How Harold Perkins' family helped shape LSU football's freshman star
BATON ROUGE — It was Saturday, Nov. 12, and Bertha Walton was in a lot of pain.
Two days earlier she had been in a bad car accident, ugly enough that her company car got totaled. It was the source of her pain, as she was still having muscle spasms more than a week later "from like my chest down to my side." She had pain medicine, but the original prescription couldn't relieve the throbbing, which meant that she had to go to urgent care for stronger medication.
She could barely move.
"She was in so much pain the next day and the days after, she couldn't even sit down," her brother, Alvin Walton, said. "She went to see the doctor twice."
But perhaps the worst part of it all was the timing. Bertha was planning on leaving for Arkansas on Friday to watch her son, LSU football freshman linebacker Harold Perkins, play against the Razorbacks, but the accident left her physically unable to go.
Up until that point, she had been at every game.
"I reassured him when I talked to him (over the phone)," Bertha said. "Saturday morning, I was like, 'Son, don't be bothered by what you see. I'm going to be all right. You know, play ball. Y'all can win this game.'"
Perkins himself was already dealing with a lot that morning. Besides harboring the same pressures his teammates had – trying to maintain LSU's winning streak and the momentum they created from beating Alabama the weekend prior – Perkins was sick with the flu, ill enough that he threw up that same morning.
"I didn't find out (he was sick) until everybody else found out," Bertha said.
But anyone who watched him that Saturday wouldn't have had a clue about any of it. Perkins had his best game of the season, garnering six total tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles, including the game-clinching turnover with less than two minutes in the fourth quarter and LSU leading by just three points.
The performance firmly placed him on the national radar and confirmed what many LSU fans had already believed: Perkins was LSU's next defensive superstar.
Perkins finished his first collegiate regular season with 69 total tackles and 7.5 sacks, and finished second on the team with 36 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He's a finalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award, was an AP first-team All-SEC selection, a College Football News first-team freshman All-American and made the SEC coaches' All-SEC second team.
He has one more game left as a freshman, as No. 17 LSU faces Purdue in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2 (12 p.m., ABC).
"It doesn't surprise me because I know (what) many of y'all do not know. Y'all know shine, but I know the grind," Alvin said. "You're talking about a kid that gave up his summers. Every time he had a holiday, he gave that up. He would be working out and preparing himself."
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Family first
To understand how Perkins became a superstar, understanding his family comes first.
Resilient would be the best way to describe them. Harold's grandfather, Alvin Walton Sr., was a Marine who fought in Vietnam and raised his children "rough." Uncle Alvin has been a police officer in New Orleans for almost 26 years.
Bertha worked 16-hour shifts as a certified nursing assistant while Harold was growing up. Often she would come home and Harold would already have a meal cooked and her work clothes ready for the next day. She taught Harold how to cook when he was just 7.
"He could cook anything," Bertha said.
Anytime adversity struck, the family bounced back. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Bertha moved the family to Houston. But not long after, Harold's older brothers, Benjarmine and Corey, moved back to New Orleans to live with their grandparents. It forced Harold to grow up quickly, especially since his elder sister, Kimeka, had a history of seizures.
"She would have these little blank-outs," Bertha said. "So that would mean Harold would be in charge."
The family has stuck together through it all, the highs and the lows. When Harold's family attends his games, it's not a group of two or three; it's a party of at least 10. He's always been close with his mother, siblings and especially Uncle Alvin.
Where Perkins' all-world athleticism comes from isn't straightforward. The family is athletic, but none of them had ever come close to playing sports at the Power-5 collegiate level before Harold.
"We've had a lot of good athletes in the family. Boys and men ... playing high school ball and was dominating," Uncle Alvin said. "But they took a different route. When they got to a certain age, it went a different route. Instead of staying focused, staying on line ... they went on the wrong side.
"Harold didn't go on the wrong side. He stayed on the right side."
But Harold wouldn't be the star he is today without his family's resiliency and support.
It's how he can chase down quarterbacks in the freezing cold in Fayetteville after puking only hours beforehand. It's why he persevered and played the game of his life through the emotions of learning his mom had gotten in a serious car accident.
"I always tell my children ... take the situation and make the best out of (it)," Bertha said. "And when you got to focus on a situation, (and) you can take a situation and turn it into something good and positive, that's the best unique thing ever in life."
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South Region. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football, Harold Perkins' family helped him become a star freshman
