Never one to think small, he told his father he would win the Heisman Trophy when he was 7 and crafted a cardboard version of the ring he planned to win in the 2006 Super Bowl. (He would, in fact, fall one game short of playing in that game as a Denver Bronco.)
"He never wanted to do anything else," Dion Foxworth says. Lorinzo had played in high school but hardly pushed his boys toward the sport. He and his wife attended every youth league game, but his sole stab at coaching Domonique ended quickly.
After one run, he told his son that he could have gained 5 more yards if he had juked and cut back to the middle.
"He looked at me with intensity and said, 'Daddy, you're not the one on the football field,' " Lorinzo recalls. "That kind of let me know that he was not just out there playing around. He was a student of the game."
Foxworth inherited the analytical bent from his father, who insisted that every experience, good or bad, be probed for explanations and lessons. It wasn't enough to be happy about a win or sad about a loss. The Foxworths talked about why games had unfolded the way they had.
The family ate dinner together every night, and the Foxworths encouraged their boys to express opinions (even dissenting ones) about the household and the issues of the day. They traveled frequently and watched CNN together. If Karen and Lorinzo hit the streets to help register voters or paint a rundown school, they took their sons along.
But in their quest to produce well-rounded people, the Foxworths never discouraged Domonique's football dreams. In fact, they bristled along with him when a high school teacher said he should take a Duke scholarship because he would never make the NFL and would at least get a good education that way.
"We've never had the 'no, that's not possible' mentality," Lorinzo says.
Western Tech had a new and undistinguished football program when Foxworth arrived. But his talents as a running back, defensive back and kick returner fueled a rapid turnaround from a 1-9 record his sophomore year to 8-2 his junior year. He quickly became one of the area's top recruits and a key early signing in Ralph Friedgen's quest to rebuild Maryland football in 2000.
Foxworth lived up to expectations on the field, making 40 starts for the Terps and earning All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors twice. But he might have wowed teammates more off the field, where he graduated in 3 1/2 years. Friedgen quipped that Foxworth could run for governor.
