By Carla Carlton
Cameron Broussard, a 32-year-old offensive/defensive lineman on Bellarmine University’s new sprint football team, took a zigzag course to college.
The son of two Army vets, he was born in Heidelberg, Germany, where his dad was stationed. After stints in Fort Polk, La., and Fort Carson, Colo., his father retired and the family moved to Louisville, where Broussard attended Seneca High School and participated in baseball, tennis, swimming and wrestling. After graduating, he decided to join the military.
“I planned on only serving my initial military contract of 3½ years. After that, I planned to go back to college and attempt to play sports,” Broussard said. “But during those years, no matter how many times I pleaded to deploy, I didn’t get the opportunity.” He re-enlisted and was placed in the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, where he trained to become a paratrooper. “I ended up going overseas multiple times. I got to be boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. That allowed me to check the box in serving my country and move on to my next endeavor.”
In the spring of 2019, he enrolled at Bellarmine and joined the wrestling team. When the university added sprint football, he jumped at the chance to play, delaying his final semester to make it happen. He will graduate in December 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Administration.
He’s also the single parent to 6-year-old son Houston, who he calls “my finest accomplishment and my greatest joy.”
What brought you to Bellarmine?
Initially I chose Bellarmine strictly for athletic purposes. Basketball and baseball are honestly my two best sports. Bellarmine was a DII school, which I felt would be more fitting since I was older and have definitely lost a step or two over the past decade. [But] it turned out that coach Gary Canter, the assistant coach for Bellarmine wrestling, remembered watching me wrestle in high school, and he and [head] coach [Spencer] Adams brought me aboard before anything else could develop.
How did it feel to come to Bellarmine as an older student and a veteran?
I am a lot wiser than I was at 19, and definitely more disciplined. So I probably would not have near the GPA I have now. The university did a really good job of making it easy. The BU Office of Veteran and Military Services has always been there if I were to ever need assistance, and I have from time to time.
Are there any similarities between being in the Army and being a college student (or a football player)?
There are many similarities with the Army and sports. School is a job or task, and so is everything in the military. At least that’s the way I see it—although there are not quite the same consequences if you were to mess up in school. The biggest thing is the camaraderie. That’s a big part of what keeps me around sports: being a team, relying on one another, having your brothers to your left and right, and taking on every situation as one. That was honestly the hardest thing for me to lose when I got out of the military.
What appealed to you about the sprint football program? How do the younger players relate to you?
I played football growing up. Me and my three other brothers, all of my cousins, and all the neighborhood kids played sports nearly every day all season long. I got lucky that sprint football is new and I had the opportunity to get on board. All the players are really cool. They’re kind, fun and respectfully funny when it comes to my age. Even I joke about it with them. I find myself saying “back in my day” a lot.
What are your plans after graduation?
I’m planning on expanding on what I have going on currently. I buy homes and airplanes for the purpose of renting. And I am going to shift more focus on getting the rest of my certifications in aviation, maybe up to a commercial airline position. Pretty much immediately as I got out of the Army, one of my best friends, Jerry Johnson, who comes from a background of aviation, introduced me to flying. I fell in love with it at that time and have been doing it ever since.
SO WHAT IS SPRINT FOOTBALL?
Bellarmine University is a charter member of the new Midwest Sprint Football League (MSFL). Sprint football follows the same rules as regular football; the only exception is a 178-pound weight limit designed to make the game both faster-paced and safer. While it’s not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, the new sprint football team operates under the umbrella of Bellarmine's athletics department.
Bellarmine defeated Midway (Ky.) University 17-15 in the program’s first-ever game, billed as “the Battle for the Bourbon Barrel,” on Sept. 17 and won its first home game, against Fontbonne University of St. Louis, in front of 2,196 fans at St. Xavier High School, the team’s home field. The Knights finished the season 4-3.