NEED TO KNOW
\nFormer NFL player Deland McCullough shared how he discovered his longtime mentor was also his biological fatherMcCullough and his father, Sherman Smith, sat down with Kathy Park on Today to recount their incredible storyMcCullough goes in depth on their relationship in his book Runs In the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging <\/p>\n
When Deland McCullough set out to find his biological parents, the former NFL player didn’t have to go far.\n<\/p>\n
McCullough, 52, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals and served as running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Las Vegas Raiders this season, recounted the incredible story of how he discovered his longtime mentor and former coach Sherman Smith was his biological father during a conversation with Kathy Park on the Tuesday, Oct. 28, episode of the Today Show<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Growing up, McCullough was raised by his adoptive mother, Adele, after being orphaned at birth, Park reported. When McCullough was 17, Smith, who is now 70, helped recruit him to Miami University, where both Smith and McCullough made names for themselves as football stars.\n<\/p>\n Deland McCullough and his father Sherman Smith.<\/p>\n TODAY\/YouTube<\/p>\n At the time, Smith was serving as running backs coach. “The statement I would make to the players as I coached them [was], ‘You may not be looking for a father but I’m going to treat you like my son,’ ” Smith recalled.\n<\/p>\n McCullough recalled the strong “connection” he felt to Smith at the time, including a meaningful conversation they had after a “catastrophic knee injury” in a final preseason game with Smith as a coach. Smith had become “the steady father figure Deland never had,” Park said on Today.\n<\/p>\n In 2017, after becoming a father himself, McCullough went looking for his birth parents. His biological mom, who lived just 10 minutes away, told him, “your dad is a man named Sherman Smith,” McCullough recalled.\n<\/p>\n Deland McCullough and his father Sherman Smith.<\/p>\n TODAY\/YouTube<\/p>\n When they finally reunited as father and son, McCullough said Smith “opened the door and he just opened his arms and said, ‘my son.'”\n<\/p>\n Smith said he was unaware that McCullough’s birth mother, a former friend, had given birth to their son, describing their story as “divine” on Today. “There’s no way to write this … you just have to believe this is God,” Smith said.\n<\/p>\n McCullough also noted the similarities between his and his father’s football careers. “Both of us in the Hall of Fame at Miami, both of us go and play professional, both of our careers end because of multiple knee surgeries.”\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n