USA Rugby player and former St. Thomas High School athlete Kingsley McGowan is making a name for himself as a pro, overcoming challenges in one of the most violent sports on the planet.

Professional rugby player Kingsley McGowan is slowly making a name for himself.

The young Houstonian has played all over the world, with critics applauding his speed as a winger for the U.S. Men's National Team, the Eagles.

But he's not very tall for a rugger (5 feet, 10 inches) and was born with an abnormality.

Despite those challenges, he's already a three-time Collegiate All-American and now as a pro athlete in one of the most violent sports on the planet.

As I walked into a State Farm office out in East Houston, I'm greeted by the manager who introduces me to agent, Erwin McGowan — a tall, African-American, proud father of 23-year-old, Kingsley McGowan.

He recalls a conversation he had with him about rugby while he attended St. Thomas High School.

"I said, ‘Kingsley, son don't go out for rugby, won't you run track?'” McGowan reminisces. “He said, ‘Dad, let me try it.' I said, ‘Son, I think that rugby is...that's not a sport that we know!' So he went out there the first day. He said, ‘Dad, I enjoy it. I love it.' I said, ‘Son, I'll ask you one more time to try track,' because he's a speedster. And he said, ‘No.' I said, ‘Well, I'm done!'"

And it was a good thing his father gave in, because Kingsley led St. Thomas to the State regionals and positioned the school as a national contender.

But he says there was a time when he didn't think Kingsley would even be alive.

"My wife had a special abdominal stitching,” recalls McGowan. “She's about to give birth. We discovered there were some problems. The foot was the size of a basketball and the fingers were missing."

Kingsley was born with Amniotic Band Constriction — a condition that left him with only six fully-grown fingers instead of ten.

"So I have a missing right, middle and ring finger and then I have a missing left ring finger and left pinky finger,” says Kingsley. I caught up with him after a recent rugby match. "I've been blessed to not have any grip issues/any handling issues. For me, I've just had to learn it differently."

And his father remembers helping him through that learning process.

"I said, ‘Kingsley, everything is normal,'” recalls his father. “And kids would say, ‘he's missing fingers!' I said, ‘Son, I don't know what they're talking about. You have ten fingers.' I said, ‘You can do anything you want to do. I will not allow you to make excuses in life!'”

While earning an accounting degree, Kingsley also helped St. Mary's College in San Francisco win two national championships before earning a coveted spot on Dublin University's Trinity team.

And it was there in Ireland that he realized just how much he loved rugby.

"And that culture is: You play for your mate next to you,” says Kingsley. “So for me, as an African-American male, that should've been a problem. But it's not. I moved to Ireland and was literally the only Black guy within miles — so every rugby team that I've been a part of felt like family."

Kingsley plays for the USA Rugby Eagles and earned his first international start earlier this month during the Americas Rugby Championship series against Argentina at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

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