Full Name
Adrian Peterson
Born
March 21, 1985
Birth Place
Palestine, Texas
Height
6 foot 2
Weight
218 pounds
Position
Runningback
Biography
Adrian Lewis Peterson was born on March 21, 1985, in Palestine, Texas, a small town between Houston and Dallas. (Click here for a complete listing of today's sports birthdays.) His parents, Bonita Brown and Nelson Peterson, had been star athletes in college. Nelson was a shooting guard for Idaho State with an NBA career in the offing. That dream was derailed when a gun that his brother was cleaning discharged into his leg. The wound became infected and several surgeries later he accepted the fact that his basketball career wasn’t going to happen. With several children to support, he joined the working world.
Adrian’s mother was a world-class track and field athlete. A Texas state champion three times over at Westwood High School, she attended the University of Houston on an athletic scholarship and was a sprinter and long jumper.
Adrian was a hyperactive toddler, ramping up his activity while others his age napped. His dad nicknamed him “All Day,” which was later shortened to A.D.—his nickname today. Adrian’s best friend was his older brother, Brian. The two fastest kids in the neighborhood, they loved to play sports. When Adrian was seven, Brian was riding his bike when a drunk driver hit and killed him. The tragedy occurred after Adrian’s parents had separated. The boys were living outside Dallas in Oak Cliff with their aunt, Bonita’s sister. After this tragedy, Adrian and his mom moved back to Palestine, so the youngster could be closer to his father and grandmother.
It was around that time that Adrian began to deal with his pain through sports. He was the star of the Pee Wee football team coached by his father. Nelson taught Adrian to meet force with force. Instead of trying to elude tacklers, sometimes it was smarter to hit them head-on. He also showed Adrian the importance of priorities. When the boy received his first F as a fifth grader, Nelson benched him. The rule for the rest of his childhood: No pass, no play.
By the time he was 12, Adrian was the star of his Pop Warner team. His coach told his players to remember playing with Adrian—they would want to tell their grandkids about him someday. In one game, Adrian went an entire game without being tackled—the best the defense could do was force him out of bounds or hope he slipped and fell.
Adrian was a huge Cowboys fan. The team was a perennial Super Bowl contender when he was young, and he loved Emmitt Smith. He would watch games on TV wearing his #22 Starter jacket. There was little question in Adrian’s mind that he would one day be a Cowboy.
When Adrian was 13, his father was arrested for laundering money for a crack-cocaine ring. Though gainfully employed, Nelson was still chasing the big dollars he had expected to earn as a pro athlete. The lure of easy cash led to a catastrophically bad decision, and he ended up spending eight years in prison. Adrian and his dad communicated by phone and mail, as well as the occasional visit. In high school, Adrian spoke with his father the morning before every game.
Adrian had a better role model in his mother. Bonita remarried, to Frankie Jackson, a pastor at a church in nearby Grapeland. Initially, there was friction between Jackson and his football-star stepson, but eventually they became very close.
Adrian continued his gridiron exploits at Westwood Junior High School. His mother had relocated to the town for a new job. Adrian also became a track and field standout. At Woodward, he won multiple medals in the 100, 200, triple jump and long jump—the same events in which his mother had once excelled. Looking back, Adrian's coach believes that the teen could have been an Olympic long jumper had he note pursued a football careered.
In 2000, Adrian began high school in Westwood. He played JV football as a freshman Adrian’s family moved back to Palestine the following year, but he was not eligible to play for the Palestine High varsity football team until he was a junior. During his sophomore year, Adrian ran track and logged a 10.66 100-yard dash at a spring meet.
Adrian found a valuable ally in coach Jeff Harrell. When Harrell was promoted to head football coach, Adrian was made the focal point of his coach's one-back system. He was so quick that he hit the line before the blocks happened. Harrell moved Adrian back from six yards behind the line to seven and then eight.
Adrian got even faster as he matured. In 2002, he ran for more than 2,000 yards and scored 22 touchdowns. That's when he began to attract the attention of Division I recruiters.Biography |
