Barry Sanders: Journey from Childhood to Stardom

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Before Barry Sanders could become the star he was in college and in the NFL, he had to go through his childhood. On July 16, 1968, he was born. Born into a 13- person home, Barry Sanders grew up well raised by his parents. His mother was Shirley, and she was a registered nurse. His father, William, raised his kids to be hard workers. Barry and his two other brothers helped his father all the time. As a carpenter and roofer, there were many jobs around the house that William Sanders could do, and he always had his three sons help. All three sons were pressed into service as roofer assistants by their father. This improved Barry’s work ethic and attitude. Then, on Sundays, the Sanders family went to church. Although, Barry was considered a bully …show more content…

He wasn’t starting at running back because of Thurman Thomas, who would later go on to be a star in the NFL. Even though Barry was in this situation, he still continued to work as hard as he possibly could in both his school work and football career. He studied nonstop and was shocked by the high demands from a Division One school. In an interview with “Sporting News” after he had completed college, Barry said, “I remember my freshman year we didn’t have any days off. I couldn’t believe it, and it never got any better. They pretended [football] wasn’t the main thing you were there for, but you were doing to 50 or 60 hours a week. I fell behind in my schoolwork” (Mueller 1). When Barry wasn’t studying or doing school work, he was always trying to get better. Coming into college in the fall, he was very small, only about 5’8, 170-175 pounds. With all the lifting and other workouts, he was up to 200 pounds by Christmas Break. He was all legs. With all the hard work, Barry finally got playing time his sophomore year. He returned punts and kickoffs. In his first game doing this in the 1987 season, Barry returned a 100 yard kickoff for a touchdown. At the end of his sophomore season, he led the nation in kickoff and punt returns. Then his junior football season came around, and he finally made his start at tailback. Once again, Barry shocked everybody in just his first few starts being the first to rush for 300 yards in his first 4 games. By the end of the season, he had broken a total of 13 records including most touchdowns with 39, most yards with 2,628, and yards per game with 295.5. Barry’s hard work in the the past three years payed off as he won the Heisman Trophy his junior year in 1988. Interestingly, Barry had to recieve the award via satellite he was in Tokyo preparing for his next game against Texas Tech. He was only the eighth junior to ever win the

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