COLUMBIA, Mo. • Richaud Floyd played backyard football to get his mind off of being away from home.
He was 8 years old. His youth football league season was just about to kick off. But he couldn’t play because his family was one of many evacuating Gulfport, Miss., in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Floyd recalled no one thinking the storm would be that bad, but when his mom, Christy Moncrief-Floyd, saw what was potentially coming, she wanted to get out. She took Floyd and his older brother, Jevon, three hours north to Jackson, Miss.