Trent Richardson overcame a tough upbringing and doctors telling him he'd never run again en route to reaching the NFL.
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Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain DealerTrent Richardson has set a clear goal for his NFL career. "I want to be the best running back ever to play the game," he said. "I want to make a difference in the community and never put myself first." BEREA, Ohio -- When Trent Richardson wasn't dodging bullets in his hometown of Pensacola, Fla., he was trying to prove wrong the doctors who told him he'd never run again and cope with being a dad at 16.
At one point, after his second ankle surgery and with a baby girl in his arms, he nearly gave up the game he loved so much. Luckily for the Browns, he didn't.
"It's a miracle that I've gotten to this point," he said. "Now that I'm here, I want to be remembered as the most dominant player to ever play the game."
Richardson grew up in the crime-ridden Warrington section of Pensacola, where drugs and death were common to kids.
"Most kids in my neighborhood don't make it to the age of 18," said Richardson. "Most are either in jail or dead. My brothers and I lost a lot of friends."
Richardson's mom, Katrina, sometimes worked three and four jobs to care for her three boys, Terrence, now 27, Terrell, 25, and Trent, 20. Their dad, Johnny Hale, wasn't around. A boxer with Olympic aspirations, Hale's dream ended when he was shot. He eventually died of lung cancer when Richardson was in 10th grade.
Katrina did what she could to make ends meet, working in restaurants, cleaning houses, working in old folks' homes and running her own daycare. She also helped raise nieces and nephews, and anyone in the neighborhood that needed a home.
"Sometimes we'd have eight kids at the same time," she said. "But I'd do anything for the kids."
Katrina kept her boys out of trouble with sports. Richardson started playing football at the age of six, and by the time he was in junior high, he was already becoming "The Beast" that would later be his nickname.
"I was coaching his brother, Terrell, and he'd say, 'you have to come see my little brother play seventh and eighth-grade ball,'" recalled Derrick Boyd, Richardson's former track coach and assistant football coach at Escambia High. "I went and watched and he was scoring six touchdowns a game."
Boyd, who became a father figure to Richardson, also noticed the obvious: Richardson's bowed legs and pigeon-towed gait, something he was often teased about.
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Lonnie Timmons III, PD"It's a miracle that I've gotten to this point," says Trent Richardson. "It was the kind of thing that the family would've gotten corrected when Trent was little if they had more money and health care," he said.
Boyd stepped in and taught Richardson to run with a narrower base, his shoulders more square with his legs. He also had him run hills of sand known as the Bluffs as his thick calves rippled.
"Trent was a freak of nature, even as a young boy," said Boyd.
But in his freshman year at Escambia, he tore a ligament in his left ankle and hopped off the field.
"We were in a Wing-T offense running sideline to sideline and everybody knew I was getting the ball," Richardson recalled. "Two people dove at my ankles and then a couple more. When I tried to go back in, I said 'coach, I can't run.'"
Doctors at the famed Andrews Institute repaired the ligament with a screw and warned him the rehab would be difficult.
"But I came back stronger," said Richardson. "I couldn't play basketball that year, but I ran track, winning the district championships in the 100 meters."
Shortly after the surgery, Richardson discovered that his girlfriend was pregnant and that he'd be a father at 16. "I had to grow up fast," he said. "I was a child raising a child."
By then almost full-grown at 5-9 and a chiseled 200 pounds, Richardson worked relentlessly in the weight room and on the field. Early in his sophomore season, he tore the ligament in the right ankle and was back at the Andrews Institute, having another screw inserted.
"This time, they'd told me I'd never run again," he said. "I thought my football career was over."
Shortly thereafter, the first of his two daughters, Taliyah was born. The second, Elevara, now 3, came along when he was a senior.
"I was on crutches when Taliyah was born and I couldn't even hold her and walk with her," he said. "I had to sit in one spot the whole time."
Richardson was so discouraged that he almost quit football, but his family and coaches talked him out of it.
"My child was on the way, and football wasn't working out," he said. "I wanted to provide for my child, and I had to find a way to survive."
He thought about all the kids in Warrington selling drugs, the most common profession in the neighborhood.
"I was either going to hang out with the wrong crowd -- which I wasn't raised that way -- and try to get fast money or I could go make something out of myself, be a grown man and handle my responsibilities," he said. "I stepped up to the plate."
Defying the doctors again, Richardson returned to track that year and won districts in the 100 meters. "He was even faster than the year before," recalled Boyd.
That same year, Hale died of cancer. Although Richardson never really knew his father, he visited him on his deathbed. "It was a tough time," Richardson said. "My mom was both our mom and dad, but we needed a dad to show us man stuff."
Richardson worked his way back onto the football field as a junior, rushing for 407 yards and four touchdowns his first game out. Terrell gave him posters of star running backs, which were tacked up on a bedroom wall for motivation.
"People had been saying that Trent was soft, that he was fragile and that he couldn't handle contact," said Terrell, who played defensive end at Louisiana-Lafayette. "Tell Trent he can't do something and he'll prove you wrong."
His senior year, folks said the 407-yard game was a fluke, so he topped it with 419 yards and six TDs in a game. That season, he rushed for 2,090 yards and 26 TDs.
"Alabama gave me my first offer then all the other colleges starting giving me offers," Richardson said. "It was just a blessing."
After practice, Richardson would rush straight home to care for Taliyah and his young cousins, changing diapers and making dinners. "Trent is always the one who wants to take care of everybody," said Terrell.
With the Crimson Tide, Richardson had to wait his turn behind eventual Heisman winner Mark Ingram, but broke out in 2011 with 1,679 yards and 21 touchdowns, becoming a Heisman finalist and the top running back in the draft.
On draft day, he was flanked by his two daughters, who wear his jersey and kiss the TV when he's on.
"They're my little hearts," he said. "They're the reason I run so hard every play. I can't let any man take meals from my girls."
He also runs for his mom, who's battling Lupus and cancer. "I want to her have the best doctors possible," he said. "I don't want to her to struggle anymore, like she did while were growing up. I want to buy her a house and a car and thank her for everything she's done."
His mom, daughters and brother Terrell will live in Cleveland, and watch him live the dream.
"I want to be the best running back ever to play the game," he said. "I want a rushing title, and to be a Pro Bowler. I want to make a difference in the community and never put myself first. I want to be a real father figure, and I want people to remember my name long after I'm out of the game."
A game he almost never had a chance to play.
Josh Tomlin gets the start for the Indians tonight at 7:10 when they visit the Boston Red Sox. The game will be televised on SportsTime Ohio and WKYC and broadcast on WTAM/1100-AM.
