Orlando Franklin played college football at the University of Miami and was selected 14th in the second round draft, 46th overall by the Denver Broncos in the 2011 NFL Draft. He became the first right tackle and the sixth offensive lineman overall in the team's history to start every regular-season game as a rookie.
The AFC Champion is 26 year old, 6 foot 7", 320 lbs Offensive Lineman climbed the latter to success, however each step was challenging to say the least; and Franklin shared his story to students a couple years back in 2012, when he visited St. Patrick Catholic High School in Toronto. His current life story, which began when he moved from Jamaica to Toronto at the age of 3 with his mother Sylvia Allen and older brother, is a propelling story involving various life altering circumstances for Franklin that included two occasions in custody, homeless shelters, foster homes, and a mother who never gave up on her son.
Read more on Orlando Franklin, video of fans and friends cheering him on from Toronto....
Franklin gave the students a brief summary of his life growing up in Scarborough saying...
"I grew up here in Toronto, Canada. At a young age I was running with a bad crowd and I knew I was always gifted in sports, but I always chose to run with the wrong people so at the age of 12 I was arrested," he told the assembled high school students whose complete attention he easily gained and held.
"I was able to get off on the charges. I was arrested for robbery - a big mistake in my life, but I was able to overcome it and go back to school, doing the stuff that I needed to do.
"And then at the age of 14 I got arrested again. I was arrested on serious charges. I thought it was over. I didn't think I was going to be able to go to high school after that, but due to the grace of God I was able to get focused, and my mom always stuck behind me."
In the follow-up questions, he elaborated further. With his first run-in with the law, he said one of his friends "ended up robbing a kid and I was telling him not to, so this kid turns out to be in my class. I got arrested for it.
"And my mom is pretty much a no-nonsense person so when I got arrested when I was 12 years old, my mom left me there for about a week, she wouldn't come get me. Although I was able to get bail my mom wouldn't come get me."
His second run-in was during his first year of high school at the now closed Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute in Scarborough.
"Again I was hanging around with a couple of guys that wanted to do what they wanted to do. I was always hanging around with older kids because I've always been bigger than kids my age so although I was in the ninth grade I was hanging around with kids that were in the 11th grade, 12th grade and they got into robbing people, stealing cars and stuff, breaking into people's houses," he told the rapt audience, adding a quick aside.
"I've been there. I know what a lot of you are all going through. The peer pressure and stuff like that ..."
Needless to say, his mom was not impressed. "So that time that I got arrested my mom left me there for two and a half months, I was 14 turning 15 years old," he said as the auditorium collectively gasped.
It was also the reason why he changed schools in Scarborough. As he explained in response to another student's question on which Toronto schools he attended:
"I went to Timothy Eaton at first and then I got kicked out of the school because, like I said, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd of people and I told you guys I was in jail twice. When I got out of jail they sent me to Borden (Sir Robert L. Borden Collegiate Institute)."
You can read the full Scarborough Mirror article written by Norm Nelson that captures the essence of who Orlando Franklin is and where he is going - and that might very well be straight to the top of his game.
Although the Broncos lost to the Seahawks at the Super Bowl 43 - 8, to accomplish what Orlando has as a professional football player in three years, and all the hard work he put in before hand to get him to where he is - it's very possible he will be wearing his own NFL championship ring sooner than later!
Congrats on all you success Orlando!
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