One of the biggest stars on the US Olympic team is former Georgia Bulldog and current shot put monster Reese Hoffa. (Image: SI.com) On top of being what seems like a hell of a nice guy, he's the kind of person you pull for in life.
When he was four years old, his mother put him and his brother in an orphanage after they accidentally burned the house down while playing with matches. Let that one sink in for a minute the next time you think you had a tough day. Here's an excerpt from ESPN the Magazine:
When Hoffa was 4, his birth mother, Diana Chism, put him and 6-year-old brother, Lamont, in an orphanage after the siblings burned down their house in Louisville playing with a lighter. Reese was soon adopted by Cathy and Steve Hoffa, who lived with their four kids on a farm in Bardstown, Ky., but Lamont stayed behind.The story of his rise from such a tragic situation to emerge as a dominating world class athlete is incredible. He is one of the most amazing stories in the games. By the way...he can throw a 16 pound ball 73 feet. Wow.
The younger boy missed his brother but was afraid he'd be sent back if he complained. He was also the only black kid around, one so introverted and unsure of himself that after a year, Cathy asked if he'd like to change his name as a way to shake things up. And so Maurice Antawn Chism became Michael Reese Hoffa, beginning a process of reinvention that leaped ahead after the Hoffas moved to Georgia and Reese fell in love with sports. "It was the only thing that was genuinely mine," he says.
Reese on Leno...
Here are some headlines to check out:
- Bulldogs Well Represented at Olympics - Georgiadogs.com
- Coming Full Circle - ESPN The Magazine
- The Guy You Pull For - BulldawgBlawg
- Your New Favourite Olympian - New Zealand TV
- Shot Put Heard Round the World - Georgia Magazine
- Work Ethic Sticks as Hoffa Soars - Augusta Chronicle
- A Proud Father - Augusta TV
5 comments:
That's awesome. You gotta love a story like that. My friends are going to think I'm freak for trying to find the shot put medal results in August.
I'm curious, has anyone compiled a list of all SEC athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics? I think it's great that UGA is so well represented, but I would like to be sure to root for all our conference men and women.
I went to high school with Reese, and none of what you see is a "character" created by ESPN just to help them have a story line. This guy is as genuinely nice a person as you'll meet.
Here is another story/profile of Reese from the recent Georgia magazine.
http://www.uga.edu/gm/artman/publish/0806hoffa.html
I knew reese in college, he lived with a friend of mine. He was a great guy and constantly was solving Rubik's Cubes.
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