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| Hubby ready for the 2012 football season repping Jerry Rice |
Yes, we're Bay Area sports fans. You may have heard me mention the San Francisco Giants or the Golden State Warriors in some of my other posts. We are also fans of the San Francisco 49ers (Brian more than me--I'm mostly in it for the game time food and beer). Unfortunately, they haven't had much to celebrate lately. Their last hurrah was the 2013 Super Bowl, where they lost a heart wrenching game to the Baltimore Ravens 34-31.
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| You can actually pinpoint the second when his heart breaks in half. |
Devastating chokage aside, another thing happened in 2012: a young backup quarterback named Colin Kaepernick got a lot more game time when the starting quarterback, Alex Smith, was out with a concussion.
But let's back up 25 years...
Colin was born in 1987 to a young woman named Heidi Russo in Wisconsin. Heidi was a single mother; Colin's dad was not in the picture. When he was five weeks old, she decided to place him with a white family who could provide for him in ways she felt that she could not. Teresa and Rick Kaepernick already had two children older than Colin, but they had lost two other kids to heart defects. They called him "our little Colin."
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| Little Colin with his siblings Kyle and Devon |
The family moved to Central California, where Colin starting playing football at age eight, and was the starting quarterback by age nine. A 4.0 student in high school, he played football, baseball, and basketball. According to Colin, “When adults were unaware of who my mother was at little league baseball games, it was her that gave a tongue-lashing to the parents in the stands speaking ill about the black child striking out all of their sons.” Read more here.
Colin faced some challenging moments growing up in his mixed race family as an adopted child, with kids asking who his real mother was, or confusion on vacations when someone thought he wasn't part of his family.
“You have a family that you love, but you know you don’t look like. And at a young age, I understood that I was different; I didn’t understand what that meant. So, as I got older it was something that developed. As my identity developed and my place in society and my understanding of that developed, my parents and my family had developed as well.”Most known for his baseball prowess, he was offered several scholarships to play college baseball. However, playing football was his heart's desire. At 6'5" and 170lbs, he was prone to injury, but he persisted. He sent DVDs of his highlights to multiple colleges, but had no takers. It wasn't until a University of Nevada assistant coach saw Colin dominate in a basketball game while running a 103 degree temperature that he finally got his scholarship offer.
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| Throwing out the opening pitch at AT&T Park in San Francisco |
Colin had a great college football career, and even holds some NCAA records. Ever the prolific athlete, he was even drafted in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft as the 43rd pick by the Chicago Cubs, but declined the offer to continue his college football career and earn his business management degree.
In April 2011, the San Francisco 49ers drafted Colin as a back up quarterback. He got little play in his first season, but stood in for and eventually replaced starting quarterback Alex Smith in 2012 and playing in the Super Bowl that year. *heart ripping sounds*
Colin played for the 49ers for a few more years before departing from the team. In a very polarizing act, he chose to sit and then kneel during the national anthem as a peaceful protest for the inequality of people of color. Many other players followed suit in various displays of peaceful protest. The acts sparked a lot of outrage, even angering President Trump into denouncing anyone who followed suit. The controversy led to low ratings for the NFL that year, and Colin's eventual challenges finding a new team.
Colin's activism didn't stop there. He was honored as GQ's Citizen of the Year for his continued efforts to expose inequality.
Colin's relationship with his birthmother Heidi is unclear. She has been vocal on Twitter (where some of her opinions were attacked because she adopted out her son), but no evidence exists that discloses what, if any, contact the two may have.
He is very open about his mom Teresa, and even shared his love and appreciation for her on
VH1’s Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms.
"As a child, I would draw family pictures in kindergarten, fully aware of that fact that I had to switch the colors of the crayons. While I did wonder who I looked like, I never had to wonder whether my mother loved me or not."
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| Colin with proud mom and dad |
Be sure to check out our other Adoptees Who Inspire:
And coming soon:
- Keegan-Michael Key (of Key & Peele)
- Darryl McDaniels (of Run D.M.C)
- Sarah McLachlan (of the ASPCA commercials you flip away from)
- Dave Thomas (Wendy's founder)
- Faith Hill ("Don't want your bed of rooooses...")
