideBayArea.com

JJ said that Bess has:
"unbelievably gifted hands." (IBA)

About how Bess also has acceleration, strength, leaping ability, and focused concentration, JJ said:
"All the natural gifts all the great receivers have." (IBA)


About his strength that he values the most, Bess said:
"My awareness of the game, just knowing where the next person is. It's not even something I practice. It's just natural." (IBA)


About how he has a shot at the NCAA records for receptions and TDs, Bess said:
"I didn't even know that. It's definitely an honor to be in that category. I just want to work on my craft." (IBA)


About being called by friends asking for a ride back in 2003, Bess said:
"I had no idea what they were doing ... I knew they were up to no good." (IBA)

IBA Note: "So Bess left his Oakland home and drove to Lafayette to pick up his buddies, who promptly stashed an armload of goods in his car. Stolen goods. Within 10 minutes, police stopped Bess and his friends, found the stolen items and made arrests. Because the car belonged to Bess, he took the biggest hit."


About the 15 months he was sentenced in a juvenile facility, Bess said:
"I was actually relieved. My maximum sentence was 15 years, 8 months." (IBA)


About losing his scholarship to Oregon State and his other offers and going to jail, Bess said:
"I'd have to say it was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life." (IBA)


About her son going to jail, Chinell Carpenter said:
"I was very shocked. That's not Davone's character at all. I have never in my life been so stressed out." (IBA)


About how he had to face his high school coach at Skyline, John Beam, Bess said:
"I've always looked up to coach Beam. He's always been there for me. I wrote him a long letter. I never got a response back. I called him. He wouldn't answer." (IBA)


About how he waited for Bess to take responsibility for his actions before he would talk to him, Beam said:
"I wouldn't talk to him until he wrote me and said, 'It's my fault.' You've got to take ownership for your actions. It's the street creed that you step up for your family, and he did. That's true in Oakland or the inner city. But it's not really true. Sometimes it can be at your own cost." (IBA)


About how his friends that stashed the stolen goods in his car were not true friends, Bess said:
"Although I've never been a person to point a finger at anybody, obviously, those were not my real friends or people who cared about me if they would put me in a predicament like that." (IBA)


About how he had a lot of time to think about his life plan in jail, Bess said:
"Before I went to jail, everything was just football, football, football. My initial reaction was, 'What's the Plan B?'" (IBA)


About how a judge gave him a chance for an early release, in time to enroll in college in Fall 2004, but the deal came with a price tag, Bess said:
"She wanted me to admit I was the mastermind, and she would let me free. I wasn't going to sell my soul and say I did it when I knew deep down I didn't do it." (IBA)

IBA Note: "When Bess was released, he attended community college classes and waited for a second chance. That came when Beam alerted Skyline grad Keith Bhonapha, a graduate assistant coach at Hawaii, and Bhonapha talked up Bess to Jones. Jones did his homework, but he also had a good feeling from the start."


About how he believed Bess and was willing to take a risk on him, JJ said:
"When I met Davone Bess, I knew he was a good kid. I asked him what happpened, and he explained it to me, and I believed him." (IBA)


About how people in Hawaii took a little while to warm up to him, Bess said:
"I wouldn't say people didn't like me, but they were a little hesitant at first ... a street boy from Oakland who just got out of incarceration. Slowly but surely people opened up to me." (IBA)


Praising Bess, academic advisor Sara Nunes Atabaki (who has worked with Bess for 3 years) said:
"He's wonderful. When he first got here, I never would have guessed he'd be in trouble. He was pretty self-sufficient, and that was kind of refreshing. He knows he needs help in certain areas, but he asks for the help, and he takes advantage of it in a positive way." (IBA)

IBA Note: "A communications major, Bess carries a "B" average and is on pace to graduate in four years."

IBA Note: "Beam is so proud of Bess he spent his summer vacation with him in Hawaii, both of them trying to learn how to surf. Jones calls him "one of the best kids I've ever coached," and doesn't limit that definition to Bess' football abilities."


About how Bess committed himself to take advantage of his second chance, JJ said:
"I think he's so appreciative of his second chance. ... He has committed himself to being something different. He's never going to make the mistake he made before." (IBA)


About how he and Colt, who also went through some legal problems, immediately bonded, Bess said:
"The first night we met we sat on the porch and talked, and we hit it off. Our goals, our situations ... we're living what our dream was two years ago. This is even beyond our dreams." (IBA)

IBA Note: "Success hasn't come by accident. Jones said he gets to his office by 5 a.m., and sometimes by 5:30 or 6 — when it's still basically dark — will see Bess catching footballs from a passing machine."


About Bess' work ethic, JJ said:
"Davone has the same work ethic that Jerry Rice had." (IBA)


About how his hopes for their season, Bess said:
"Hopefully, we go undefeated, go to a BCS bowl game and play a big school. Beat them, obviously." (IBA)


Proud of her son and how he has changed his life, Carpenter said:
"He got it right away. You have to know who you're hanging around. He is aware of his surroundings now." (IBA)