Lincoln grad Julien Simon has All-American jersey hung in school’s gym. ‘It’s a surreal moment for me.’
When Julien Simon was in sixth grade, he played in an FBU Youth All-American game in San Antonio, Texas. A day later, he was watching the high school All-American game in the Alamodome, wearing his youth football All-American jersey from the previous day’s game like the rest of the kids. Simon, wide-eyed watching the high schoolers, turned to his dad, Nick.
“I’m gonna make it here one day,” he told him.
He delivered on that promise. Well, more or less. Simon was named an All-American his senior year — along with three other players from Washington in Kennedy Catholic quarterback Sam Huard (UW), Steilacoom receiver Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State) and Eastside Catholic defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau (Ohio State) — but he never got to play in the actual game. It was canceled because of the pandemic.
Still, Simon will never forget the feeling when he opened his front door and saw a literal locker in front of him. He had no idea the All-American honor was coming, so he wasn’t sure why there was a locker on his front step.
“I was like, ‘What is this?’ he said.
He opened it to find an All-American jersey, along with cleats and other collectibles. Simon, one of the best high school football players to ever walk the halls of Tacoma’s Lincoln High School, sent the jersey to where he feels it belongs: The Lincoln gym. Simon was honored before the tip of Lincoln’s basketball game against Spanaway Lake on Tuesday and his jersey was hung on the wall.
“It means a lot. It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I was little,” Simon said. “My family went here, my mom went here and graduated from here, both my brothers graduated from here. It’s a surreal moment for me.”
Simon’s mom, LaShonte, graduated from Lincoln. Julien’s two older brothers, Dionte and Jayden, also graduated from Lincoln. It’s a special place to not just Julien, but the entire family.
“It’s the place I was supposed to be,” he said. “When I got here, it just felt like a second home. It still feels like a second home, even though I’m not enrolled in high school. Every time I come back, it just feels like it’s the same thing.”
Simon, now a linebacker at USC, was the heart and soul of Lincoln’s 2019 team, which reached the Class 3A state tournament semifinal round — the best finish ever for Lincoln, and the first Tacoma Public School to reach the state tournament semifinals since the Marcus Trufant-led Wilson team in 1998.
“I think it’s an honor for us to be able to hang (Simon’s jersey), kind of like a Lawyer Milloy-ish,” said Lincoln coach Masaki Matsumoto. “We have his jerseys all over the weight room. Now we get to hang his. He could’ve probably hung it at (Ford Sports Performance) or other people that trained them or whatever. It’s cool that he wants to give it to the high school and honor the community. Because I know how big he is about Tacoma and the east side community. This proves it and again, we’re just more than honored to do this for him.”
Matsumoto said he thinks Simon is the best player he’s ever coached.
“In terms of obviously talent, but the IQ, just the ability for him to bring others along,” he said. “The amazing thing is, he’s not a vocal kid. He’s more of a quiet kid. But when he talks, everyone better listen. He had that ability to say the right things at the right time.”
Simon didn’t get to play his senior year of high school. The coronavirus pandemic pushed the season back to the spring and Simon opted to enroll early at USC.
“A guy like him who knows the standards, knows the culture, it would’ve been nice to have him,” Matsumoto said. “As soon as word got out that we were going to push it to February or March, my heart went to him right away. I thought, ‘He’s not going to play and that sucks. We’re going to miss him.’
“I wish I would’ve soaked in being able to coach him more if I would’ve known. We made a nice run with him to the semis and I just thank God we were able to do that with him.”
Flanked by family members Tuesday night minutes before tip-off, Simon took the microphone and addressed the crowd.
“I’m blessed and I’m thankful for the opportunity to do this,” he said. “I wanted to do this for the community. This isn’t for me. This is for guys like these kids in front of me and just the rest of the kids that are growing up and will come through this special place, because it really is special and it’ll continue to be special even though I’m not here.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
