Eddie Lacy and Hurricane Katrina -
Good article from last year's Milwaukee Journal about the effect of Hurricane Katrina on a 14-year old rising star:
By Tyler Dunne of the Journal Sentinel
July 13, 2013
Green Bay — The moment Eddie Lacy steps into the Republic Chophouse, he beams. He cracks up in a scratchy, southern "heh-heh-heh!" bellow.
Rays from this 70-degree day in Green Bay don't break through the dim, quaint restaurant in downtown Green Bay. Yet Lacy, those pink and turquoise "RECK-LESS" letters glistening on his shirt, pumps in the electricity. Walking toward a booth in the back corner, he clearly just signed his rookie contract or won a lifetime supply of cheese curds. And yet, it's a mirage, an illusion.
The Green Bay Packers' new running back is not truly happy, fulfilled. That alluring smile masks an emptiness Lacy cannot quite explain. He isn't sure if he'll be happy, how to be happy. National titles at Alabama didn't do it. Getting drafted into the NFL was a relief, a blessing, not much more. A legion of fans worshipping at his altar in college? Lacy shrugs. Then, he points to 2005.
That year, Hurricane Katrina bashed through the levees and swallowed Lacy's home in Gretna, La. The cookie-cutter narrative is that a tragedy made Lacy tougher, wiser, fully equipped to take on the world with the blunt force of a lowered right shoulder. And to a degree — on the football field — that's true. He learned to "run angry." Football became Lacy's sanctuary.
But to Lacy, touchdowns and championships and celebrity have been Advil fixes to an illness with no cure. At least Lacy hasn't found the cure yet.
He's searching. He's hopeful ...
Much more here about the loss of the Lacy's home and subsequent move to a trailer: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/packers-rookie-running-back-lacy-has-burden-to-carry-b9951355z1-215404221.html
Recently Eddie was able to buy them a home: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/08/tough_guy_eddie_lacy_shows_his.html
