A fresh start

As I sit here watching college football today, I’m thinking about one of the proudest big sisters I know.

Before my friend Katie King moved to Winston-Salem, NC, from Atlanta in July 2011, she would always share stories on Facebook about her brother Alex, who was then the punter for the Duke Blue Devils.

The stories were always about football accomplishments of Alex’s.

But recently, Katie shared a great post about a much different accomplishment of Alex’s.

A year ago this month, Katie, Alex, their other three siblings and the rest of the King’s family and friends were shellshocked by the suicide of their father, Dr. Michael King, on Oct. 7, 2011.

Earlier this week, espn.com published Alex’s story and shared how his loss took him from Durham, NC to Austin, TX, where he now punts for the Texas Longhorns.

As a son who lost his dad to suicide and as a friend of Katie’s, I was transfixed by Alex’s story, so I wanted to share.

Even if you don’t pull for Texas, I hope you’ll pull for Alex. I know I will.