In this edition of Inspiration Sensations we celebrate the accomplishments of a young man that overcame many obstacles in his early life to become a successful football player in the NFL.
The story of Big Mike
As a young boy our player, Michael, was one of twelve children in a single parent home. His mother Denise had addictions to both drugs and alcohol. Michael's father was almost never seen by the boy due to multiple imprisonments. This is a bleak outlook for anyone at this point and Michael was going down the road of being a product of his environment. He was often unsupervised and much of the fundamental parental guidance he needed in his development was lacking in his life.
To say that the life of this youth was unstable is an understatement as he attended 11 different schools in 9 years! It was not his intelligence or IQ that forced him to have to repeat the 1st and second grades, as Michael was a smart kid, he merely did not receive the love, basic fundamentals of self discipline and daily life skills that most children received and it made him unsure of himself in the setting like the structured setting of the classroom. Michael seemed destined for a future of little or no hope.
A pivotal moment in Michael’s life came when he had a temporary living arrangement with a friend’s family who was trying to get their own son enrolled in a local Christain High School to play football. The father of this same family decided to enroll Michael as well as he was growing into a large strong frame. The matriarch of the family felt for the youth and bought him clothing, and accepted him into their family. "Big Mike" started to get a smile on his face and was gaining the support and structure he so long desired as a boy. His athletic talent and large frame helped to develop as a force on the gridiron as well. Does the story sound familiar?
Player reveal
There may be much to say of Michael Oher’s story as documented in the Sandra Bullock 2009 movie “The Blind Side”. The Blind Side was the film adaptation of a section of the Michael Lewis 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. But Mr. Oher, himself was disappointed with many of the portrayals of his life on the silver screen. There were dramatic details added to the script that were not totally accurate in Michael's opinion. One of those being that he seldom smiled. Those that know Mike say he is fun loving and often has a big grin on his face.
Though the movie and real life may not be in harmony the basic story of this young man, with the help of a caring family from the "other side of the tracks" is a true inspiration to us all. The will of Michael Oher to overcome all of the obstacles and short-comings dealt to him as youth to become the stud NFL Left Tackle truly made Michael Oher an Inspiration Sensation!
