Auburn's Burrells honor son at Houston meet: 'He loved his family'

AUBURN, Ala. – By the time Cameron Burrell won the men’s 100m as a senior at the 2018 NCAA Championships, his coach – Cameron’s father Leroy Burrell – felt like his son was overdue.

“Oddly enough, it felt like a long time coming,” said the Auburn track and field coach, noting that Cameron ran the fastest time in prelims as a freshman at NCAA Indoors and contended for NCAA individual titles on multiple occasions. “He’d been really close.”

Finally, in his last collegiate meet, Cameron, whose parents were both Olympic gold-medalists, finished atop the podium.

“A culmination of a lot of work. A lot of tough days and difficult times for him, competitively,” Leroy Burrell said. “I was very proud of him.”

While celebrating his son’s accomplishment, Leroy, who coached at the University of Houston for 23 seasons before coming to the Plains in 2022, lamented the Cougars’ close call in the team standings.

“As a dad, I was really happy but as the coach, I was like, ‘How are we going to figure this out and try to pull this thing out?’” recalled Burrell, whose men’s team finished third.

By becoming the NCAA 100m champion, Cameron joined the exclusive club to which his father and mother both belong. Michelle Finn-Burrell won the 100m for Florida State at the 1985 NCAA Championships and Leroy won the NCAA 100m title in 1990, to go along with NCAA indoor long jump championships in 1989 and 1990, making the Burrells the only mother-father-son trio to win 100m NCAA titles.

“One of his proudest moments,” recalled Michelle Burrell. “He was so happy at that moment.”

“It was a little bittersweet but when the dust cleared, I was very happy that he won an NCAA championship and very proud of him because I don’t know there are many father-son duos that have been able to do it,” Leroy Burrell said. 

In 2018, Cameron ran 100 meters in 9.93 seconds, beating his dad’s Houston program record by one-hundredth of a second.

“Cameron showed all the signs that he had all the tools and the ability to be a world-class sprinter,” Burrell said. “We were looking forward to the opportunity for him to live out that dream because that’s something he always wanted to do.”

Leroy and Michelle are considering ways to honor Cameron, who died by suicide in August of 2021 at the age of 26.

Burrell’s Tigers will compete Friday in the Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational at the University of Houston, Cameron and Leroy’s alma mater.

“I’m honored & grateful that UH would name the alumni meet in Cameron’s honor, one of many ways we can keep his spirit alive,” Michelle Burrell said. “I miss him every single day.”

“Cameron ushered in that era in our program at Houston track and field where it probably exceeded its highest point,” Leroy Burrell said.

While honored by the gesture, Houston’s outreach in September 2022 to ask the family’s permission to rename the alumni meet reinforced the enduring pain of Cameron’s absence.

“Another reminder that my son is gone,” said Leroy Burrell, who consented after conferring with Michelle and former colleagues at Houston. “It’s going to be a really emotional week.”

The schedule lined up so that Burrell could take his first Auburn team to the meet. Auburn sport psychologist Dr. Jack Howard accompanied the Tigers to Texas, with Auburn and Houston seeking to emphasize the importance of student-athlete mental health.

“We need to be concerned about the health and welfare of student-athletes because you never know what they’re going through and there’s a lot of pressure,” Leroy Burrell said. “A lot of kids are not prepared for the struggle and disappointment that can come with being a student-athlete, and we need to help them through that process.”

Leroy Burrell calls track and field “the ultimate performance sport,” noting “you’ve got nothing but you” when competing. While bringing a gold-medal focus to performance, the Auburn coach is mindful that the vast majority of collegiate track and field student-athletes will not make it to the podium at NCAAs.  

“We’ve got to help our athletes realize their self-worth is not wrapped up in whether they won a championship,” he said. “Did you make the most out of it? Were you effective? Are you the best version of you when your time was called? We’ve got to help them to learn to be okay with that.”

Determined to repurpose their pain to try to help other children, parents and athletes who may be struggling, the Burrells are warming to sharing Cameron’s story.

“Cameron was one of the most amazing sons and young men a mother could ask for and so are his brothers (Joshua and Jaden),” Michelle Burrell said. “The three of them, all with unique talents of their own. We never set out to raise athletes; we just wanted to raise young men who were God-fearing, respectable, loving and kind who lived by the Golden rule.  

“I wish the world could have known him for the human being he was.  He really would give you the shirt off his back.”

“Cameron was a fierce competitor and an amazing teammate,” Leroy Burrell said. “Very unselfish. Willing to share the spotlight with his team and take a backseat. He was a quiet kid and he loved his family. His family loves him too.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer