Once in coma, H.S. football player who was shot makes comeback

EL CERRITO, Calif. (KTVU) - It was a highly-anticipated comeback for a high school football player.  He was shot and left for dead three years ago and his family thought he'd never play again.

18-year-old Kenneth Singleton is getting ready for a big game. A game his father never thought he'd reach just three years ago. 

"It was horrible man. He was in a coma. He had been in surgery for five hours and I didn't know he was going to make it," says Kenneth's Father James Singleton. 

He says the day he was told his son had been shot was the day that forever changed their lives.
It was January 23, 2013.  Kenneth was hanging out with a friend on the Ohlone Greenway near the BART tracks in El Cerrito when they were approached by two men. 

"They asked me for my shoes and I said no, so they ended up shooting me and my friend," says Kennedy High School Senior Kenneth Singleton. 

"One bullet bounced off his back and the other one went through his back and came out the top of his stomach and that's the one that did the damage," says James.

He says after that his son, who played football as a young child became depressed and was on a downward spiral. 

"He started kind of giving up on life a little bit. It was a struggle. He didn't understand why someone would shoot him like that. It was hard to try to get him to keep living at times," says James. 

But with hard work and dedication life took a positive turn. The shooters are behind bars and Kenneth changed schools. 

Now he's wearing number 30 and although he's overcome a lot, gun violence is still on his mind. 

"I don't want to say I got used to it, but it's just like after you hear it more and more, you kind of get numb to it," says Kenneth.  On this night Kennedy and El Cerrito High School football teams put their rivalries aside for a few minutes. 

As they stood side by side, praying and taking a moment of silence for all those who've lost their lives to gun violence in Richmond this year.  For James it was meaningful, because unlike many parents, his son is still here and he's cheering him on to higher heights. 

"The fact that he's doing good in school and he's out here playing and he's a part of it.  It's like he's a normal high school kid for the first time. It's a dream come true," says James. 

Kenneth has big dreams.  He wants to go to college and play football in the NFL.