The grandson of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s best friend and closest ally — the man who held King in his arms as he passed away from a gunshot wound in a Memphis hospital — has committed to play football for the state of Tennessee's flagship university.

Tennessee 2015 cornerback commit Micah Abernathy of Greater Atlanta Christian High School

And the man who bridged the gap between his father's struggle and his sons' blessings can't help but occasionally — if only for a few fleeting moments here and there — sit back, see that progress and smile.

It's all been worth it for the Abernathy family.

All the pain. All the struggle. All the ridicule. All the arrests. All the violent reactions to nonviolent actions. All the N-bombs. All the things that come when a nation clings to archaic, ignorant ideas of humans being different from other humans for no other reason than the color of their skin. All the imperfections of a more perfect union.

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"My children don't see color. They're color-blind," said Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy III, the son of American Civil Rights leader Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, Sr., a man more commonly known in history books as Ralph Abernathy."Now, they do see racism. They do see people that will tend to try and treat them differently because of the color of their skin. But if they're around people who don't care about the color of their skin but more about the content of their character, they recognize that, and they fall right in line with that lifestyle, and they're fine.

"I'm proud to say my children don't see color. They just see character and personality."

One of those children — Micah Abernathy — has blossomed into one of the nation's most highly touted Class of 2015 football prospects. And he and his entire family were filled with joy Oct. 10, when he committed to play football for the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

"We couldn't be prouder," Ralph David III said.

Things haven't always been so fun for the Abernathy family, though.

A young Ralph David Abernathy III watches over Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Photo Credit: Abernathy family)

'TWO BY TWO'

Whether the United States of America in its present form is truly a land where all men and women are treated equally is a question open to more than a fair amount of interpretation, but what's beyond debate is that it's at least a fairer republic than it's been in the past.

Most American children these days know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a huge part of the reason for that improvement.

For whatever reason, though, fewer — many fewer — children are taught that Rev. Ralph David Abernathy Sr. also is a huge part of the reason for that improvement.

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Ralph David Sr. is often noted in history as King's top lieutenant, but in reality the two best friends were much closer to being equal partners in the fight for racial equality. And when King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, his best friend — the man who rode with him in the ambulance, refused to leave his side during surgery and held him as he took his last breath — suddenly was faced with the daunting task of running things by himself. And not just any things. Important things. Shapeshifting things. Tectonic things.

The son of Ralph David Sr. — Ralph David III (Ralph David II was a stillborn child and was buried with that name) — believes his father fell victim to his own selflessness, and his desire to see his best friend's deeds remembered for eternity. Perhaps, as others outside the Abernathy family also have argued, Ralph David Sr. cared more for the Civil Rights Movement than his own legacy, and that allowing the legacy of King to grow and grow was better for the movement.

"Many people can give Bobby Kennedy to John, and they can even give Ed McMahon to Johnny Carson," Ralph David III said. "But they just can't give Martin and Ralph to each other and show the unity of what happened in our community, when two young black ministers, men of God, got together and changed the course of history in the world. Many people will tell you there wouldn't have been a Martin Luther King if there hasn't been a Ralph Abernathy.

"My father was a tower of strength. He even fought in World War II. He rose to the rank of sergeant of a segregated platoon. He had courage. He did it all. He changed the world."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (Photo Credit: Abernathy family)

And following King's assassination, he had to do it with a lot less help.

"I quote The Bible a lot, and Mark, chapter six, verse seven says — and forgive me for paraphrasing here — it says, 'He called The Twelve together and began to send them out two-by-two and gave them power over unclean spirits,'" Ralph David III said. "God sends His prophets in twos. I look at my daddy and Uncle Martin as prophets. They were given power over unclean spirits — bigotry, hatred, white supremacy, segregation, ignorance. All those unclean spirits, He gave them power over that. They changed the course of history together. It was two of them. It was't one man.

"After Uncle Martin got shot, my father, being the kind of man he was, he wanted to make sure Uncle Martin got credit for the work that he had done because he was killed for that work. But the two of them were brothers. They started out together in Montgomery, Ala. Uncle Martin knew my father as well as anyone. My daddy was his mentor. Every time Martin Luther King gave a speech, Ralph Abernathy gave a speech. Every time Martin Luther King preached, Ralph Abernathy preached. Daddy would talk about the strategy — what we were gonna do, and how we were gonna do it — and Uncle Martin would talk about the philosophy of why we were gonna do it. They were a dynamic duo. They called themselves 'The Civil Rights Twins.'"

"History has kind of over the years separated them in death, but they were literally inseparable in life. Uncle Martin knew that Ralph Abernathy had the courage to pick up the mantle and lead the ship and finish the work. But Martin had a Ralph, and Ralph didn't have a Ralph, so Ralph had to do both of their jobs. He finished it up for nine years afterward."

Obviously the battle didn't end then, though.

The Abernathy family certainly didn't stop nine years later.

'Y'ALL DO THIS ALL THE TIME'

Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy III remembers his first arrest for civil disobedience in vivid detail.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (Photo Credit: Abernathy family)

That's impressive, considering he was 9 years old at the time.

"I was arrested at the age of 9 marching for freedom, justice and equality in South Georgia in 1968," Ralph David III said. "It was in the summer, right after Uncle Martin was assassinated. Uncle Martin died in April, and I was arrested in June. I still have the article with me today. I was arrested on a mule train coming from Marks, Miss., to Washington, D.C.

"Governor Lester Maddox stopped us and arrested us, and I spent the night in jail."

Ralph David III's fighting, Abernathy spirit was on display the very next morning, though. He proudly recalled a reaction he said he'll "never forget."

"We got out of jail and went right to church — West Hunter Church," Ralph David III said. "My mother and father and everybody was so concerned about me, and I was like, 'What are you all upset about? You all do this all the time!'

"It was no big deal for me as a kid. It was just what we did; what we had to do."

As years have passed, though, the timing of that incident has stood out more and more to Ralph David III.

â€œThe more I think back on it, that was in June, and Uncle Martin had just been assassinated in April,â€ he said. â€œMy daddy just continued to work. He just had to finish the business that he and Uncle Martin started together. He had the courage to walk alone and get it done.â€

Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy III

Little ol' Ralph David Abernathy Sr. — who grew up on an Alabama farm, the youngest of 17 children, and admittedly wasn't very good at farming — changed the world.

His children — including Ralph David III — were born and raised into a family that had established excellence as the baseline expectation.

Somehow, they managed to survive and ultimately thrive in that environment.

AIN'T EASY BEING AN ABERNATHY

One of Ralph David Abernathy Sr.'s sons is a lawyer who received an undergraduate degree from prestigious Williams College in Massachusetts and went on to law school at the also-prestigious University of Pennsylvania. One of his daughters went to Hollywood, where she still lives and works as an actress, writer and producer. Another one of his daughters has spent the past 35 years living and raising a family in Germany, where she sings in the Bavarian State Opera.

The pressure on those children was immense. But none of them were given the name Ralph David Abernathy III the day they were born.

Fortunately, the man given that name has accomplished a great deal in his own right.

The father of Tennessee signee Micah Abernathy and Cincinnati senior tailback Ralph David Abernathy IV learned about the dangers of fighting for civil rights as a child, when his house was bombed and he spent years struggling to sleep. The assassination of King — or "Uncle Martin," as he called him — also would seem to qualify as an understandable deterrent to anyone choosing to live a public life and speaking their mind to people who didn't want to hear it.

Cincinnati senior running back and return specialist Ralph David Abernathy IV (Photo Credit: Â© USA Today Sports Images)

Ultimately, though, Ralph David III followed his father's path into public service.

After receiving an undergraduate degree from Atlanta's Morehouse College, Ralph David III did what he never thought he would do, going back to school to study theology. He received master's and doctorate degrees in Divinity and became an ordained minister.

"My father never tried to make me a minister. He never tried to make me a preacher," Ralph David III said. "I didn't become an ordained preacher until after he died. Certainly it would have been more convenient if I'd started doing it and accepted my calling before he passed away, because I would have been able to inherit all of those great connections, and he could have really paved the way for me.

"But I didn't really want to be a preacher, and he didn't push it on me. My calling came later in life."

Ralph David III also felt called into other roles of public service, though, and he also answered that call, serving in the Georgia State Senate for a decade. He's also a businessman. He's also a spokesperson for several causes, including the ongoing Civil Rights Movement, and it's not uncommon to see him popping up on CNN or other news stations, or traveling to speak for various candidates for public office as a result.

He's lived what most would call an active, successful life.

And he's not his father.

And he knows that.

"Our family has been called to help improve the quality of this society and this nation that we live in today," Ralph David III said. "When you're born into that, and you have a father who's bigger than life, you know, it's tough.

Cincinnati senior running back and return specialist Ralph David Abernathy IV (Photo Credit: USA Today Sports Images)

"I'm a minister, I have a doctorate, I served in the Georgia Senate for 10 years, I have my own gas stations, and I can never eclipse my daddy."

Just in case Ralph David III ever needed help remembering he wasn't his father, though, he laughingly recalls how dutifully his sisters reminded him on nearly a daily basis when they were children.

Ever the optimist, though, Ralph David III turned those comments into positive reinforcement that he could pave his own path.

No, he wasn't Ralph David Sr. He was Ralph David III. He was his own man.

"My mama and my daddy raised me to understand that every tub must stand on its own bottom," he said. "We constantly heard that. All the time. Every tub has to sit on its own bottom. I heard all the time, 'You have to make your own way, Ralph David. You can't be your daddy.' My sisters would remind me all the time that I was the third Ralph David Abernathy, not the first and not the second, but the third. I would always tell them, 'I'm Ralph David Abernathy.' And they would always reply, 'The Third.'

"But you know what? That identifies me as my own man. I couldn't be my daddy. I had to be my own tub and sit on my own bottom and make my own way."

When Ralph David III became a father, he and his wife chose to raise their children the same way he was raised.

It wasn't broke. It didn't need to be fixed.

Micah Abernathy

'A NEW DIRECTION'

Being raised in The South in an era where segregation was still law of the land taught Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy III the same lessons it taught his father, and his father before him: Education was the key to righting wrongs.

It bothered Ralph David III and wife Annette — and it still does, to be clear — that perhaps the only way to secure an excellent education in this country was to dump thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars into it. But such was the way of the world, and they were determined to see their children succeed.

All three of their children — Ralph David IV, Christiana and Micah — were sent through, as Ralph David III proudly boasts, "the top private schools in Atlanta."

For Ralph David III, that was The Westminster School. For Micah, it was Greater Atlanta Christian High School. Both schools cost more than enough to make nearly any family sweat, even without the ubiquitous humidity that comes with living in The South.

"And we're not what I could call extremely wealthy people," Ralph David III said. "We're blessed in so many ways, and we're grateful for those blessings, but we're not rich people."

But excellence was worth the price to Ralph David III and Annette, so they did what they were raised to do. They made it work.

"My parents insisted upon excellence," Ralph David III said. "It wasn't, you know, well, 'You have to do this,' or, 'You have to do that.' It was, 'Do whatever you want to do. Just be excellent in it.' And that's kind of the way we have raised our children. We invested in them. As I said earlier, we're not very wealthy people, but we've put all our money into our children, and all three of them went to some of the top private schools in Atlanta, because we believe that education is the cornerstone of freedom.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones (Photo Credit: Knoxville News Sentinel)

"We believe freedom is not simply the right to do as you please, but freedom is when it pleases you to do what is right. It's more than just physical. It's psychological, and it's psychosocial. Ralph David was the oldest, so he kind of led the way, and I told him it was OK to take our family in a new direction."

That direction was the football field.

'YOU'RE A GLADIATOR'

The Abernathy children weren't forced to do many things — at least not in the minds of their parents — but all sides agreed there were a few non-negotiable tasks: Do the right thing, treat people with respect, get good grades and be excellent in whatever you do. Don't settle. Excel.

Ralph David IV wasn't ever the biggest kid on the block, and he's still just 5-foot-7, but that never stopped him from starring in athletics. His speed, intellect and work ethic were ultimately much bigger than his body, and those qualities caught the eye of several coaches, including then-Cincinnati head coach Butch Jones.

"We loved Butch then, and we love Butch now," Ralph David III said. "My wife, my mother, myself, my sons, my daughter, we all love him. And we love his staff."

Ralph David IV has been a very good player for the Bearcats. Despite playing in just two games so far this season, the running back and return specialist has started most of the time he's been healthy in his career and accumulated 3,643 yards, 13 touchdowns and counting at the college level.

Much of that talent came from genetics.

Ralph David Abernathy IV

Abernathy men aren't just smart and charismatic and, in many cases, wearers of coarse beards that require approximately an hour to shave. They're also athletic.

Before becoming a preacher, state senator and entrepreneur, Ralph David Abernathy III was one heck of an athlete. He was a four-sport star at Atlanta's Northside High School, and he seemed on track to play football on a scholarship at Tulane until a knee injury and an honest mistake from a well-intentioned mother flipped the script.

"I was a star, but my knee injury took me out the game," Ralph David III said. "I was raised at a time when my parents — but particularly my mother, 'cause daddy was always on the road— felt different from the way we look at some things now. This was in an era when football players weren't supposed to be particularly smart, and she didn't really want me to be a football player, but then she learned I was really good and really enjoyed it. But then I got hurt.

"And when I got hurt, mama said, 'Let's not cut on your knee. Let's let it heal on its own.' She thought if I got cut on it, that would scar me, and it would stop me from being drafted in the NFL if I had that scar on my knee. It made sense to me at the time, but when I healed on my own, naturally, of course it didn't heal the way it should have, and I didn't have the same speed.

"I missed almost my entire senior season, and my knee was never the same."

Things worked out well for Ralph David III, but he candidly admitted that part of his soul never left the field, and that he's always been a "sports fanatic." Annette is, too, and one of her jobs during a nearly 40-year-career at Turner Broadcasting was an associate producer for telecasts of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

"You know, after having two generations of preachers, change is refreshing," Ralph David III said. "It's refreshing to go headfirst into the sports arena. I'm a sports fanatic, anyway. I just love sports. And my wife, she knows more about sports than I do, to be honest."

As much as Ralph David IV and Micah grew up worshiping in church, they also shared a reverence for sports — especially football.

Ralph David Abernathy IV

Sensing his sons' love of sports, Ralph David III sat down one day with Ralph David IV and told him that it was OK if his dream was to play NCAA Division I and NFL football. He told his son to follow that dream, and to excel. Good grades weren't negotiable, but he could play ball as much as he wanted as long as he behaved and performed well in the classroom.

"I told him, 'Son, your granddaddy was a gladiator, your daddy was a gladiator and you're a gladiator, so take us wherever you want to go," Ralph David III said. "And Ralph David has always wanted to play in the NFL. Since he was 6 years old, he's wanted to play in the NFL. He always wanted to play in the SEC, or at least Division I football."

Perhaps the NFL will come calling one day for Ralph David IV, but SEC programs didn't. His size had plenty do with that.

Micah, however, didn't have that problem.

'BUTCH CARES'

Micah Abernathy will always be the baby of his family.

But he turned into a pretty big baby.

"That boy grew like a weed," Ralph David III said. "Before we knew it, he was 6-1. He eclipsed his brother [vertically], but he could run just as fast."

Butch Jones (Photo Credit: Knoxville News Sentinel)

College programs from coast to coast saw that, too.

Micah, a Top247, four-star prospect, had nearly his pick of the litter when it came to major college programs, but ultimately two of those programs — Tennessee and Georgia — stood high above the rest.

"He loved 'em both," Ralph David III said. "We all did."

Only one could be chosen, though. And Micah followed Ralph David IV's footsteps and committed on Oct. 10 to play for Jones — who now, along with most of his staff from Cincinnati, coaches at Tennessee.

"The relationships with people were definitely a big part of the reason I chose Tennessee," Micah said. "But also, the biggest thing was that I just felt more comfortable there. I felt more comfortable there than I did at any other school. I know the people, and I know that Tennessee's an up-and-coming school in the SEC, and I definitely want to be a part of that."

Put simply, Micah's decision — and it was his decision— thrilled the rest of his family, who would have supported any choice he made but privately were hoping he'd choose Tennessee.

"I told Butch that we were happy to be back in the family," Ralph David III said. "They're family for us."

And there's a reason for that "family" distinction.

Butch Jones (Photo Credit: USA Today Sports Images)

Ralph David III said he wanted his son to play for a coach who shared the Abernathy family's values on faith, discipline and, when the need arises, tough love.

"Butch cares about his players, and that's why my family cares about Butch," Ralph David III said. "It's not because we sent Ralph David to play for Butch, and it's not because Ralph David started as a true freshman for Butch. It's because we know Butch cares about his players."

Caring is also something that doesn't always come with a smile, but Ralph David III said he and his family understand that.

"There are different styles of coaching," he said. "Butch is the kind of man that makes you be on time for the team meetings. You can't lackadaisically come in when you want to. You have to be in the team meeting on time, or there's a problem. Butch made Munchie Legaux cut his dreadlocks, because he was the quarterback and had to set an example and lead his team. Butch made several guys on the Cincinnati football team take the gold out their mouths. And, by the way, Butch left Cincinnati, but Munchie never grew his dreads back.

"Walter Stewart, who's played for Butch at Cincinnati and is now on Butch's staff at Tennessee, cut his dreads. I saw Walter when we visited Knoxville, and I said, 'Oh, my God.' My wife had to point him out to me. I didn't even recognize him."

Ralph David III said he and his family do not see color. Both of his sisters have for years been married to white men, and Micah said he loves his white uncles and is "blessed to have them in my family." The Abernathy family fights for racial equality, not racial superiority. But they do have a soft spot for the large number of black children — and it is, unequivocally and unfortunately, a large number — who grow up without the blessings of Ralph David, Christiana and Micah Abernathy.

Of all the coaches the Abernathy family visited, though, the one who really stood out to them in terms of understanding and combating that plight was Lyle Allan "Butch" Jones, the white son of a white police chief in Saugatuck, Mich.

"Some of these young people don't have all of the infrastructure in place in their home like Ralph David and Micah and Cristiana have, and they don't have a two-parent household, and they didn't go to private schools, they don't have the wherewithal financially and otherwise to come up on a better side of quality of life," Ralph David III said. "They just come to school on a football scholarship because they're talented. And do you know who they listen to more than anybody else? They listen to their coaches. If their coaches don't give a damn, how does that help those young people? Butch tells them on Sunday mornings after games, to be in [the complex] by 10 o'clock the next morning. That doesn't mean you can mosey on it at 10:15 or 10:20. That means you get yourself there at 10 o'clock. Ralph David gets there at 9:45.

Micah Abernathy

"The person who has the most influence on these kids — and many of them young black kids who are talented and need infrastructure because they don't have a father at home and don't quite understand all the nuances of the world because they were brought up in disadvantaged circumstances — is the coach. The coach becomes very important for them. If you have a coach who doesn't care, that's tough.

"I'm not saying what's right and wrong with the differences in coaching styles, but I would rather my son — even with everything he was raised with — I would rather my son be in an environment where the coach cares enough to tell him, 'If you're late, there's gonna be a problem. Or, 'If you don;t have the right look and represent yourself the right way, there;s gonna be a problem.'

"When you get into the real world, and you're playing in the NFL or you're a coach or you're teaching school or working in business or whatever you become, you have to toe the line. You have to be a productive citizen. You can't lackadaisically go through life."

Many children of many races don't understand that concept.

But Micah Abernathy does.

'IT DOESN'T GO UNNOTICED'

Ralph David Abernathy IV, like most kids, had to learn painful lessons about the problems this world hasn't learned to solve.

Of course, he learned his lessons a bit differently from the way his parents and grandparents learned them.

Micah Abernathy

"My wife went around the corner a while back to the Chinese restaurant, and Ralph David was with her to get some dinner for the house, and there was a guy out there begging for money," Ralph David III said. "My wife told the man to follow them inside, and that if he was hungry, she would get him a meal. He said, 'OK,' and they went in together.

"She told him to look at the menu and tell her what he wanted, and he looked at her and said, 'I can't read.' Ralph David stood there and watched all of that, and then he came home and just cried and cried and cried. I mean, he really boo-hooed. He was boo-hooeing because, as he said,'It's just not right that somebody in today's society can't read, and he's on the street begging for food, and he can't even read the menu.' It just went straight to his heart.

"And Micah's the same way. And Christiana, too. They hate seeing anyone suffer for any reason. They don't understand it."

In other words, yes, the Abernathy children understand they're blessed.

"Our children are appreciative of, you know, understanding where they are, and how blessed they are, and understanding how far we have come as a country," Ralph David III said. "But they also understand that we have such a long way still to go as a country. My children don't see everything we saw. But they've seen things. We're not there yet."

Right is right, and wrong is wrong. Micah, like his siblings, seems to have that very basic, very fundamental understanding.

As Micah's speech during his Under Armour All-America Game jersey presentation showed, though, the young man seems to have more nuanced skills.

He, like his father, grandfather and older brother, is an impressive orator.

Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (Photo Credit: Abernathy family)

Micah, in truth, initially seemed a tad nervous when speaking to a packed gymnasium at Greater Atlanta Christian. He sprinted through the opening portions like a 40-yard dash, leaving a bit to be desired from an enunciation department. Then the inner Abernathy emerged, though. He turned and looked directly to his parents to begin his long list of thank-yous.

"First off, I want to thank my family members, especially my mom and my dad," Micah said. "I know how much you sacrificed to get me to this point, and I want you to know it doesn't go unnoticed."

Ralph David III was stunned.

As much as he knew about his son, he didn't know the boy could speak so well in such a large public setting.

"He looked us dead in the eyes and told us he was so grateful for the sacrifices that I and his mother made, and then he thanked his coach and everybody else," Ralph David III said. "It was just so precise, so defined, so crisp, and his delivery was perfect. I just couldn't believe he and his mama hadn't worked on it, but they both said they hadn't. They were just in the car, and she was telling him, 'Don't forget to thank this person, this person and that person.'

"That was just him. And he was perfect."

Micah had much to thank them for, in his mind. And not just for being his parents.

"I'm definitely proud and happy that my family was a major part of changing so many things in the world," Micah said. "Just thinking back on it, how many things have changed, and how much my family was a part of that, it gives me pride. It's a special thing."

Micah Abernathy

Being an Abernathy is a responsibility. But it's a responsibility Micah said he's learned to embrace.

"I'm kind of used to it now. It's not really that much pressure anymore," he said. "I don't feel that much pressure, really. I mean, if it were somebody else, I could see them feeling like that a name like that put too much on their shoulders. But I'm used to it.

"I didn't always think of it like that. I'd say it's been more recently that things have changed."

MATH MEN

Micah, like his older brother, plans to major in finance. Perhaps, as he did vertically, he can surpass his brother in the classroom. But good luck with that. Ralph David IV is set to graduate from Cincinnati in December — one semester early, for those keeping score.

Finance is a family affair. Ralph David Jr. graduated from Alabama State with a degree in mathematics.

"Ralph David's favorite subject, and Micah's favorite subject, is math, and my daddy got a degree in mathematics," Ralph David III said. "I'm just saying, how many guys do you know who graduated with a degree in mathematics? And I'm not just talking about football players. I'm talking about guys in general."

Micah is proud of his love for math, though, saying he "definitely" thinks his career after football will be focused somewhere in the financial field.

Micah Abernathy

"I definitely think about that. I think about it a lot," Micah said. "I want to major in business, finance, and I like marketing, too. I definitely think about my future after football, and that's one of the major reasons why I chose Tennessee. It's a great school, and they have great programs for the athletes after football."

Only when pushing Micah on specifics regarding life after football does one finally recognize this young man is still a senior in high school.

He knows the general direction, but the devil's in the details.

"I'm not sure I've gotten that far yet," he said with a chuckle. "My dad says he can see me being a preacher one day, but we'll see. I might have the ability to do that, but I don't know yet."

"I'm guessing your father has told you the story about how he didn't want to be a preacher until one day he felt his calling," GoVols247 told Micah in return. "He told me that two times in the first hour I met him."

"Oh, yes, sir. Yes," Micah said. "I've heard that multiple times. Multiple times."

Perhaps the young Abernathy brothers will have an even greater calling, though.

PRESIDENT MIIIIIICAH

Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt

Ralph David Abernathy III plays the role of a humble man very well ... until he starts talking about his family. He's like most men in that everything his parents, wife and children have done is the absolute greatest thing ever.

Even he couldn't believe what two college football coaches told him about his sons in the past month, though.

Within two weeks of each other, Cincinnati associate head coach Robert Prunty and Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt both told Ralph David Abernathy III that a son of his could legitimately be President of the United States of America if he chose to enter politics one day.

"About a week or two before my wife and I and Micah went to Georgia on an unofficial visit, Coach Prunty called me up one day to tell me about how proud he was of Ralph David, and how Ralph David is a leader of the team," Ralph David III said. "He comes to the meetings always 10 minutes to 15 minutes early. He's in the locker room leading the team, he's on the sideline leading the team, he's in the game leading the team. He called him a perfect athlete, and that everybody follows and loves him, and then he said to me, 'I don't know what you're thinking about in terms of what Ralph could do or wants to do after football, but I'm telling you, that boy could be the president of the United States."

"Of course I said that to the wife, and of course she just rolled her eyes and just said, 'Oh, sure, yeah, right.' I said, 'I'm telling you, he said this. This man just said this.'"

That one comment, in a vacuum, was flattering for the Abernathy family to hear.

But then it happened again.

"A week or two later, we're sitting over there at the University of Georgia after the Tennessee-Georgia game on an official visit, and Coach Pruitt walks into the steakhouse where we're all eating dinner,â€ Ralph David III said. "It's a long, long table, maybe 30 people, and there's just a whole lot of conversations going on. Then Coach Pruitt walks in, and with that great country-boy accent of his — he calls him 'Miiiiiicah' — and he leans over to me and he just says, 'Dr. Abernathy, do you know what Miiiiiicah's gonna do after he finishes with football?'

Micah Abernathy

"I said, 'No, I really don't. I don't have a clue. Maybe own a business or something. He wants to get his degree in finance.' And he just looks right back at me and says, 'Miiiiiicah could be the president of the United States one day.' I couldn't believe it. I was like, 'Now, hold on a minute.'

"Then I went back to my wife and said, 'OK, Annette, now listen to this.' Then he went and told her what he'd just told me, and I said, 'See?' My wife just kind of blew off Coach Prunty saying that about Ralph David. But then Coach Pruitt said the exact same thing. So I was like, 'See, Annette? See?'

"It ain't an accident. People see things in these boys."

'TAKE THE STAIRS'

Micah laughs when listening to stories of his father's praise for him. He loves the family's gift of gab. It's one of the things that makes them who they are.

But Micah sincerely appreciates his family's gift of giving. They've given a lot to him and his people — the people of his family, the people of his black race and the people of his human race — and he admittedly doesn't know how they did it. He just knows they did it. And because they did it, he was born blessed.

And as grateful as Micah is for his family's contributions to this point, he doesn't believe the fight is finished.

"It just blows my mind, seeing how things used to be, because I obviously didn't live in that time period," Micah said. "I've grown up in a different time period, so just reading back on what life was like for blacks back then, it definitely shocks me. I mean, it shocks me to this day. Just reading all the stories and watching some of the videos, I don't know what else to say other than it's just shocking.

"Learning those things, it's not easy, but it's something you've got to understand. We have to understand that happened, and why it happened, so we can move forward and not have it happen again."

Micah said he didn't begin to fully understand the magnitude of his family name until at least middle school, when he saw the name 'Ralph Abernathy' in history books and was able to proudly tell classmates, 'It's my granddaddy!'

The future Tennessee Volunteer doesn't pretend to know what his future holds, but he plans to excel on and off the football field. Actually, he doesn't just plan to excel. He know he'll excel. He's an Abernathy. That's what they do. They excel.

Perhaps he won't change the world, and he knows that.

But he can't be ordinary. He knows that, too.

His grandfather's family motto — "If the elevator to success is broken, take the stairs" — leaves no wiggle room. Mediocrity is not an option.

"I have a lot to live up to," Micah said. "And that's OK. "I've been given a foundation and a background to succeed."

And he will succeed, according to his father — a preacher who didn't want his youngest son to feel left out in the what-your-name-means department, so he named him after an Old Testament prophet whose name translated into English means "humble, one who is like God," or "gift from God."

"Ralph David (IV) has said before that he sees sports as a great way to get the attention of young people, and to help people who are not quite as fortunate as we are," Ralph David III said. "He sees that as a venue to further the work that his grandaddy and his father have done. And Micah is the same way. I'm just so proud of both of them. They're on the right path."

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Contact Wes Rucker by email at wesrucker247@gmail.com or ON TWITTER, or FOLLOW GOVOLS247 ON FACEBOOK.