Quote:

About 10 years ago Salaam, who was a three-year starter at San Diego State, was shopping at a supermarket near campus when he noticed Pitts, a 6-foot-5, 305-pound bespectacled grocery bagger, who had never played football before. Salaam told Pitts, an oboe player who went to a math and science high school without a football team, that he should walk on to the squad at San Diego State. Pitts didn't think much of the idea until he carried Salaam's groceries back to his car -- a brand new, 1998 black Corvette.

"That opened his eyes," said Salaam, who would be drafted by the Falcons in the seventh round that year. "He asked, 'How can I get a car like that?' I said, 'Not by playing the oboe.'"