Michael oher story

We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Michael Oher might be the only Super Bowl champion to be more famous for being a character in a movie than, well, being a Super Bowl—winning football player. Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in the Best Picture—nominated film. He was one of 12 children born to a mother who had fallen victim to the cheap and ultra-addictive narcotic, which set him along a troubled path from the start.

His father disappeared early on, while his mother, Denise, struggled with addiction for many years.

Michael oher net worth

The problem was that she was rarely off drugs and working, so Oher was a nomad from an early age. With little adult supervision or stability, Oher barely made it to school. He repeated both first and second grades, attended nine different schools over the course of 11 years, and missed dozens of school days per year even when he was passed along to the next grade.

The most stable home he had was in a housing project called Hurt Village, where he lived from age 11 until he began high school. By the time he was 15, Oher was bunking up with a local athletic program director named Tony Henderson, who had an extra room in his house.

Michael oher height

Oher was already 6-footinches and pounds, which made him a prime recruit for drug dealers seeking some muscle. He was less of a desirable prospect for prestigious private schools, but when Tony took his son Steven to the local Briarcrest Christian School, Big Mike, as he was called, tagged along for the ride anyway. He barely spoke during interviews, his reading comprehension level was closer to elementary school, and tests showed he had an IQ that barely cracked Still, the Briarcrest football coach was interested in Oher, not just as a prospect for the team but as a redemption story.

The principal, Steve Simpson, felt stirrings of sympathy and issued Oher a challenge: If he could get his grades up in another private school, he could enter the far more prestigious Briarcrest the next semester.