Rumson’s Carson Memmott endured tragedy and injury to become the Bulldogs’ do-it-all playmaker
On the surface, Rumson-Fair Haven’s 34-7 win over Middletown South during the regular season looked like just another blowout in the Bulldogs’ relentless drive to return to the NJSIAA Group 2 final for a third straight season.
For Carson Memmott, it was a night he won’t forget.
The do-it-all Rumson senior endured the tragic loss of his father as a sophomore, and then had his junior season cut short thanks to a broken leg. He still had yet to find the end zone as a varsity player when the Bulldogs traveled to “The Swamp” to face the Eagles.
The game was on Sept. 27, two days before the two-year anniversary of the death of his father, David Memmott. On the fourth play of the game, Memmott, who plays safety, stepped in front of a pass and took it 40 yards to the house for a pick-six and his first varsity touchdown.
After being swarmed by his teammates, he pointed to the sky in memory of his father.
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“It meant so much,” Memmott said. “It was a more-than-football moment, and I knew that he guided me through that part.”
“I was so happy for him,” his mother, Debbie Memmott, said. “He’s so humble. He digs so deep and you don’t even know it. He can do anything.”
Not only did the moment have personal meaning for a player who writes “Dad” on one of his arms before every game, it showed Memmott’s value to the Bulldogs. After he returned the interception for a score, he kicked the extra point and then knocked the ensuing kickoff into the end zone for a touchback.
“It was so cool to see those three things he does right in a row,” Rumson coach Jeremy Schulte said. “It was really incredible.”
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound senior has become a playmaking Swiss Army knife for the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Insider rankings. He has 11 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown as a wide receiver, four interceptions, a fumble recovery and two pick-sixes as a defensive back, and a school single-season record 63 extra points to go with four field goals as a kicker.
If the Bulldogs fulfill their mission and beat Shabazz on Wednesday at Rutgers University to win their first Group 2 title and finish undefeated, it’s a good bet Memmott will have a hand in it.
“He’s an athlete,” star senior quarterback Owen O’Toole said. “He’ll do it all, and he’s got the attributes to do it.”
A crushing loss
Memmott can remember doing deadlifts in the school weight room during a free period near the end of the day in September 2022 when Rumson-Fair Haven assistant coach Joe Murphy said his mother called and was coming to school to see him. Memmott, who is the third oldest of six children ranging in age from 13 to 32, was confused about why she didn’t just wait for school to be over.
“My mom picks us up, and she breaks the news to us,” Memmott said. “It’s obviously news you never want to hear.”
“I knew that I had to prioritize,” Debbie Memmott said. “No. 1 was the kids. I have put my head down and done the best I could to keep our family going.”
David Memmott, 62, was killed in a one-car crash on the Garden State Parkway at 10 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2022, when his Ford F-150 impacted a guardrail on an exit ramp and overturned near the Jon Bon Jovi Service Area in Sayreville, state police said.
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The father of six was a Rumson-Fair Haven graduate, successful Wall Street executive and former Division I soccer player who coached many of his kids’ youth teams and always encouraged them to be active in sports. Not only is Carson a three-sport athlete, so is his sister, Rumson junior Chase Memmott, who committed to William & Mary for lacrosse in October.
“He gave me that love for sports,” Memmott said. “He was by far my biggest fan. He was as humble as they come. He never talked about himself. He was super successful his whole life, but he was classy, super funny, and made everyone around him happier. He was a great friend and an amazing dad.”
“He was an easygoing guy,” Debbie Memmott said. “The funniest person you would ever meet. He was incredible at his job, and as a dad. He was so easy to be around. He was always giving the kids a pat on the back and slipping in advice, and I know they heard it all.”
His loss reverberated across the Rumson-Fair Haven community.
“It was personal for all of us,” O’Toole said. “He was a really great guy.”
David’s wake at John E. Day Funeral Home in Red Bank overflowed with people he impacted in all facets of his life.
“The people at the funeral home said it was the most people they had ever seen,” Memmott said. “People came from all around. Plus, we had our entire community coming to our house and people driving 90 minutes just to come see our family.”
Memmott was out of school for about two weeks as he tried to process the loss, but his football teammates were there to lift his spirits.
“I was only a sophomore on the team, but those guys made it seem like if I needed anything – a ride, food, anything – they always had me covered,” he said.
He said his mother, who was married to David for 21 years, has been indispensable after such an incalculable loss.
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“My mom is a remarkable woman,” he said. “She’s the most important person in my life right now. My mom and dad, they showed me how to persevere.”
“You could not ask for a better son,” Debbie Memmott said. “He is so kind, and he would do anything for you.”
He also has talked about losing his father with Schulte, whose dad Jerry, a Hall of Fame football coach at Wall and Rumson-Fair Haven, died at 72 in March.
“Losing my dad sucked at 36, I couldn’t imagine at 16,” Schulte said. “(Carson) and I have talked about that connection. He never once dipped his head or was like, ‘Woe is me.’ It doesn’t get easier as time goes on.”
A bad break
After enduring tragedy as a sophomore, Memmott faced a painful setback on the field as a junior.
The Bulldogs were playing Marlboro in their seventh game last season when Memmott went up for a ball in the end zone in the second quarter while playing wide receiver. When he came down, the knee of a Marlboro defender crashed on top off Memmott’s right leg and cracked his fibula.
“I’m sitting on the ground, I can feel something’s wrong down there, and I got up to walk, and it shoots up my leg, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s not good,’” he said.
Rumson-Fair Haven senior Carson Memmott has endured the loss of his father and a season-ending injury to enjoy a breakout senior season for the undefeated Bulldogs as they look to win the NJSIAA Group 2 title. (Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com)
Fueled by adrenaline, he somehow limped back a few steps on the next play and booted a 21-yard field goal with a broken leg.
“It will be a cool dad story when I’m older,” he said before laughing. “Every time I tell it, the kick will get longer. It will be like, ‘Oh, it was a 50-yarder.’”
The next morning, a doctor diagnosed the broken fibula. Memmott ended up missing Rumson’s run to the Group 2 final, where it lost a 21-20 overtime heartbreaker to Westwood to come up just short of the ultimate prize for the second straight season. He rehabbed the injury to return for basketball season and then competed in the high jump on the track team during the spring.
All over the field
During Memmott’s senior season this fall, Schulte has used him on both sides of the ball and special teams after he played wide receiver as a junior.
“He’s probably the best overall athlete on the team, so we thought, ‘Let’s see how he is as a safety,’” Schulte said. “He took to it right away. He knows all the coverages.”
He also has been a weapon as the team’s kicker, where he is among the state leaders in extra points on 63-for-67 accuracy for the Shore Conference’s highest-scoring offense. He also is 4-for-5 on field goal attempts.
In Rumson’s 44-10 win over Point Boro in the Group 2 semifinals, he was responsible for 19 points with three field goals, four extra points and a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“It’s funny because my dad knew I didn’t want to be just a kicker, so he would’ve teased me about that game,” Memmott said. “If he would introduce me to some buddy, he would say, ‘He plays football, he’s the kicker.’ He would’ve loved that game with the field goals and extra points and kickoffs. I just wish he was there so I could give him a hug, and he could rib me about being the kicker.”
Rumson is now on the cusp of history, as it enters the Group 2 final ranked No. 6 in the state by NJ Advance Media, while Shabazz is unranked. The stage is set for the greatest season of Bulldogs football to be completed with a Group title.
“Last year our whole motto was that we were the underdog, but this year we love being on top,” Memmott said. “I have 100% confidence we’re walking away with that thing.”
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David Memmott and Jerry Schulte will certainly be on the minds of their sons as they get set to play one of the biggest games in Rumson football history. A win would give the Bulldogs their first unbeaten season since going 7-0-2 in 1959.
“It’s definitely something that’s on my mind. How could it not be?” Schulte said about his father. “There’s a few parallels there (between Schulte and Memmott), but we don’t try to get wrapped up in it too much. We just appreciate the moments.”
“Him not being at my games, that’s something I do notice, and I do miss,” Carson said about his father. “I say a little prayer before the game, and it makes me feel good knowing he’s with me.”
Scott Stump is a freelance reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
You can contact Scott at [email protected]
