Jaelen Strong quietly picks up the orange and white cleats he helped design. He turns it over and sees writing inscribed on the sides of each shoe.
John H. Rankin III
April 4, 2003
It’s his father’s name and the day he passed away after losing his battle with leukemia. Jaelen was nine years old, his dad was 34.
“He was at most of my games,” Strong says. “I started playing football when I was six so he got to see a couple of years of it.”
Strong hopes to walk in his father’s footsteps, wearing his name.