THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY MATT DANIELS
ABOVE: Tim Lee talks about the history of Oakwood Football, having been a former administrator for the school district, at their home in rural Danville.
RURAL DANVILLE — Cameron Lee remembers getting the text message from Chicago Bears college scouting coordinator Bobby Macedo.
He needed to meet with Lee before practice at Halas Hall, the Bears’ training facility in Lake Forest.
It was a mid-May morning in 2018. Lee, then 24 years old, had his sights set on making the Bears’ 53-man roster for the upcoming season. The offensive lineman had just bought a townhouse in Gurnee. Had signed a contract with the Bears after playing in two games late during the 2017 season.
His fiancee and high school sweetheart from Oakwood, Matte, had just graduated from Illinois State University and moved up to the Chicago suburbs with him.
Then, what he thought his immediate future would provide came to an abrupt halt.
The Bears were releasing him.
“It was terrible,” Lee said.
Cameron Lee recounts the moment more than eight years later, on a picturesque early August summer evening standing in the backyard of his parents’ house. Matte is now his wife of seven years.
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