Derrick Ward’s route from South Central to huge NFL pay day was anything but a straight line. Ward grew up in the notorious South Central area of Los Angeles. In a great piece by Martin Fennelly in the Tampa Tribune, the new Bucs running back tells how he could’ve ended up dead and laments the loss of a close friend. Ward says that he even carried a .22 pistol around with him while he was growing up.
Luckily, Ward was able to escape the violence of his neighborhood. But it wasn’t easy. His first attempt at going to school failed and he ended up as a production assistant on the set of “Friends.” Shortly thereafter, he enrolled at Ottawa University in Kansas. He went on to star at the NAIA school before being drafted in the 7th round by the Jets. Ward’s story is truly amazing, so you should check out the full article at the Tampa Tribune.
Via Tampa Tribune:
Bucs’ Who wouldn’t want this life? Derrick Ward, the Bucs’ big offseason acquisition at running back, has a contract that’s worth $17 million.
He has a big house in South Tampa with a big pool. He has been seen out on the town – well not this town – with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian.
“Khloe’s a friend, a friend,” Ward said.
He was a 1,000-yard rusher last season. He was the King of New York for one night last December. The 5-11, 228-pound Ward powered the New York Giants past the Carolina Panthers in a crucial game on national TV. Ward was unstoppable, going for 215 yards on just 15 carries.
“It was our Michael Jordan moment,” he said. “Everybody kept telling Coach [Tom] Coughlin to keep giving me the ball. I wasn’t talking to nobody. I wasn’t looking at nobody. I was just focused.”
The next day, a New York tabloid featured a cartoon of superheroes Superman and Batman looking at Ward. Superman whispers to Batman, “Hey, who’s the new guy?”
Derrick Ward, the Bucs’ new guy, friendly, soft spoken, just celebrated his 29th birthday last Sunday.
“You know, growing up, I didn’t even think I’d live to be 21,” he said.
He’ll tell young kids that when he talks to them, when he tries to reach them. He usually does. The at-risk youngsters, they start out seeing dollars and fame, but Ward will tell them what they’ve been through is nothing, nothing.
“I tell them I got a graduate degree. We originated all this. Where I came from, we invented the ‘hood.”
He comes from the killing fields of South Central Los Angeles, four words so linked gang with violence and utter hopelessness that the city of Los Angeles changed the name of the area to South Los Angeles. That didn’t change South Central.
Tags: derrick ward, football, los angeles, NFL, south central, tampa bay buccaneers
