Eric Berry: From Statistics And Highlights To Compassion And Empathy, Eric Berry is 25 years old. He was born on December 29, 1988 and has two younger brothers (twins) Elliott and Evan.
He was born in Fairburn, Georgia and attended Creekside High School, where he starred on the track and field team and played both quarterback and cornerback for the school’s varsity football team.
Berry’s father, James, played running back at Tennessee (Eric’s alma mater) from 1978-1981. His mother, Carol, is the president of the Eric Berry Foundation, which focuses on giving children a safe place to play team sports.
Berry suffers from equinophobia, otherwise known as a fear of horses. This is brought to the forefront by the Kansas City Chiefs team mascot Warpaint, a horse who rides onto the field prior to home games.
James Eric Berry, as he was born, may also be in for the battle of his life. During an MRI this past weekend after complaining of chest pains, Chiefs team doctors and professionals at the University of Kansas Hospital found that Berry had a mass in his chest. A mass that officials believe could very well be lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. Needless to say, football is no longer a concern for Berry and his family. This potential battle will be unlike anything he’s gone through to reach the pinnacle of the football profession.
And while many have sent their thoughts to Berry via social media or another medium, not many people around the football world knew the information I provided above prior to Berry being placed on NFI (non-football illness list) on Monday.
This is something we could have easily known with a quick Google GOOGL +0.28% search of the All-Pro safety. But that’s not necessarily what interests fans and writers around the football world today. Instead our focus is on the numbers players put up on the football field or how an individual player may have off-field issues (see Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice).
With the advent of fantasy football from a hobby to a multi-billion dollar business, those aforementioned numbers take on a new meaning. To many of us, these players are simply statistics. For those of you who focus on IDP (individual defensive player) fantasy leagues, the only previous thought you likely gave of Berry was how many tackles or interceptions he recorded during a given game.
