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Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler runs a 40-yard sprint against Quartaveon Thomas Saturday during Butler's youth football camp. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler works with a group of players during a drill Saturday at his annual youth football camp. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler poses for a photo with Antonio Walker Jr. at the conclusion of Butler's annual youth football camp on Saturday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler throws a pass during a drill Saturday at his annual youth football camp. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler, center, sets the marker for a game of tug-of-war Saturday at his annual youth football camp. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Former NFL star and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler signs an autograph. at the conclusion of his annual youth football camp on Saturday. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

After he lost a footrace to high schooler Marquise Knight, former NFL star Malcolm Butler joked that he might have lost a step.

“It’s fun. But it made me realize I’m over the edge now. I feel it,” he said with a laugh.

The 34-year-old Butler might not be as fast as he once was, but the tradition he started in his hometown of Vicksburg is as popular as ever. Nearly 200 children in grades 1-12 turned out for the 10th annual Malcolm Butler Football Camp Saturday at Vicksburg High School’s Memorial Stadium.

Butler started the camp in 2015 following his rookie season with the New England Patriots. He kept it going throughout his NFL career, which lasted until 2022, and now beyond that. The former Vicksburg High star announced his retirement earlier this year.

“It makes my day,” Butler said. “Giving back to the community, inspiring these kids, and just trying to be a good role model — and getting a little exercise, too.”

PHOTO GALLERY: 10th annual Malcolm Butler Football Camp

Players attending the camp spent more than three hours Saturday morning going through drills that focused on football fundamentals. A few, like Knight, got to go one-on-one with Butler when he stepped in to run a pass route or a sprint.

Butler also threw passes to younger players during other drills and provided some pointers as he filtered among the different groups of players.

“When he comes out here it’s a good way to hype everybody up. We enjoy him trying to line up against us,” said Knight, a junior wide receiver with Vicksburg High’s football team.

Anthony Williams, a coach at Jefferson County Middle School and High School in Fayette, brought his son Anthony Jr. and nephew Vance Williams to the camp. He said he enjoys the different vibe it offers.

“This camp is different. They break down a bunch of drills, fundamentals, they have a lot of help and coaches. It’s a great camp where kids can come and they can learn,” Williams said. “A lot of camps don’t do a lot of individual techniques. It’s just a nice camp kids can always attend.”

For his part, Butler said he just enjoys giving back to his hometown. After 10 years, many players have grown up attending Butler’s camp each July and it has grown into an unofficial kickoff event to the football season. Mississippi’s high school teams, as well as youth programs like the Warren County Ravens, Vicksburg Packers and Port Gibson Titans — all of whom had coaches and players in attendance — will begin preseason practice in about two weeks.

“It’s very cool. I’ve seen kids grow over the summer and it’s a great thing. I must be doing something right if they come each and every year. It must be pretty fun to those guys, too,” Butler said.

Butler played the last of his 100 career NFL games in 2020 with the Tennessee Titans. He played in the preseason with the Arizona Cardinals in 2021 and New England Patriots in 2022, but not in the regular season. He officially announced his retirement in March.

Butler finished with 17 career interceptions, one Pro Bowl selection, a second-team All-Pro nod in 2016 and two Super Bowl championships.

His NFL legacy was set in stone during his very first season, however, when he famously intercepted Seattle’s Russell Wilson at the goal line in the final minute of Super Bowl XLIX. The interception secured New England’s 28-24 victory and is often regarded as one of the best plays in NFL history.

During his playing career, Butler said he was trying to be known for more than that one moment. As time has gone by, though, he’s come to appreciate and embrace it.

“It’s amazing. I’m really blessed. There’s guys that played 10, 15 years on practice squads or just in the NFL that don’t get that notarization of a guy that made one big play,” he said. “It was a real big play. But that’s cool that I’ll go down in NFL history.”

He’ll also go down in Vicksburg sports history as one of its most beloved figures. His rise from undrafted rookie to two-time Super Bowl champion with the Patriots inspired a generation of players in the city.

He said he hopes someone on the field Saturday is able to follow in his footsteps.

“I know it means a lot to the city of Vicksburg. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to these kids,” Butler said. “I always try to give it back and be a role model and inspire these guys that they can do whatever they want. Hopefully there’s another Malcolm Butler one of these days and I can pass the torch.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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