Former Penn Stater And Now Seattle Seahawk, Garry Gilliam Jr., Tells His Moving Story On 94WIP
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- On Sunday, NFL rookie Garry Gilliam Jr. comes home---sort of---as he will get to face the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, only about 100 miles from his hometown in Harrisburg with an abundance of family and friends on hand.
But getting to this point for Gilliam was far from easy, as the now Seattle Seahawk battled through a multitude of unfathomable obstacles along the way.
The first challenge Gilliam faced came at just seven years old, when he was sent to the Milton Hershey School, a private boarding school for disadvantaged families.
"As you can imagine, pretty hard," Gilliam told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Wednesday, of his experience at the Milton Hershey School. "I was the only one [of my siblings] who lived with my mom. We were always together. And she was trying to drop me off at the strange places for school and I was like, 'Woah what's going on?' Especially being seven years old and then I later found out I was actually going to be living there [at the school]."
"So it was tough," Gilliam continued. "Crying every night."
Gilliam explained school was strict and chores were mandatory, but luckily for him, his mother drove an hour and a half to see her son on the weekends.
"How it is, is your parents can come see you on the weekends," Gilliam said. "My mom came up to visit and she can sign me out, and I would go home with her on Saturday on Sunday."
Listen to Garry Gilliam Jr. on the 94WIP Morning Show:
The second hurdle for Gilliam came while he was a tight end at Penn State. It was a painful one, in the form of a devastating injury.
"It was October 2nd, 2010---I remember the date---we were playing at Iowa," Gilliam recalled. "I tore my ACL, MCL, meniscus, part of my patella, and had a few bone bruises. At that point it would have been just two surgeries."
Just two?
"In between those two surgeries I ended up getting a staph infection in my bone marrow," Gilliam said.
Eventually, Gilliam had five knee surgeries.
And then, to further complicate his tenure at Penn State, the Jerry Sandusky scandal happened, arguably the largest sports scandal in the history of American sports.
"That was actually all, right in the dead center of my career," Gilliam said. "I'd been there for I think two, two and a half years at that point. I think I met Coach [Jerry] Sandusky maybe once and for all that stuff to happen and you have to take the brunt of all that, it was tough."
"I think it worked out,"Gilliam said of Penn State. "Coach [Joe] Paterno was a great coach, all the coaches and his staff were great. Coach [Bill] O'Brien came in and did a great job. It's still under an investigation and all that stuff is coming out day-to-day."
Dealing with injury concerns, Gilliam went undrafted during the 2014 NFL draft. However, on May 10, 2014 all of the sweat, tears, and blood finally became worth it and Garry Gilliam Jr. was signed by the Seattle Seahawks.
"I got a workout with Seattle," Gilliam said. "I talked to them as the draft was going on. They really wanted me with them. They liked my story and everything I was about, my work ethic, and my potential to be a great offensive lineman."
Gilliam is now a swing offensive lineman, meaning he plays all four of the offensive line spots and he is a backup tight end for the defending Super Bowl champions.
The kid can do it all.
"I put my head down every day," Gilliam said. "Worked, grinded, showed them I was coachable, came earlier to practice, left late. I got my head in the playbook, made sure I could show them I could pick up a playbook pretty easily---which Coach O'Brien helped me with because we ran a pro-style offense [at Penn State]. But yeah, I picked my head back up around the beginning of the season and found myself with a spot on the team."
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