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Meet Nate Paxton

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Paxton.

Nate, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Nathaniel Paxton and I’m from Scottdale, Georgia. I’ve been homeless most of my entire life.. Throughout my life, my parents have been a tremendous influence on me. Even though we struggled and we never had a lot my brothers and I were always clean as well as were straight A students all through school. I played football, basketball, and track while in high school and excelled at all even through my personal situations. Nobody ever knew what my family was going through I just came to school with a smile and attacked the day. After high school, I signed to play football at Alabama A&M University but something went wrong with the paperwork so I didn’t attend there. For two years I just worked out doing tons of push-ups and body weight squats in the small moldy hotel room my family stayed in where I slept on the floor to make sure my parents had a bed as well as my brothers. So for like two months straight, I caught the train with my dad and tried to meet or catch the then head coach of GSU Bill Curry. Once I finally caught him one day he fell in love with my story and who I was. He told become to the walk-on tryout once I got enrolled in school. Once I did get enrolled in spring of 2012, I came to the tryout where I was definitely the smallest defensive lineman out of like 25 guys. It was probably a good 200 guys who attended the tryout. Out of the 200, only 14 of us made it and I was the only defensive lineman who made it. I made the team but I wasn’t done yet. Throughout being a walk-on football player at Georgia State University now who earned a full scholarship my junior year. I used to wake up and walk 30-45 minutes to catch the bus then get on the train to make it to our 6 A.M. practices. It was many days where I didn’t eat anything but a pack of noodles and drunk some water. This never stopped me from being the first person every day at practice and one of the last to leave. I did everything with a smile despite my circumstances. After earning my scholarship, I cried that day all through drills because I knew without that I couldn’t finish school. I was and still am so thankful for that. I became a team captain, earned good playing time, I helped bring the team the first bowl game in school history, and I was the runner up for the Wilma Rudolph Award(NCAA Award) which goes to a student-athlete who excels despite hardships. I played DE and OLB all my college years and was very effective at that spot. I was one of the only walk-ons in GSU history to get invited to come workout for the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. I’ve won a gold medal playing in China in February of 2017 and I’ve just finished up playing professional arena football for the Georgia Doom where I was a team captain and Qb sack leader as well as pressures leader. I just became a featured athlete on the new sports application called Rookee as well. I’m currently in the process of trying to publish my children’s book, but I also just became a sports writer for a new teen magazine called the Defiant One’s Magazine.

Overall, I’ve been the ultimate underdog my entire life who has risen above and beyond anyone’s expectations. I’ve been homeless majority of my entire life, I went from being a walk-on to being a team captain and one of the faces of my university. On top of that, I was the first person to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administrations, out of my family. I’ve currently just finished up my graduate assistant coaching position with coaching football at Georgia State which I did for three years. Now I’m in the process of furthering my professional football career. My family still struggles till this day, my dad just had surgery to remove a large tumor by his heart and lungs this but they couldn’t remove it. He was diagnosed with a very rare cancer, Thymoma cancer. So now he has to go through chemo/radiation and he can’t work. But throughout all my struggles, this is what keeps me striving. My life has been far from easy but who’s life has been easy. All I know is GOD gives his toughest battles to His toughest soldiers. Stay tuned for what’s next.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has never been a smooth road for me in anything in my life because of being homeless and poor. I never had as much as the next man but I always made due. I remember walking from one end of Memorial Drive to the other to get the little groceries we could afford with my brother. Since I was the stronger one, I always carried the two cases of water and a few bags. This was when I was a teenager so from 13-19 years old. Also being a walk-on was so tough because of my off the field circumstances but even more so being a walk-on means you have no room for error. I was walking on eggshells just to earn playing time and even get noticed.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Nate Paxton – what should we know?
I’m known for being a hard worker who determined and doesn’t take no for an answer. I’m an up in coming professional football player/author/motivational speaker. I’m proud of who I’m becoming because I know it’s who GOD made me to be. I continue to break through and climb over different milestones. I just never give up even when all the odds are against me.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My parents Hnede and Nate Paxton Sr. are definitely the two most important people when it comes to my success because they always supported me and prayed for me. Overall, I’ve had a great group of coaches throughout my career who pushed me to be better and strive for greatness. I’ve had so many it’s hard to name just one, but I’ve also had people who I consider family who aren’t even blood-related who have helped mold and teach me. Like Mr. Mike and Mrs. Marilyn Davis, they have been there for my family since day 1. Ms. Pier Mehrvarz was my counselor from elementary all the way through high school and she has always been there for my family and I. The list goes on with such influential and amazing people who have helped me along my journey. It really does take a village.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
GSU Athletics
Georgia Doom Professional Arena Football

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