Today’s story on Ken McRoyal, slain University of Idaho football player, was a sad one to do. But it was also a remarkable tale, I thought as I was doing it.
The story was really about how a kid was coming into the world from real isolation of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, first, after the hurricane, to the Samoan community of Carson, then to the virtually all-white world of the school in Moscow, Idaho.
As I spoke to those who knew him well, I came to feel that even if he didn’t make it in the NFL, which, given his size, was a real longshot, he was going to find a way in life, motivated by the love for his daughter and a feeling, gained as he matured and saw new things in life, that he was capable of a lot.
It was, it seemed to me, a story about what college sports should be about, which is showing youths what they can achieve if they put in the effort — not shoe contracts, but a decent life.
Photo Credit: University of Idaho
