If you grew up in Warren County, spent any time here, or ever followed the local sports scene, you’ve heard of Carl Blue.

The former Warren Central running back is often mentioned in reverent tones of awe as one of the best, if not the single greatest, football player to ever come from here. He rushed for 4,196 yards and 45 touchdowns while leading Warren Central to a couple of undefeated seasons in the late 1970s.

Blue died earlier this month at the age of 56 in his adopted home state of Tennessee. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 3 p.m., at King Solomon Baptist Church, 180 Oak Ridge Road.

Dozens of friends and family are expected to attend the service. Former coaches will speak and a proclamation from the Mayor and Board of Aldermen will be read in his honor. If it seems like a lot for a former high school football star who lived the second half of his life in a different state, it’s not.

His football legend and stat line understate what Blue was and will always be. He was, all at once, a local legend, a tragedy, a cautionary tale of wasted potential, and ultimately a remarkable and inspiring redemption story.

Blue’s face was scarred in a fire at a young age, and he lost his parents as a teenager. He funneled his pain and angst into football, where hundreds of people cheered for him every Friday night.

He went on to play at Jackson State, but his pain eventually overwhelmed him when football was no longer available. He turned to drugs — “I was on crack for a little bit. Five or six months,” he said in an interview last year — before turning to God and straightening his life out.

Blue was sober for 30 years before he died. He had had health issues in recent years — glaucoma took his sight, a stroke his mobility — but never seemed angry about it. Talking to him, you immediately understood he was a man not only at peace with his demons, but one who knew it was a dark path he had to walk to make it.

“I had to go through what I went through,” he said last year. “Some people have to get to the bottom before they can submit to God.”

Now, Carl Blue is with God. I’m not sure he’ll be playing for Heaven’s football team. He seemed to have happily left that well in the past. It’ll have to settle for having a great man who won’t soon be forgotten down here.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com