Years before the touchdowns, record-breaking seasons and accolades, football star Jimmy Graham was just a kid from Goldsboro, N.C. But he wasn’t your average kid, and his childhood was far from ordinary. His path to the pros was paved with hardship, resilience and dogged determination.
At the age of 11, Graham moved into a state-run group home, where he was bullied and beaten up by older kids before a youth counselor adopted him and showed him love for the first time. His grades improved from F’s to A’s, and he earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Miami. He graduated with a double major in marketing and business management and stayed on campus an extra year to take graduate classes and play his one and only season of college football before being drafted by the NFL.