A North Carolina native, former Panther DeShaun Foster is now enjoying his seventh season in the NFL on the opposite coast as a running back for the San Francisco 49ers.
But if it weren't for a little supportive nudge from his parents, Foster might have never taken to the gridiron.
"He was about 10 years old, and he didn't want to play football. That's the funny part," said Cheryl Foster, DeShaun's mother and a member of the Professional Football Players Mothers' Association (PFPMA). "He and my husband were out on the football field because he played baseball and they were just walking across it. Some kids were practicing, and one of the coaches saw DeShaun and sized him up. He asked DeShaun if he wanted to play, and he said, ‘No,' but my husband said, ‘Yeah.'
"It was pretty funny, so my husband talked to him about it, and DeShaun saw some of his friends that he went to school with doing it, and he said he'd try it."
The rest is history, as DeShaun later went on to excel at UCLA and was then selected in the 2002 NFL Draft by the Panthers. Cheryl realized from the beginning that football was something special in her son's life, so she encouraged DeShaun to nurture his competitive side.
"He liked the competitiveness of the sport, and it was very different from baseball. Baseball is more individualized because it's up to you whether you're going to strike out or hit the ball," Cheryl said. "With football, he had to rely on himself and also his teammates. I've always said to him about life, ‘It's not always about you, it's about everyone.' I think he kind of got that once he started playing football because it was a team sport."
Minnesota Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie also received some encouragement from his mother to diversify his activities growing up. Because of weight restrictions, he took up wrestling and even played the piano before being able to participate in football. And his mother, Michele Green, saw the positives her son gained from taking the field.
"It taught him how to work with a variety of people," said Green, also a member of the PFPMA. "You have to know what your offensive line is going to do, so everybody has to work together and work as a team and be a team player."
Green saw that McKinnie had a knack for football, and even though he didn't start playing until he was a junior in high school, she supported him in his decision to continue his career at the collegiate level. Whether McKinnie was playing at a junior college, at the University of Miami, or in the NFL, Green still believes it is very important to be involved - and visible - when it comes to her son playing football.
"It's a running joke with Bryant that his teammates say, ‘Everywhere we turn, your mom is there,'" Green said. "He just shakes his head, but I feel like I'm there for the other guys too. I'm there to give them their hugs before and after the game. I talk to them and play around with them, and they call me Mama Mack."
Cheryl Foster also enjoys knowing that she has a special place in her son's football career. She supported DeShaun when he first picked up the game, and she can still be seen waving in the stands as a proud mother.
"There was a solid bond from day one, and he knows for a fact that I'm always there no matter what," Cheryl said. "I'm always going to be there, even now, even in the pros, and he always knows where I'm sitting. He looks for me, and that's special to me. If I'm close enough, he'll give me a backwards wave from the huddle, and if I'm sitting further up, he'll point his finger and it's like he's stretching. But I know the signal."
Unlike Foster and McKinnie, brothers Marion Barber III and Dominique Barber were given a taste of football from an early age - their father, Marion Barber Jr., played nine seasons for the New York Jets. However, playing in the NFL is never something that PFPMA member Karen Barber stressed to her children. Education always came first, and playing football was a gift and a blessing.
Now, Karen gets to see her two eldest sons take to the field each Sunday. Marion is a running back for the Dallas Cowboys and Dominique is a safety for the Houston Texans, so it's not possible for Karen to make it to all of her son's games, as she used to do when they both played together at the University of Minnesota.
Looking back at all the success her boys have had, Karen can still recount the reluctance she felt when her sons began playing football. But she had the comfort of knowing her husband was going to be watching over their every move.
"Marion started in fourth grade, and his dad coached him all the way up until eighth grade," Karen said. "I remember when he started fourth grade and they wanted to put him with fifth graders. He might have had the ability and the skills to play with them, but I didn't want my child getting hurt out there."
Football has always been a staple in the Barber household, and Karen said the game has taught her sons the importance of commitment because nothing comes easy. As a parent, Karen also realized how vital it was to remain supportive of whatever aspirations her children had.
"As moms, we all worry about our sons playing," she said. "I would tell a mom to support her son, listen to her son and be there for her son. Be who you've been from the time they were a baby. Boys don't communicate like girls do, but mamas know their boys, and we know when our boys need us."
