Summerville driven by lifelong love of football

[Staley Da Bear]

Enrolling at an HBCU as a student/athlete


On the football field at Pike, Summerville wasn't attracting any interest from colleges. Nevertheless, he was determined to continue his playing career at a historically black college/university (HBCU). Summerville grew up watching the annual Circle City Classic that has been held every year in Indianapolis since 1984 between two HBCU schools. In addition, he's always been interested in African-American history.


"Black history was always really important to me. [An HBCU] was a place I could learn more about struggles, triumphs and contributions by Black people in America throughout the years," Summerville said.


Summerville received a full academic scholarship to Jackson State University—the alma mater of legendary Bears Hall of Famer Walter Payton—and was given the chance to join the football team as a walk-on at linebacker. He loved his time as both a student and an athlete, describing it as "a family atmosphere" and "a nurturing environment."


Summerville was hardly a star on the field, but he nonetheless appreciated the opportunity to keep playing his favorite sport.


"I was the guy that coaches really love having on the team: low maintenance. Does everything right. Works hard. Not super-talented. But you know he's going to be where he's supposed to be," Summerville said. "I played some in garbage time here and there. I was a special-teams guy, running down on kickoffs. But I didn't have a really prolific career or anything like that."


Journey to becoming a scout


Maybe not as a player, but Summerville was beginning to embark on his path to the NFL as a scout. Every summer during college, he'd return home to intern for the Indianapolis Colts, handling a variety of different responsibilities in the football operations department. Summerville helped set up workouts for free agents, drove players to and from the airport, maintained magnets on a personnel board and weighed players.


Summerville's relationship with the Colts had actually started when he was a high school freshman. As part of a class assignment, he had to find someone in an industry he was interested in to shadow for a day. He heard Colts running back Edgerrin James doing an in-studio radio interview and brazenly called the station to speak with him.


Encouraged by James to contact Colts executive Steve Champlin, Summerville did just that and was granted an opportunity to shadow Champlin and former Colts receiver Bill Brooks, who was working in the team's marketing department. That initial encounter led to Summerville landing an internship in the Colts' community relations department during high school and later in football ops as a college student.


"I got a chance to work with the personnel department a lot during those summers," Summerville said. "I really feel like those internships with the Colts gave me a really well-rounded picture of what football operations was about."


Scouting was the aspect of football ops that Summerville enjoyed most. So after graduating from Jackson State with a Bachelor's degree in business administration, he landed his first NFL job with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007 as a pro personnel assistant. He held that position until 2009 when he joined the Browns as a player personnel assistant, and remained in Cleveland until being hired by the Bears in 2012.