OU's Chris Brown: Overcoming any obstacle
BY GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Sunday, August 23, 2009
8/23/09 at 6:54 AM
Some play sports as a career. Others make it a diversion. For Oklahoma senior running back Chris Brown, it was a matter of survival.
"The area I grew up in wasn't ideal," said Brown, a native of Alexandria, La. "You really don't see a lot of people trying to be productive."
According to city-data.com, 26 percent of Alexandria residents fell below the poverty line as recently as 2007. Brown overcame because of his family.
"My mom paved the way for me growing up," he said. "I also give a lot of credit to my real father and my stepfather. I made the best of my situation."
And because of sports.
"My uncle, who played high school football, introduced me to football when I was seven," Brown said. "My mom agreed to let me play one year, and it really just turned me around. I stuck with that so hard. I never gave it up.
"When I grew up, a lot of the people who played ball with me gave it up and went different routes. I feel like God set me to stick with it, and I stuck with it all my life."
When it wasn't football, it was basketball, track or baseball.
"I was a pitcher and I played shortstop, a little centerfield," Brown said. "I could do it all, really."
He did it all, really, and that helped put him on a path out of Alexandria, to big-time college football.
Associated Images:
STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World
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