It began as a sophomore in high school when I moved in with my father in Booneville, MS. I was nearly the last player to pick a football jersey after the chaos of upper classmen snatching their desired numbers. Only two numbers were left for the ‘new-kid’ … #9 and #82. Since I was a wide-receiver and the other remaining underclassman was a fullback, I got #82 by default. Luckily, something remarkable happened. In the first game with my new school, I managed to get two touches in my very first varsity game that both resulted in touchdowns. The magic of that season didn’t stop there. We marched our way to the Big House in Jackson, MS and won the 2A MHSAA State Championship.
As I progressed in my football career and received many high school accolades, I was blessed enough to play at NCAA Division III Millsaps College. However, while at Millsaps I was thwarted from my lucky charm number since a player one year older than me, was also #82. So for three seasons, I wore the next best thing, #28. Although I managed to accumulate three All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) awards, our team performed very poorly. Then, as a senior, I was finally allowed to use the #82 again. After starting the season 0-3 in non-conference games, we went on a 7 game winning streak and managed to win the SCAC for the school for the first time since 1996, which gave us an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1980.
After that magical season, I went to graduate school, got my Ph.D. in organic chemistry and settled into real-life. Then, last year, I was able to participate in a sprint car race as #90 and finished second to last, but made my first career pass! As the 2015 season approached, #82 in the Sprint Series of Texas became free and we transferred our car to my lucky charm number. As expected, in my first heat race with my badge of courage proudly displayed on my car, we won our very first race of the season. To date, in our second season of racing, we are having a lot of fun and looking forward to the future of our team.