Don't Get Sidetracked

Marine, Guardian, Trooper, Convict, Messenger.

Matthew Creighton, the eldest of seven children, was born and raised in rural Alabama. His two brothers died as infants, but Matthew decided, as a little boy, that he wanted to play pro football. He saw how his first cousin had benefited from going pro, and he wanted to do the same thing to make life better for his parents.

Unfortunately, when he was only 16, his mother died from diabetes. A little over a year after he graduated from high school,...