Shannon Sharpe recently posted a documentary-style video on his Instagram page detailing their humble beginnings and their rise to success.
Sterling Sharpe is Shannon Sharpe’s older brother, whom he emulated.
Sterling made it to the NFL first. He was a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers from 1988 to 1994. He quickly became a star, but his career ended early due to a neck injury.
In the video, Sterling and Shannon show the Glenville, Georgia home they were raised in, a 1000 square-foot home with cement floors, a tin roof, no indoor plumbing, no paneling, no insulation, no running water, and the home was heated by a tiny fireplace.
Sterling said it was the norm for them to go to the well for water and use the bathroom outside, but as he got older, the one thing he wanted was to live in a house with running water.
It was the norm for us so it wasn’t out of the ordinary.
You know, because we didn’t go to our friends houses, and we didn’t know… ‘Hey, we have a bathtub, and we do this.’
The norm for us was going to the well and getting water.
The norm for us was when you had to go use the bathroom you found a place in the woods.
That was the norm for us. So, I would love to sit here and tell you how tragic it was, but it really wasn’t it was the norm for us.
And it was definitely motivation, though once we got older, the one thing, the only thing I ever wanted, was to live in a house with running water.
Shannon said he remembers going to school with smut on the back of his pants from standing too close to the fireplace when it was really cold.
Shannon always speaks highly of his grandmother Mary Viola Porter, and in the video he revealed she made $197 every two weeks working as a housekeeper at the Glenville Nursing Home.
She worked at the Glenville nursing home from… I think her shift was from 7 to 3.
She made a $197 ever two weeks, and how do I know? Because I looked at her paycheck once.
And how she was able to keep my sister, my brother, myself, my four aunts… How we were able to survive off that, you know, my grandmother had to make tough decisions.
Is it going to be the lights or is it going to be the gas this month?”
Shannon said he used the poverty he was raised in to motivate him to get out of Glenville.
Sterling started playing football at 10, and he and Shannon used football to escape the poverty that they were raised in. They both became very successful NFL players.
Watch Shannon’s original IG post below:
Watch the YouTube version below:
I’ve always had a lot of respect for Shannon Sharpe, and after seeing his upbringing, I have even more.
Shannon Sharpe was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2011, and his grandmother passed on July 8, 2011, one month before his Hall of Fame Induction.
Sterling Sharpe has not yet made the Hall of Fame due to his short 7-year career, but he is beyond deserving, and he will be considered for enshrinement in 2023 by the Hall of Fame committee.
Shannon Sharpe is now a sports analyst on the popular Fox Sports 1 (FS1) sports show, “Undisputed,” which he co-hosts with Skip Bayless.
He also has his podcast, “Club Shay Shay.“
Shannon is continuing to do great things, and his grandparents’ legacies and words live on through the stories and words of wisdom he shares with the “Undisputed” audience.
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