Cato June - Early Years

Early Years

June was raised in the Great Plains of Oklahoma. As a high school freshman, June attended Muskogee High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he was a veritable "Okie from Muskogee". According to a Washington Post article, he envisioned himself eventually playing football for either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. His high school football team had a large following with regular attendance of 8,000. When June was a sophomore, he and Marjani Dele, his divorced mother, moved to the northwest section of Washington, D.C. in 1995. Following the move, she enrolled him in a summer college prep program, where he met Troy Stewart, son of Anacostia head coach Willie Stewart. Troy, an assistant coach at Anacostia, and his father recruited June to Anacostia High School. That season he played cornerback, wide receiver, and kickoff returner. On Thanksgiving Day, Anacostia won the DCIAA championship game, known as the Turkey Bowl, by a 40–31 score over Dunbar High School. In the game, June intercepted a pass late in the first half and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown to enable his team to take an 8–7 lead. That season he earned a selection to The Washington Post's 1995 All-Met Football team as a defensive back. The following spring, he played shortstop and pitcher for the school baseball team.

Prior to winning the city championship, Anacostia had played football on a barren field that was described by The Washington Post as "rugged prairie known by players across the city as the 'dust bowl'". In 1996, Mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry, helped the team acquire new topsoil and 500 rolls of Brute Bermuda sod worth about $60,000 ($88,912 today). As a junior, June, who wore #1, rushed for 90 yards and scored two touchdowns in the DCIAA semi-final game. In the championship game, June fumbled on the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter, leaving the door open for Cardozo Senior High School to score a touchdown in the waning seconds to secure a victory. During his junior year, he was part of the basketball team that successfully defended the Washington D.C. city high school basketball championship.

As a senior, he was a preseason USA Today honorable mention All-American and preseason SuperPrep All-American as a 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m), 190-pound (86 kg) defensive back. During the season the football team would deal with the adversity of a D.C. school crisis, the slaying of a player and the death of an assistant coach. That season he switched from defensive back to linebacker at times. By mid-season, he was being mentioned across the country as the nation's best player. As a senior, he rushed for 121 yards and scored two touchdowns in the DCIAA semi-final game. Prior to the championship game, no one had caught a touchdown against him and he had not fumbled the football. During the championship game, June scored the touchdown that gave Anacostia its only lead at 8–6. However, Howard D. Woodson High School and senior quarterback Byron Leftwich avenged its only regular season loss (which came 28–20 at the hands of Anacostia) by a 26–22 margin.

At the end of the season, he was a 1997 All-Met selection by The Washington Post and described as both the top DCIAA defensive back and as a running back who scored 18 two-point conversions and returned three kickoffs for touchdowns. He was selected as The Washington Post All-Met Defensive Player of the Year and USA Today District of Columbia Player of the Year and Second-team All-USA. During the season he did not yield a touchdown all season and collecting five interceptions (two for touchdowns), 84 solo tackles, 39 assists in addition to his offensive statistics, which included 889 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was named the only Parade All-American from Metropolitan Washington, and he was selected as a Gatorade player of the year for the District of Columbia. June was also honored by The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. June played under coach Willie Stewart who coached Anacostia to seven consecutive appearances in the DCIAA championship game, including three in which June participated and the 1995 victory in which June was MVP.

As a senior, he was a member of the National Honor Society, co-class president and a candidate to be valedictorian with a 3.8 grade point average. In addition to football, he played on the baseball, basketball and track and field teams. In track, he ran the 100 meters in 10.5 seconds and 200 meters in 21.6 seconds. He was city champion in the triple jump as a junior. He was a starting small forward on the three-time DCIAA championship basketball team. He received second-team All-conference honors his senior year. By the eve of the DCIAA Championship game held on Thanksgiving Day (November 27, 1997), he had 35 scholarship offers. Before his senior season his dream school for its combination of athletics and academics was the University of North Carolina. He was recruited by top football programs such as Syracuse, and Miami and his early list of top five programs was Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, North Carolina and Penn State. Later, he replaced Penn State with Miami on his five school visitation list. He visited Ohio State in mid-December as they prepared for the 1998 Sugar Bowl. He visited Florida in mid-January 1998. June's final decision was a choice between Florida and Michigan and he chose Michigan on January 13, 1998, although there were reports that he had signed with Notre Dame.

He was part of the nation's number one recruiting class for the undefeated defending national champion Wolverines. The team recruited numerous top 50-rated players on both offense: Justin Fargas, Marquise Walker, David Terrell and Drew Henson, and defense: Victor Hobson, Dave Armstrong, June, Bennie Joppru, and Larry Foote. The All-Met Offensive Player of the Year, Walter Cross, was also a member of this recruiting class. The class included a total of six Parade All-Americans: Fargas, Henson, Walker, Terrell, June and Hayden Epstein. Before matriculating to Michigan he participated in the July 1998 D.C. Coaches Association All-Star game as well as the Baltimore-Washington Beltway Classic. As a high schooler with aspirations of making a mark in the NFL and who kept a Deion Sanders poster in his bedroom, he left his mark by writing "Big Time 1" on things whenever the opportunity arose. June graduated as salutatorian.