Early Life
Born on January 4, 1985 in Monticello, Mississippi, Al spent his childhood in the small nearby town of Prentiss, complete with a population of just 1,500. The Jefferson family was a staple of the Progress community, a close-knit, predominantly black section of Prentiss. While his mother Laura worked as an assistant teacher in Prentiss Elementary School, Al's father was killed in a work-related accident when he was very young, leaving him without the guidance and discipline a father figure provides. He had a strong support system around him – his grandmother, Gladys Jefferson, lived on the same property as Al and his mother, and several other family members lived in the nearby town of Progress. But not having a father in his life allowed Al to find his way into trouble as a boy. As Al entered his teen years, though, an incredible growth spurt saw him sprout into a 6'4” eighth-grader, and saw him discover what would become his first love; basketball. Dr. Jefferson himself had been a stand-out player, earning a scholarship in the early 1970s to play for the University of Southern Mississippi. He helped Al to learn the game, and the youngster's enthusiasm for the sport, along with his incredible size, became impossible to ignore.
Read more about this topic: Al Jefferson
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.”
—Eudora Welty (b. 1909)
“When a man’s life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men’s actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)