He came out of the meanest streets of Miami, the ones in Liberty City that murdered his father, sent a brother to prison and killed three siblings by AIDS, each one the result of a crack-cocaine addiction.
You think Randy Shannon's a bit of an upset today as the University of Miami's newly named football coach?
That doesn't begin to tell the upset Shannon has been in life.
At every age, he has overcome more than most of us have ever faced. At 3, his father was murdered while trying to break up an argument. At 16, he became a father himself. At 22, he was the first in his family to earn a college degree.
At 23, he was an 11th-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys and became their first rookie linebacker to start since their expansion days.
At 25, his sister, Joanna, died of AIDS. Two brothers soon followed. A third brother wallowed in drugs to the point he stole Randy's identity, plunging his life into such a chaos that he had to carry around special identification to prove that he really was Randy Shannon.
At 40, he's Miami's new coach.
There's no way you can't root for him, if not for his school colors then for his life story. What's the saying about nature's cruel law? "Crush 1,000 men and 999 may die but the one who lives will be special."
