Seeking to become the first openly gay NFL player, Michael Sam has painfully known heartache before.
Two of his siblings died before they were legally considered adults, another has been missing for more than 15-years and two others are in prison. When the Missouri star defensive end told his father he was gay Michael sam Jr. responded NFL Hall of Fame tough guy Deacon Jones "must be turning over in his grave. "
"I couldn't eat no more, so I went to Applebee's to have drinks," Michael Sam, Sr. told the New York Times. "I don't want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment."
TheNewCivilRights Movement.com reports Sam Sr. considers himself so old school he openly boasts "that he had taken an older son to Mexico to lose his virginity."
Michael Sam Sr. also expresses grave reservations about any openly gay player being in a NFL locker room---even if that player is his own son.
"It was very hard growing up in that environment," Michael Sam recently told the New York Times. "My family was very notorious in the town that we lived in. Everyone would say, 'There goes those damn Sams.' I didn't want to paint that ill picture of me. I knew the good in my family. They didn't know our background and the adversity we had to endure. I wanted to succeed and be a beacon of hope in my family."
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