<p>By Bob Socci</p>
<p>Once the initial laughter subsided, Reggie Campbell had a question of his own.</p>
<p>"Who told you about that?" he wanted to know, cracking up at the final query of a recent post-practice interview, one seeking the origins of a nickname Campbell et al had affixed to their Navy teammate Zerbin Singleton.</p>
<p>Relenting with a smile - after all, he always seems to be smiling Campbell eventually offered up the goods on both a good friend and a mirror reflection in the Midshipmen's offense.</p>
<p>"Zerb came out for (the) track (team)," Campbell recalled, still chuckling. "He ran so stiff, but he'd be moving pretty fast. We just started calling him the 'Tin Man' ever since. A little track joke."</p>
<p>And more than a little ironic.</p>
<p>Singleton may be the subject of his buddies' running joke, but it's he who's enjoyed the last laugh all his life on anyone who ever cast a doubt in his direction.</p>
<p>And as much as his running form might remind others of the 'The Wizard of Oz' character - the one played by Jack Haley, the one with no heart - Singleton is all heart.</p>
<p>In reality - regardless of whether he, Campbell and the rest of the Mids' slot backs seemingly hail from a football 'Munchkinland' - Singleton is nothing like any of Dorothy and Toto's traveling companions.</p>
<p>The Scarecrow? He of no brain? No way. Not an Aerospace Engineering major whose 3.0-plus grade point average qualified him for Academic All-District honors in 2006.</p>
<p>The Cowardly Lion? Are you kidding? Singleton was recently nominated for the Football Writers Association of America FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award. </p>
<p>The Wizard himself? The man discovered to be a fraud when no longer hidden behind a curtain? Well, allow Campbell.</p>
<p>"(Zerb's) genuine," he says. "You can't really find that in everybody. That's why I think we get along so well. I like genuine people."</p>
<p>Authentic, Singleton's also an original. Enough so, his life's story is the stuff of Hollywood scripts.</p>
<p>He is 'Seabiscuit' in a football uniform, a modern-day 'Cinderella Man'. His is 'A Beautiful Mind' and his quest in life 'The Pursuit of Happyness.'</p>
<p>But as inspiring as it is today, what's remarkable is how little of Singleton's background remained unknown by teammates and coaches until recent months.</p>
<p>"I knew a little bit of his background, but not as in depth as I learned last week," head coach Paul Johnson said in mid-October, after reading several articles about Singleton, including Aditi Kinkhabwala's profile for SportsIllustrated.com. "As I've said all along, he's just a special guy. He might be one of the favorite guys I've ever had on my team, through all the years of coaching."</p>
<p>"I had no idea," said Jeff Monken, the Navy assistant who serves as Singleton's coach at slot back and on special teams.</p>
<p>Of course, Johnson and Monken were well aware of how far Singleton had come as a football player - from a back with three yards to his name before last year to full-time starter and non-stop catalyst as both a junior and senior.</p>
<p>They also considered Singleton a model of determination, on the field and in the class room - someone whose limitless ambition led him to Annapolis, planning someday to be an astronaut.</p>
<p>But what neither of them knew was truly all he'd overcome - that the journey to get here may have been longer than the one Singleton intends to take, deep into outer space.</p>
<p>The player one sees today - capable of lining up for 94 plays in high heat and humidity against Duke or rising up for an acrobatic touchdown dive opposite Air Force - took up the game as a third grader.</p>
<p>For Singleton, back then football was played with seven kids to a side in his home of Anchorage, Alaska. That's where his mother, Brenda, had settled after being discharged from the Army.</p>
<p>Joined by family from Detroit, including his uncle, A.J., and aunt, Vernedetta Rawls, Singleton enjoyed the wilderness that surrounded him.</p>
<p>"I liked animals and outdoor stuff - fishing, camping, things like that," he said. "I just liked nature."</p>
<p>But by the age of 11, his world was changed forever, altered from its axis by a chain of events and a resulting decision by relatives that would send him more than 4,300 miles away.</p>
<p>As described on both SI.com and in a subsequent story by The (Annapolis) Capital's Bill Wagner, Singleton's mother had lapsed into a life that left her at odds with the law.</p>
<p>Considered a parole violator after police discovered both ammunition and drugs in the home she shared with a boyfriend, Zerbin's mother was shot by a bounty hunter in her attempt to escape arrest.</p>
<p>While she survived, Singleton lived with the Rawls for a short time, before being sent to the Atlanta area to live with his biological cousins, Lorine and Carey Hall. </p>
<p>"They're like a mother and father to me," says Singleton, who overcame the initial culture shock of his move - from the people to the music well enough to adopt a genuine Georgia accent, knock out the occasional rap lyrics and ascend to the head of his class.</p>
<p>What propelled him were the values instilled by the Halls - who had two children of their own and have since welcomed Zerbin's sister, Shariff, into their home - and a childhood dream to shoot for the stars.</p>
<p>"I probably wanted to be everything from a garbage man to a fireman to a policeman," Singleton says. "Everything kids want to be."</p>
<p>Until the day he showed up at a school career fair dressed up in a home-made astronaut costume. In a sense, he never shed that outfit. Or, at least, the idea of wearing a space suit for real.</p>
<p>With his faith in God and what he'd already proven to himself, Singleton never saw the need to restrict his universe.</p>
<p>"It's how my parents raised me, in the church," he says. "Thinking you can do all things through Christ, that I can be anything I want to be.</p>
<p>"And life itself, the challenging things I faced in life, made me a stronger person. I want to be the best of the best, do things (other) people haven't done, things people said I couldn't do."</p>
<p>Has he ever. </p>
<p>At Columbia High School in Decatur, Singleton molded himself into his team's most valuable player in football, wrestled his way to a state championship and became president of his senior class and the National Honor Society.</p>
<p>It's also where he was introduced to the idea of attending a service academy and becoming a pilot. On a school counselor's recommendation, Singleton researched the Air Force Academy, before entertaining a question that would help point him in a different direction.</p>
<p>And reveal much about the internal compass that guides his thoughts and actions.</p>
<p>"Would you rather take off and land on land, or land (when it's) pitch black at night, on a carrier tilting from side to side?" Singleton said. "That made me (research) the Naval Academy."</p>
<p>Sure enough, he learned that no institution has graduated more astronauts than the one founded in 1845, situated along the banks of the Severn River. Later, a Summer Seminar experience showed Singleton that "Navy had more of a go-getter attitude."</p>
<p>About the same time his future was coming into focus, Singleton became acquainted with a past he'd never known. He met his biological father, Frederick Sternbach.</p>
<p>But within the next two years, adversity again intervened. Once more, life was anything but transparent.</p>
<p>It started with the night Singleton was driving a couple of friends home from a high school talent show, when his car was struck head on by a drunk driver. Having suffered a broken collarbone, Singleton couldn't gain medical clearance in time to attend the Academy's plebe summer.</p>
<p>"Immediately, I didn't know what to do," he said. "I asked myself, 'Why?' Maybe after a week, I had to start to get determined and figure out what my next plan, my next steps were going to be."</p>
<p>They led to Georgia Tech, where an academic scholarship would allow Singleton to achieve all his goals - IF he could also make the football team. </p>
<p>Initially, he practiced with the scout team. But by the second semester break, Chan Gailey - the former NFL coach now expected to guide the Yellow Jackets to bowl games in the Atlantic Coast Conference - told Singleton words no one wants to hear.</p>
<p>Words not everyone chooses to believe.</p>
<p>"He told me I was too small, wasn't big enough or fast enough to play Division I football," Singleton says. "If football would have gone better, if I felt I was going to get a fair chance, I probably would have stayed (at Tech). I prayed about it and felt that it was a sign to come to the Naval Academy."</p>
<p>He also remembered something Midshipmen had once shared with him.</p>
<p>"The players I talked to said the coaches here are fair," said Singleton, expecting not to be taken at the face value of his 5 feet, 8 inches, but to be sized up by the power of his will and strength of his desire.</p>
<p>In contact with Brian Bohannon, the Navy assistant who'd originally recruited him, Singleton came to a place where he was surrounded by, in his words, "a whole family of 150-160 brothers."</p>
<p>Still, few of his teammates learned at the time of life's latest jolt. During Singleton's plebe year, the father he was just getting to know committed suicide.</p>
<p>"I don't really express my personal emotions too much," Zerbin said. "Some of my closest friends made sure I was alright."</p>
<p>"It's not something that a kid just opens up and shares with you," Monken said after a recent practice. "He and I have had several opportunities to talk one on one and it's not something that ever (came) up. I don't think Zerb's ashamed of his background, it's just something that's private."</p>
<p>But as much as Singleton kept to himself, he also shared whatever he could to help others.</p>
<p>"He has his phone number in the locker room as soon as you walk in and he tells everybody if you ever need something, just call me," says Campbell, the Mids offensive captain. "That's just the type of guy he is, always willing to go the extra mile for you just to help you."</p>
<p>"There's nobody on the football team that I don't like or I couldn't go out and relate to," Singleton explains, offering insight into why he makes himself so accessible. "I always keep my door open and tell everybody to come to my room. I try to make myself available to the freshman as well."</p>
<p>Singleton is there to tutor teammates. And he's willing to give of himself, even if there's already barely enough time to sleep. Four hours, he'll tell you, "is a good night."</p>
<p>"(Zerb's) one of those guys who shows through hard work, you can do anything," says Campbell. "That's something I really admire about him.
He's always working. If there's something he doesn't understand, he won't stop until he understands it."</p>
<p>He's no different on the field.</p>
<p>"I can't say enough good things about Zerb," says Johnson. "Zerb's a competitor. If everybody played as hard as he did, you'd never have any problems. I'd guarantee you're gonna get what he's got. He's a fun guy to coach and a fun guy to have on your team, because he plays with maximum effort and a hundred miles an hour all the time."</p>
<p>All that while, he does it with a smile on his face.</p>
<p>"I do get tired, but you'd never know," Singleton says. "I'm just determined to accomplish anything I set my mind to."</p>
<p>"He affects our entire football team," Monken says, reinforcing his point with an anecdote involving a colleague.</p>
<p>Following Navy's 46-43 win over Duke, assistant Danny O'Rourke was so impressed with Singleton's indefatigable effort he asked Monken to create a series of highlights that could be shared with the Mids' linebackers.</p>
<p>"He wanted me to send them to his computer, so his guys could watch Zerb and see the effort he plays with," Monken said. "I think (Singleton) inspires our entire football team. Very few guys can get everybody's motor running and he's one of those guys who can do that."</p>
<p>Often, last season, Singleton ignited others mainly without the ball.</p>
<p>On offense, his M.O. was an ability to "bear crawl" down field and make the key blocks that set teammates free for long runs. On special teams, he was always among the first downfield for one of the nation's best punt coverage units.</p>
<p>More recently - starting with his a six-carry, 71-yard outburst that included a touchdown run against Boston College in the Meineke Car Care Bowl - Singleton has emerged as a big-play threat with the ball tucked under HIS arm.</p>
<p>Running, receiving and returning kickoffs - all with the fearlessness that defines Singleton and defies those who dare to doubt him.</p>
<p>"I think it just took us some time to discover that he's good doing all of those things," Monken says. "I think we just got so set in our minds that (Zerb's) a blocker and that's his role. He just plays so doggone hard and
he's a good football player. He makes plays regardless of what he's doing, blocking, catching the pitch, contorting his body to get an extra yard, fighting for extra yardage.</p>
<p>"He fits our calling card perfectly. He's a guy that nobody else wanted, nobody else would take. He's just a good football player... He's just a guy who plays so darn hard and is so loyal to this team and wants so badly to win. Just a great, great leader and a great kid. A kid I'd take anywhere I'd go."</p>
<p>Few have gone where Singleton has been in his 22 years on earth. Where he's headed, it seems, - in the words of the fictitious captain who once occupied the bridge of the spaceship Enterprise - is the "final frontier...to boldly go where no man has gone before."</p>
<p>Who among us would dare suggest Singleton won't get there? Not that it's going to change his outlook anyway.</p>
<p>"If you walk around with a bad attitude, that's how your day's going to be," he says. "I look for the positive in everything."</p>
<p>Such are the words he frequently dispenses to kids Singleton mentors as a leader in the Academy's Big Brothers, Big Sisters program.</p>
<p>"A lot of people who come from the same kind of difficulties (as me), they really don't have a lot of people to look up to," says Singleton, who plans to fly for the Marines before settling into the space shuttle. "You just
have to be determined that you can do anything you want to do."</p>
<p>Just like Zerbin Marquette Singleton.</p>
<p>"(For those) living in poverty or not having the same opportunities as others, roles models are out there," he says, explaining in part his recent decision to share his very personal story. "If a young kid reads that and it pushes him to be a better person, it affects my heart deeply."</p>