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Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young helped fund the field where Ezekiel Ansah was initially discovered in Ghana.

(AP File Photo)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Steve Young was hard on the Detroit Lions back when he was a player, going 8-2 against them and compiling a lifetime 104.2 passer rating.

But in his-post playing days, he helped give them one of the biggest gifts of all.

Ezekiel Ansah.

The story begins back in 1993, when Young was still a star quarterback for the 49ers. He established the Forever Young Foundation, which initially focused on fighting life-threatening illnesses for disadvantaged youth, particularly in urban centers.

Eventually the foundation sprawled around the globe -- including to Ghana, where it linked up with another organization called the Ghana Accra Mission.

Together, they focused mostly on building Mormon missions -- but they also erected the first "sport court" in Accra, Ghana, in 2007.

"On that sport court, they would have pickup games," Young, now an ESPN analyst, said Thursday at Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. "And this skinny little kid -- 6-foot-5 kid -- would come over and play basketball. Ziggy Ansah.

"And they said, 'Ziggy, you should play basketball.'"

Ansah wound up being pretty good, and moved to Provo, Utah, to try out for BYU. But he wasn't good enough to make the Cougars basketball team, and gave track a try as a freshman instead.

"Then they said he should try football because now he's 6-foot-5 and 270 (pounds)," Young said. "He goes out, tries out, and kind of plays a little while."

By now, you probably know the rest of the story.

Ansah didn't know a thing about football when he tried out as a sophomore. He had to have a teammate show him how to work his shoulder pads. He didn't have a sack or TFL in either of his first two seasons.

But he had 4.5 sacks and 13 TFLs as a senior, putting himself on the national map.

"Then he goes to the combine," Young said, "just rips it up."

Ansah wound up going fifth overall to the Lions, and has proven to be one of the best players in his NFL draft class. He already has 30.0 sacks -- the most of any draftee from that year -- and vied for the league sack title in 2015.

He finished with 14.5 sacks overall, just three short of J.J. Watt's league-best 17.5, and made his first Pro Bowl.

"It's amazing, because I was nervous, right?" Young said. "He hadn't hardly played. Here's a kid who has no one in the country to help him, and the NFL chews people up all the time. The idea he is now thriving, doing well -- his mom is cooking for him -- he's doing great.

"He's set. He's gotten through those first few years of injury. He's a pro now. It's really a great story."

For Young, there is some measure of satisfaction watching a player find fame and riches because of a school he helped found halfway around the world.

"All because he played pickup basketball at the Forever Young School in Accra," Young said. "It's just a fun story for me to think about. That full circle."

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