44

A firm believer that it’s never too late to teach an old dog some new tricks, a 44-year-old Tennessee man named Joey Williams returned to college in 2003 to complete the degree he never finished. While enrolled at Jackson, Tennessee’s own Lambuth University, he decided to get the full collegiate experience by joining the football team as a lineman and playing alongside the young bucks — one of whom, in a stranger-than-fiction twist, just so happened to be Williams’ son. Fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing college ball that was once stymied by a busted knee in his senior year of high school, Williams provided NPR with an inspirational human-interest story for their segment “A Lineman At 44.”