DAPHNE, Alabama -- On National Signing Day, Daphne High safety Chris Hill saw his dreams start to come true when he signed a football scholarship to attend Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

"That is all I really cared about," Hill said. "If I got a scholarship then I would have a place to stay, food to eat, have an education to be able to better myself. All I really cared about was setting myself up for the future and being able to take care of my future family."

Hill, who helped lead Daphne to a perfect season and Class 6A state championship, has spent his entire life beating the odds. Just before the Trojans' state semifinal win over Davidson High, Hill found himself homeless.

After practice, offensive line coach Milton Sutton gave Hill a ride home.

On this particular night, Hill's father's car was gone and the lights were off at their trailer.

"I went to the back, I knew he wasn't there and I was locked out, so I went through the window and tried to turn the lights on," Hill said. "I saw things were missing.

"My coach realized something was wrong. He came around and said, 'Chris, everything all right?' He asked if I wanted to call my dad, but I couldn't get in contact with him. Coach Sutton said I could come stay a night with him until we found out how things were."

Hill soon found out his father had gone to Texas looking for work. He moved in with the Suttons and has been there since.

"I took him home three or four times, but this one night his dad was gone and the power was off," Sutton said. "I really think that there are so many other people that I know who would do the same thing, I was just the person who was there. You couldn't put the kid out, no way. He is a great kid, works hard.

"I feel like God has given us a purpose in life and I feel like if I've helped him out then I've done something I was meant to do. My wife feels the same way, and the children do, also."



Born in Arkansas, Hill lived with aunt he grew to call 'Mama'

Hill was born in Stuttgart, Ark. At 1 month old, he moved in with his aunt and uncle in Little Rock. He grew up calling his aunt "Mama" and his elderly uncle "Uncle Peter." He said he had a good childhood in spite of living in poverty. He looked up to his cousin, Andy, as a father figure until Andy joined the U.S. Army.

Hill said one day in eighth grade he was attacked and hit in the head with a gun by gang members on his way home from school.

"I was always a good kid but, when I got into middle school, I got introduced to a whole new experience -- gangs, drugs, sex and crime," Hill said. "After that, my whole attitude changed. Andy was gone. Being in need of help, I joined a gang. I became a Folk, a.k.a. GD, Gangster Disciples. I got caught up with drugs and the gang life."

A short time after the attack, Hill's aunt discovered a homemade knife in their house.

Hill came clean about the knife and his sudden change of attitude. His aunt decided to move the family to Texas to be near Andy.

Comes to Alabama to make contact with biological father

Hill made his first contact with his biological father the next year.

The two started to get to know each other and, a few months later, Hill came to Alabama to spend Christmas with his father. While he was here, however, his Uncle Peter died.

At that point, midway through his freshman year, Hill decided to move here to live with his dad. He described the new relationship as rocky at times and said instability followed. But the two persevered.

"He couldn't find much work up until my senior year," Hill said. "We moved at least four or five times. There were many times I wanted to leave and go live with Andy, but he wouldn't let me go. I was stuck here, but this has been the worst and best years of my life."

According to Hill, everybody goes through something hard or difficult in life.

"It might be minor or major, you just have to trust in God and find something that motivates you," Hill said. "The thing that motivated me -- playing football and going to school -- that is already hard and stressful on you. My motivation was, at the end of the tunnel, there might be a scholarship waiting on me. So I tried to make that as my main goal.

"My uncle had told me all he wanted to do was see me make it. He died in 2007. One thing I had in my mind is I was going to do it for him and try to make it, no matter what happens."



Even in bad times, Hill keeps positive attitude

Through it all, Hill has kept a positive attitude. He still talks to his father regularly.

"I don't blame anybody, I don't blame my dad and some people think I should be mad at him," Hill said. "I can't be mad about something I can't even control. I might as well just focus on what I have to do instead of being mad at somebody else and decisions that they made.

"I want to tell the world that I'm here and I'm still making it. It's just another step in life and I just have to continue to work hard. It's not the end, just another path along the road and another adventure. I have to work even harder now."