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The Home Cindy Parres stands at her kitchen counter preparing food for yet another onslaught of hungry “Sometimes I wonder when I put that basement and pool in, what was I thinking?” Cindy Parres jokes. The group huddles around the kitchen island for chips and munchies while Cindy Parres works the electric griddle. Grilled ham-and-cheese coming up. Maclin is only home for a couple of days, and while his favorite sandwich is a simple one, he insists that Cindy make it for him. It didn’t used to be this way. When Maclin first met the Parreses more than a decade ago, he was a self-reliant 9-year-old, able to make his own meals and orchestrate his own rides. But lately, whether it’s lunch time or way past bedtime, he wants Cindy Parres to work the spatula. It could strike some as the entitled demand of a prima donna. Jeff Parres just sees a kid trying to hold on to being a kid. “It’s not that she makes it any different,” Jeff Parres says. “To me, I see it as a little kid, just looking over his shoulder to make sure mom and dad are still back there.” The Catch It’s one of those moments that people don’t just remember. They remember where they were when it happened. Whether it’s in the school hallways or a local restaurant, Kirkwood High School coach Larry Frost still hears about it. “If you weren’t at the game, then you really missed something,” Frost says. “And if you were at the game, the question is, “Where were you sitting?”” It was a Friday night in October 2005. More than 5,000 people jammed into Lyons Stadium in Kirkwood, spilling out of the bleachers to line the field, to watch the Pioneers take on undefeated Saint Louis University High School. On 1st and 10 with the score 21-14 just before halftime, Jeremy Maclin lined up wide to the right. After the snap, quarterback Marcus Harris faked a pitch to the left, fooling the safety into stepping forward. As Harris set to throw, the safety attempted to recover, but it was too late. Maclin streaked past the entire defense and Harris heaved a deep pass in his direction. It looked as if it was overthrown, and a precious scoring opportunity would be wasted. But somehow, Maclin made up just enough ground to warrant an all-out leap. Horizontal to the ground, and with flashbulbs going off around the stadium, Maclin pulled the ball in by his fingertips. Even today at Kirkwood it’s referred to as “The Catch.” It’s the type of play that turns a name from an engraving on an All-State plaque into an echo of history. That play is what many associate with Maclin back in Kirkwood, but to Frost it was just another instance of Maclin doing what he did best. Many high school players can wow a crowd every few weeks. By the time Maclin was a senior, he did it every week, and often more than once. Maclin scored 38 touchdowns in his high school career, and racked up more than 2,200 receiving yards, both Kirkwood records. But plenty of young stars have lit up St. Louis metro football in the box score and the record book. What made Maclin different was that those records weren’t enough. When Frost started working with Maclin as a freshman, he saw a lot of ability and not a lot of discipline. Maclin made plenty of big plays but would loaf if he wasn’t in the center of the action. The coach gave it to Maclin straight: If he wanted to play football beyond high school, he needed a different attitude. “I told him that he had to become a better blocker than he was a receiver,” Frost says. “And the whole time you could see that he was taking what you were telling him and processing it on a different level. You could see it in his eyes that he wanted to get better.” By the time Maclin was done at Kirkwood he had developed into the best blocking receiver Frost had ever coached. “There’s a lot of guys that are very talented,” Frost says. “But they didn’t have the mental discipline or the toughness. But by Jeremy’s senior year I knew it was there with him. I knew he could get wherever he wanted to go.” The Return If Jeremy Maclin was going to be introduced to the nation, it couldn’t have been on a more perfect stage. His Tiger debut would be against the University of Illinois at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis in front of more than 60,000 people, including both of his families. And in the third quarter he showed college football fans what those families had seen for the last 10 years. After fielding an Illini punt at the Missouri 34-yard-line, Maclin moved up the right sideline, made a hard cut back to the middle of the field and sprinted 35 more yards to score. That put the Tigers ahead 36-13 en route to a 40-34 victory, the first of an MU season that would go down as one of the school’s greatest ever. An All-American season had begun and a Tigers legend was born. Maclin would add 31 more touchdowns during his two seasons at MU and play an integral role in vaulting the Tigers into the national spotlight. What most Tiger fans don’t know is how close it was to never happening at all.
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young men. The Parres house has been the hangout for years, and this weekend is no different. Maclin is home to attend a fundraiser in honor of late MU football star Damien Nash. Maclin’s best friend and other friends and friends of friends soon find their way here.