The surprising story of Michael Oher, the man who inspired the movie “The Blind Side”

People looked at the big, silent teenager and thought he was just an ordinary guy, shy and lacking in personality. However, behind this apparent normality there was a great athlete and a rare, very rare talent. But the path for this talent to be discovered was not an easy one. Luckily, fate has placed enlightened people in your path who have seen more than just your size or the color of your skin.

We’re talking about Michael Oher, the man whose story inspired the movie. A possible dream. His life had a very difficult beginning, but it turned into a great lesson in effort, empathy and above all solidarity. Today the awesome.club brings more details of this beautiful journey that inspired thousands of people.

In 2002, in the city of Memphis, little was known about the 16-year-old boy who had nowhere to sleep and had to rely on the kindness of strangers to be able to sleep under a roof. One of those kind souls was Tony Henderson, known as “Big Tony”. He was the first to fight for Michael to be accepted into the school. Briarcrest Christian Schoolwith the argument that he would be a secret weapon for the basketball team.

But the thorn in the side of “Big Mike” (as Michael was nicknamed) was his academic record: he had an intelligence quotient of 80 and had already attended 11 different public schools. In addition, he did not attend school for more than a year, had to repeat grades twice and had many absences. The only way to explain the approvals was the teachers’ willingness to get rid of him; ie, they wanted to pass the problem on to some other institution.

Little by little, the people at Briarcrest discovered that Big Mike had 11 siblings, his father had been murdered, and his mother was a drug addict, all of which caused him to spend a lot of time in orphanages. At first, the principal didn’t want him at school, but thanks to pressure from the football coach who showed that this was the only opportunity Michael had to continue studying, he accepted it. However, he placed a condition: the boy could not participate in any other extracurricular activities, not even in the choir, at least until he demonstrated that he had the ability to show better academic results.

But how to show a good academic result with such a weak school base? He had never heard of a verb or a noun, did not speak much and had difficulty communicating with others. That’s why a few weeks after his entry, many teachers suggested that he be expelled once again.

Collins Tuohy, a student at Briarcrest, told her parents about the big black boy who always wore the same clothes to school. One day, while watching a basketball game, his father Sean met Michael. After the game, he asked them to open a permanent account at the school cafeteria for the teenager, something he used to do with the poorest students at the institution.

Sean Tuohy was the clear model of American success: a white man with 60 restaurants and a private jet. He had a hobby of visiting the school as a kind of consultant for the coaches of the sports teams. He also donated money to the school fund to pay the tuition of some students.

At school, Michael managed to improve his performance when the teachers realized that it was much better for him to take oral rather than written exams. At the end of his sophomore year, he joined the basketball team, moved on to track and field, and then in his third year, he finally made it to football.

During one of the first practices, Michael demonstrated that he was much more than a big guy, capable of intimidating the opposing team for his size. Big Mike took a doll that weighed over 22 kg and ran at great speed, as if it didn’t carry anything, which left everyone very surprised. He weighed 156 kg and was 1.93 m tall and everyone thought he would be slow. Everyone was wrong.

While training to play better, he never spent the night in the same place. One day, after training, Leigh Anne Tuohy saw the conditions in which he lived and decided to take him to her house permanently. This was very important for Michael, as it was the first time he had slept in his own bed. He quickly became the third child of a wealthy family and developed a great relationship with his new siblings.

Big Mike started out playing more defensively, but the problem is that at first he didn’t seem to understand very well what was happening around him; he was too passive, afraid of harming others. Until the news that he was an impenetrable wall spread, and piqued the interest of many college football coaches. Some time later he started playing as left tackleone of the most important positions in the sport.

Regardless of talent in the sport, Michael could never play in the NFL if he didn’t have a high enough average for the requirements set by universities. It was then that Leigh Anne decided to take matters into her own hands and spoke to Michael’s teachers. She asked what he would need to do to improve his GPA and assured him that together they would do their best to do so.

Supported by Leigh Anne and a tutor who taught 5 days a week, Michael went from one of the worst averages to the honor roll. Still, his first-year grades were so low that he didn’t reach the required grade point average.

And that’s why they had to give in to plan B: Internet courses. These courses give you the opportunity to replace a full semester’s grades with a new assessment, carried out in a few weeks. Michael did everything right and all the bad grades were improved and he closed all the subjects with an A grade (our grade 10).

There was just one thing missing for Michael to graduate: a picture of himself as a baby for the school yearbook, a tradition at Briarcrest School and many others in the United States. As Michael didn’t have any pictures from when he was little., Leigh Anne visited some families he had passed through, and even went so far as to visit his birth mother. The only photo she found was one of 10-year-old Michael.

Leigh Anne did not accept that the yearbook had a blank space and decided to download a picture of a baby from the Internet. The photo was delivered to the school and was placed in the yearbook.

In May 2015, Big Mike graduated. It was a very emotional ceremony and was attended by all the people who helped him: his new family, his coach, the school principal and the man who took him to Briarcrest School, Big Tony.

Despite some difficulties getting into university, he was accepted into Ole Miss and his intelligence quotient was re-evaluated by another 20-30 points. He was part of the honor roll (best averages) several times and in 2009 he managed to graduate.

After a few years of college sports, he signed a 5-year contract worth $13.8 million with Baltimore Ravensteam in which he was consecrated 2013 Super Bowl XLVII champion. He also played for Tennessee Titans and fur Carolina Panthers. Although he has not officially retired, he has not played in the NFL since 2017. He currently lives with the Tuohy family, still in Tennessee.

Michael Oher’s story is a great example of how support from others and perseverance can turn impossible dreams into reality.

What aspect of this story impressed you the most? What would you do if you were in the role of the family that took in Michael? Do you know any other examples like this that should be shared? Tell in the comments.