YardRat
04-27-2008, 06:36 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/332962.html
The Buffalo Bills have made character an important quality when evaluating players.
At first glance, their second-round draft pick, Indiana wide receiver James Hardy, would seem to have character issues. He was charged with domestic battery in 2006 for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. The case was settled out of court. He also served a two-game suspension that season for reasons not related to the arrest.
But considering what Hardy overcame in his life, character is not a weakness.
His father, James Hardy Jr., spent nine years in prison for dealing drugs. Young Hardy lived with his mother until he was 13, and then began living with other relatives. As a high school freshman, his bed was an air mattress in the living room of a one-bedroom apartment shared with an uncle, who was fresh out of prison.
“I would just stay at school, in the gym or on the field so I wouldn’t have to go home,” Hardy said Saturday. “That’s what got me here and I’ll be able to go home to my own house and eat right and just be able to focus on being a professional. I take this very seriously. Besides my faith and family this is the most important thing to me. I just want to make everybody proud.”
The Buffalo Bills have made character an important quality when evaluating players.
At first glance, their second-round draft pick, Indiana wide receiver James Hardy, would seem to have character issues. He was charged with domestic battery in 2006 for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. The case was settled out of court. He also served a two-game suspension that season for reasons not related to the arrest.
But considering what Hardy overcame in his life, character is not a weakness.
His father, James Hardy Jr., spent nine years in prison for dealing drugs. Young Hardy lived with his mother until he was 13, and then began living with other relatives. As a high school freshman, his bed was an air mattress in the living room of a one-bedroom apartment shared with an uncle, who was fresh out of prison.
“I would just stay at school, in the gym or on the field so I wouldn’t have to go home,” Hardy said Saturday. “That’s what got me here and I’ll be able to go home to my own house and eat right and just be able to focus on being a professional. I take this very seriously. Besides my faith and family this is the most important thing to me. I just want to make everybody proud.”