A feel good "All American" NFL story...

[AndyMarquisLive]

Here's the story of Jeris Pendleton, 28 year old NFL rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was on food stamps struggling to feed his family this time one year ago.

What he knows is that it is a story he will proudly teach his sons. As they grow up, he will teach them that “too late” is a misunderstood term and “too old” is a phrase they can define for themselves. He will teach them that they can make their lives into whatever they want, but they can’t do it without work, without determination or without the willingness to sacrifice.​

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He will teach them that some days sacrifice will seem too much, the goal will seem distant and it will feel like a fog has descended around them, obscuring their paths. And in those moments, he will teach them not to turn around.​

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Because he didn’t.​

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Back when Jeris Pendleton and his now-wife Ashanti made barely enough money for the clothes their children needed, back when they needed food stamps to feed their family and had monthly struggles to pay their bills living on the south side of Chicago, Jeris examined his life. One thing dominated his thoughts.​

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2012-07-14/story/jaguars-jeris-pendleton-28-year-old-rookie-following-path#ixzz20hg14FDA​

Very few stories like this anymore in sports. It seems, in life in general, once someone falls in to poverty, no matter what they do to get themselves out, they're stuck there. So much of today's NFL consists of great players who were only discovered because they went to the right high school or were lucky enough to be spotted by scouts and then got a free ride to college right in to a huge NFL contract.

 

[buckaroo]

Here's the story of Jeris Pendleton, 28 year old NFL rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was on food stamps struggling to feed his family this time one year ago.

What he knows is that it is a story he will proudly teach his sons. As they grow up, he will teach them that “too late” is a misunderstood term and “too old” is a phrase they can define for themselves. He will teach them that they can make their lives into whatever they want, but they can’t do it without work, without determination or without the willingness to sacrifice.​

​

He will teach them that some days sacrifice will seem too much, the goal will seem distant and it will feel like a fog has descended around them, obscuring their paths. And in those moments, he will teach them not to turn around.​

​

Because he didn’t.​

​

Back when Jeris Pendleton and his now-wife Ashanti made barely enough money for the clothes their children needed, back when they needed food stamps to feed their family and had monthly struggles to pay their bills living on the south side of Chicago, Jeris examined his life. One thing dominated his thoughts.​

​

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2012-07-14/story/jaguars-jeris-pendleton-28-year-old-rookie-following-path#ixzz20hg14FDA​

Very few stories like this anymore in sports. It seems, in life in general, once someone falls in to poverty, no matter what they do to get themselves out, they're stuck there. So much of today's NFL consists of great players who were only discovered because they went to the right high school or were lucky enough to be spotted by scouts and then got a free ride to college right in to a huge NFL contract.

Andy, we've had many movies about such things, but that's another story. Today's top athletes mostly do come from college sports and they get a ride in college because they were good in high school. Even the poorest of kids can go to high school and many of those kids strive to do not just well, but the best so that they can get a free ride in college so they can showcase themselves to become a pro. Many if not most, of the kids in the NFL and NBA didn't finish college these days and only used their free ride to show what they have. Don't think that the colleges only look at the right high schools for scholarships. If a kid shows talent in Podunk, USA, they will get recruited by many schools. Granted, those schools might not be top dog schools, but look at the kids in the pros and see how many of them went to small schools.