The tiny eastern North Carolina hamlet of Vanceboro has had a population that has fluctuated between 900 and 1,000 over the years.
Fortunately for Justin Hardy’s football development, one of those residents happened to be an NFL quarterback who was related to Hardy and lived on the same road.
Anthony Wright played six NFL seasons, started a playoff game for the Baltimore Ravens in 2003 and won a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants four years later.
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Wright’s career lasted long enough that when he would go back to visit family in Vanceboro and needed someone to catch for him, Hardy – Wright’s younger cousin – was old enough to run routes and pull down passes.