Justin Coleman reflects on his childhood friend Ahmaud Arbery

[Roary]

Getty Images

Lions cornerback Justin Coleman grew up in Brunswick, Georgia, with Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot and killed by two white men this year in one of several recent incidents that have caused widespread protests across America. Today Coleman told reporters that Arbery was a friend who could always make him laugh and make a situation fun.

Arbery was out for a jog when he was killed, and Coleman remembered that when they were in school together, Arbery didn’t much like having to exert himself physically — but he did always find enjoyment in football.

“I can just remember on the football field one time,” Coleman recalled, via the Detroit News. “I guess he had to tackle someone and he came back on the sideline and was like, ‘Man, that’s a grown man out there.’ It just made me laugh, in the midst of us losing a game. I don’t know. I thought he always found a way to make somebody laugh and that was a great characteristic about him.”

Coleman recalled that Arbery told him shortly after high school that he wanted to make a mark on the world.

“I just remember Ahmaud saying something like he’s not sure what his purpose of his life was, but I was just thinking in my head, like, dang, your purpose, basically, you know what I’m saying, was to start this movement, try to change the world,” Coleman said. “Now, your life does have a purpose. Your name is being continuously talked about, every single day now.”

Coleman’s teammate Tracy Walker is Arbery’s cousin and described Arbery as “a person full of laughter and joy.”