Adrian Peterson

Peterson’s father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for laundering drug money. He also had a half-brother named Jaylon Brown who was murdered the night before he played at the NFL Combine.

He has six children of which one died at the age of two owing to a lethal assault by the boyfriend of his son’s mother.

Adrian Lewis was born on 21st March, 1985 in Palestine, Texas to Nelson Peterson and Bonita Brown. His father was a star basketball player and thus he too aspired to be an athlete.

He grew up in a Christian family. He had an elder brother named Brian who was also his confidant. Unfortunately, his brother was run over by a drunken truck driver at the age of seven.

The devastating incident shattered him and he turned to sports to overcome the loss of his best companion. He attended ‘Palestine High School’ and excelled in three sports - basketball, track races and football. However, in his later years football became his dominant interest.

He continued to win races such as the 200 and 100 meters and even came in as second runner up after Ivory Williams in the 100 meter dash ‘2004 World Junior Championship’.

Upon completing high school he sought admission to Oklahoma University. In his freshman year he played under the mentorship of Bob Stoops in the ‘Oklahoma Sooners’ football team.

Adrian decided to drop out of his final year and entered the 2007 NFL Draft. On his entry to the league he was compared with great legends such as Eric Dickerson and Gale Sayers.

His early college injuries did pose a slight concern for a few teams. Nevertheless, he was chosen as the first running back that year by the Minnesota Vikings. He signed a contract worth 40.5 million dollars for a term of five years.

He played his debut match against St. Louis Rams in the year 2007. His performance was outstanding, and later he declared in a press-conference that he aimed to claim the title of ‘Offensive Rookie of the Year’.

He wasn’t far from his dream as he soon bagged the ‘NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month’ title and also achieved the most 100-yard rushing record of the season.

On 4th November 2007, his 296 yard rush and three touchdowns against ‘San Diego Chargers’ fortified his national football career. He also became the only rookie to cross 200 yards for the second time in the NFL history.

Peterson’s career under Minnesota Vikings flourished. In the 2008 season his team began with a loss against Indianapolis Colts but went on to win the second match against Carolina Panthers.

His team won the next few matches against New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions. By week 16, he held the leading rushing record of 13,11 yards and finished the season with 1760 yards.

In 2009, he made it for the second time to the ‘AP All-Pro’ team. Coach Brad Childress rendered huge responsibility to Peterson when he gave him a large number of carries. Not failing his coach in the 2009 season he crossed 917 rushing yards by week 10.

He had a tremendous 25 carries, 180 yards and 3 touchdowns against Cleveland Browns. Leading his team he defeated the Dallas Cowboys but unfortunately lost against the Saints at the ‘NFL Championship’.

The year 2010 brought with it plenty of success for Adrian. By the sixth week in the season he had made a career impacting rushing record of 5000 yards and went on to represent his team in the ‘Pro Bowl’. He was even voted as the third player overall in the ‘NFL Top 100 Players of 2011’.