SMU defensive tackle Demerick Gary takes pride in being from Dallas. It’s in his blood, he says. He has so much love for his city that he has its name tattooed on his leg. After all, it was the city that Gary was born in, the city that he was raised in. And at the end of the day, he’s got to represent.

“There’s greatness coming out of Dallas,” Gary said. “Dallas is a big time city. It really means something dear to my heart, just this city alone. It made me who I am.”

But when Gary is talking about Dallas, he’s not talking about the Park Cities, where he lives and plays football for SMU. He’s talking about the area of Dallas where he is from: Oak Cliff.

He holds a lot of love for that neighborhood. It’s where he grew up, where he played high school football and first made a name for himself. And when he’s back there, he feels at home.

“When people talk about Oak Cliff they say it’s the hood and it’s the bad part of Dallas,” Gary said. “But there’s greatness there. There’s love there. Whenever I’m in Oak Cliff, I get nothing but love from people in the area. People want to see me and whoever else from that area just do great things.”

“If you don’t know, find out”

Indeed, North Dallas and South Dallas, where Oak Cliff is located, are very different. For one, the two parts of the city are split along racial lines. North of Interstate 30, the traditional dividing line between the two parts of the city, Dallas is mostly white. South of the Interstate, it’s mostly home to people of color.

At Kimball High School, Gary’s alma mater, 99 percent of the student body comes from a minority background. Eighty-five percent of the student body is economically disadvantaged. It’s an area not often traversed from those North Dallas dwellers and he thinks that could be part of the problem. People don’t see the Oak Cliff that he does, and they don’t see the sense of community that its residents have.

“In one of my journalism classes we talked about stereotypes,” Gary said. “I think Oak Cliff is a big time stereotyped part of Dallas. You know, there’s crime that goes on there, there’s things that go on there that people aren’t always so proud of, but there’ve been great people to come out of Oak Cliff."

“A lot of people have this stereotype and they truly just don’t know. They’re just going off of what people have said or told them or things that they saw on the news or how the news portrays Oak Cliff. But if you don’t know, find out.”

Even in his personal life, Gary seeks to prove that those stereotypes aren’t accurate. He wants to show people that even though he’s from Oak Cliff, even though he’s from an economically disadvantaged part of town, he can still be whoever he wants to be. He can still do whatever he wants to do, and he’s not going to let anything hold him back.

"If you sit down and talk to me, you wouldn’t think that this guy is a thug or this guy is hood or anything like that," Gary said. "But at the same time I’m not ever faking or fronting about where I’m from. I’m true and dear. If anyone asks me, I’m from Dallas: specifically Oak Cliff. I’ve never not claimed it because of what people may think about me because of where I’m from.”

A Way Out

South Dallas is a football hotbed. Roughly 90 percent of the football recruits in the city of Dallas come from the area.

In the area, as in any economically-disadvantaged communities, kids look to sports as a way out. They see it as a ticket to a better future, one in which they can forge a better life for them and their families. The competition becomes fierce. Kids are hungry to prove that they have the talent to compete on the next level.

Some make it and some don’t. Oftentimes, life gets in the way, and the guys that have the most talent don’t make it out. Gary knows plenty of guys like that.

“I always tell people the best players aren’t in college,” he said. “The best players aren’t in D-1 colleges where they’re supposed to be. There may be crazy circumstances that happen, but at the end of the day that area has some really great guys.”

Gary had been playing football since he was little. At the age of four, he served as a mascot for his uncle’s football team. Later on, he played in Deion Sanders’ football league. When he matriculated to Kimball High School, he started to turn heads. He realized that it was his way out, and he embraced it.

When he thought about playing college football, he thought about playing at a school far away from Dallas. He didn’t want to stay close to home. He wanted to go out and play ball somewhere where he could see a different part of the country. He dreamed about going to Tennessee and donning the orange and white, but they never came calling.