Unfortunately it's behind The Athletic paywall, but it's an excellent piece.Under a bridge in Irving, Texas, the scared young boy didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know where his next meal would come from, nor the next roof over his head nor the next conversation with his parents.
The young boy, just 10 or 11, huddled with his brother Chris under a highway bridge, the sound of passing cars constantly reminding him of how lost they were, the image of where he’d soon go so far from his mind. Stephen Sullivan and his family were living out of a hotel at the time in a life spent back-and-forth between Dallas and Donaldsonville, La., staying with so many different people that home became a vague concept. And while living in the hotel, Sullivan says his parents, Yvonne and Ronnie Simon, were arrested for something that “to this day I don’t know.” Stephen and Chris went to the hotel to discover they were kicked out. They had no home. They had no money. They didn’t know what to do.
So they made their way under a highway bridge near the hotel, and there Stephen and Chris slept for two or three nights.
I had no idea Sullivan faced these kinds of obstacles. It's pretty remarkable to see someone rise from a life of instability that a lot of us take for granted to a college graduate before he even begins his senior year in college. It is a true testament to his work ethic and intelligence.
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