By Julie Bacanskas

Behind every nickname is a story. Such is the case for “Axe Man.”

From the time he could carry the smallest of sticks, Jeremiah Trotter worked beside his father, Myra, every day in Hooks, Texas. He, his dad and his siblings chopped logs into firewood, selling what they could to earn a living. The Trotters didn’t have much, but they did what they could to pay the bills.

The hours spent splitting wood taught Trotter more than he could have ever imagined. It was through that labor - and his father’s guidance - he learned the importance of hard work and what it would really take to accomplish his goals and support his family.

Until middle school, Trotter was content with his daily schedule. He didn’t realize something important was missing.

Seeing his friends on the football field dressed from head to toe in equipment, Trotter knew he wanted to play. His father though, wouldn’t budge on the matter.

“It seemed like everybody in town wanted my dad to let me play football, but he never would,” Trotter recalls. “He didn’t want me to get hurt and he needed me to work and I had to go to church. I couldn’t miss church.”

Two years later, Myra suddenly had a change of heart.

After hearing his son ask the same question time and time again, the answer finally changed. Trotter, headed into his freshman year of high school, would be permitted to play football if he continued to do his work. It was a deal.

“I would practice and then come home and split up the wood that he had ready for me to split. I didn’t care. As long as I was playing football, I would have stayed up until two in the morning if I had to,” he says.

By his senior year, Trotter suddenly had scholarship offers to play football in college. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up and just like that, he was off to Stephen F. Austin State University. After three successful seasons, Trotter had a decision to make. It wouldn’t be a difficult one.

The linebacker felt he’d accomplished all he could at the collegiate level, but more importantly, it was clear his family was in need. Trotter’s father, who was 75 years old at the time, was ailing. The aging process had taken a toll on his dad’s body and the days of chopping wood with ease were a thing of the past.

Trotter knew what he had to do for his family.