Prior to being selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of this year’s draft, former Alabama running back Najee Harris held a draft party at a homeless shelter in California where he once lived, according to a report from Sports Illustrated.
Harris, who was selected as the 24th overall pick Thursday night, spent several years at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, in Richmond, California, while growing up.
“Just to see him as a grown man with this kind of opportunity for him today and to know that he lived in this shelter among many other places their family had to move around and lives as a homeless man just speaks to [the thought that] anything is possible,” Kathleen Sullivan, executive director of the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program told CNN.
Harris also told reporters that his return to the shelter was rather emotional for he and his family.
“It was really emotional for my mom,” Harris told Sports Illustrated. “Almost as if she was crying, in a way, because we have a lot of memories here. That was a time in my life when it was really low.”
