The Spaz
04-19-2004, 09:39 AM
If college recruiters hadn't started recognizing Max Starks' amazing resemblance to Ross Browner, it might have been more than 17 years before Starks learned who his father was.
He had a dad, his namesake. He had a loving family and a comfortable life in Orlando, Fla., where Max and Elleanor Starks owned a funeral home. He had a dad, his namesake. He had a loving family and a comfortable life in Orlando, Fla., where Max and Elleanor Starks owned a funeral home.
His mother saw no need to tell her son that his biological father had been a first-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1978 who played nine NFL seasons at defensive end. But when Max Starks IV became one of the top prep offensive linemen in the state, his blood ties to the famous football family from Warren Western Reserve could no longer be ignored.
"I never wondered," Starks said. "The man whose name I have, he's my dad, he raised me from when I was young. I give him that respect. My father is Ross Browner."
Having become a starting offensive tackle at Florida and a likely mid-round pick in next weekend's NFL Draft, Starks learned the truth going into his senior year at Lake Highland High School.
"I was looking at colleges and it was coming up about my resemblance with my father," Starks said. "I didn't know how to respond because I didn't know."
Neither did Browner. He was living in Atlanta and had no idea that he had fathered a son not long before he and Elleanor, a former flight attendant who worked the Cincinnati-Atlanta route, ended their two-year relationship.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=knight-footballhispastfuture&prov=knight&type=lgns
He had a dad, his namesake. He had a loving family and a comfortable life in Orlando, Fla., where Max and Elleanor Starks owned a funeral home. He had a dad, his namesake. He had a loving family and a comfortable life in Orlando, Fla., where Max and Elleanor Starks owned a funeral home.
His mother saw no need to tell her son that his biological father had been a first-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1978 who played nine NFL seasons at defensive end. But when Max Starks IV became one of the top prep offensive linemen in the state, his blood ties to the famous football family from Warren Western Reserve could no longer be ignored.
"I never wondered," Starks said. "The man whose name I have, he's my dad, he raised me from when I was young. I give him that respect. My father is Ross Browner."
Having become a starting offensive tackle at Florida and a likely mid-round pick in next weekend's NFL Draft, Starks learned the truth going into his senior year at Lake Highland High School.
"I was looking at colleges and it was coming up about my resemblance with my father," Starks said. "I didn't know how to respond because I didn't know."
Neither did Browner. He was living in Atlanta and had no idea that he had fathered a son not long before he and Elleanor, a former flight attendant who worked the Cincinnati-Atlanta route, ended their two-year relationship.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=knight-footballhispastfuture&prov=knight&type=lgns