Jul 10, 2009 5:19 pm US/Pacific
Eddie Williams: Kick-Off To Life
Football scholar rising from poverty to NFL
Jesse Rosenberg
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Playing college football is a reality for only some talented athletes. But very few of them ever make it to the NFL. Eddie Williams is one of them. A recent graduate from the University of Idaho, he was drafted to the NFL for the Washington Redskins.
"It's pretty exciting," Eddie said. "When you get to a classy organization like the Redskins, they treat you with respect. The coaches treat you like a man, and to see men operate in a way that's not childish is great."
As for the fame, Eddie laughs. "I get a little bit of it. I went to Wal-Mart in Virginia and I got bombarded for autographs. It's weird because you're a rookie; you're 7th round pick, your full back. You're not the guy that's the star quarterback but it still doesn't matter."
But what makes Eddie Williams different from the rest of those NFL players is his story.
Life was turbulent in the crime stricken neighborhood in Vallejo when he grew up. His father was in and out of his life. His single mother worked hard to pay the bills for Eddie and his sister.
He'd come back after school to find his home vandalized—couches torn up, condiments splattered everywhere, electronics demolished to pieces. It was a nightmare.
"I would just wonder if my PlayStation, my TV, and my microwave would be at home when I got back from school," Eddie said.
Finally, his mom decided to make it mandatory to pack up all their valuables to take with them before leaving the house every morning.
From his Student Rising Above Essay he writes about his cry for desperation.
"When you want something bad enough to steal, when you can't find money to pay the bills, when you feel like you've had it up here, when you're mad enough to scream but you're sad enough to tear that is rock bottom."
It did not stop there. A few years later, his mother died of cancer. She was the one who inspired him to rise above and be all that he could be.
"I want you to do well. I want you to be successful in life. She told me that. I really took it to heart."
Eddie and his sister went to live with their Aunt in San Mateo, where he enrolled at Aragon High School.
"She was my mother when my mother passed away. I had never had anything stable in my life and she brought that to me," Eddie said of his Aunt.
He was a national honors scholar and talented athlete. Eddie lettered in football, basketball and track. But his heart was in football. He won a full-ride scholarship to the University of Idaho.
His high school football coach once told him that you must develop your own sense of self and own it. This statement has stayed with him in and off the field.
"You tell yourself you can't do it, your not going to be successful, you won't be. It's the people that tell themselves that they can do it and they will," he said.
You can see Eddie take the field this season on December 13th against the Oakland Raiders.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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