{"id":2661,"date":"2020-10-29T14:37:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T14:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2025-03-27T17:06:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T21:06:05","slug":"a-gentle-giant-michael-haddix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2020\/10\/29\/a-gentle-giant-michael-haddix\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gentle Giant: Michael Haddix"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b\"]{display:block;padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-md, 2rem);text-align:center;font-size:var(--global-kb-font-size-sm, 0.9rem);font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<span class=\"kt-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b wu-subheading wp-block-kadence-advancedheading has-kb-palette-14-color has-text-color\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_6473b1-0b\">Michael Haddix accepts an award on the football field next to his wife.<\/span>\n\n\n<style>.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column2661_f39be5-9a dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07 wu-subheading wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading2661_24b16d-07\">A master\u2019s from WilmU influenced this former Philadelphia Eagle\u2019s lifetime work. Now the ex-fullback is fully invested in his community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Michael Haddix was 9 years old, he suffered a child\u2019s worst nightmare: His parents, as well as an aunt, were killed when their car was struck head-on by a drunken driver as they were coming home from a high school reunion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It happened on Christmas Eve. Three days before his 10th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That kind of devastating tragedy can lead to a textbook full of emotional struggles for a child \u2014unless that child has a strong support system. Fortunately, young Michael did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His maternal grandparents, Devoe and Ruby Rainer, took him in, along with his 13-year-old sister and his infant sister and brother. \u201cThere was never any question of us going into foster care,\u201d Haddix says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his siblings joined his aunt\u2019s children and his grandparents\u2019 children, who were in high school, to make a total of 14 kids on the Rainer farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a big farm near a small town \u2014 Walnut, Mississippi (population in 2010: 717). \u201cWe had milking cows, raised hogs, chickens, we chopped cotton, grew corn, cucumbers, peas, even had horses,\u201d says Haddix. \u201cOne thing we knew about was hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks in part to the day-long demands of farm life as well as loving adults to guide him through his formative years, Haddix says he never got into the mischief so common to adolescent boys. \u201cI was always a kid who worked hard and was a good student. I was disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For that, he says, his father was at least partially responsible. \u201cMy dad was only with me for nine years of my life, but I think everything that he ever taught me I remembered. Then my grandfather and grandmother picked it up from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also was well aware of how fortunate he was, as an orphan, to have a stable home life. That awareness would shape his career choices, eventually bringing him to what was then Wilmington College, where he earned a master\u2019s degree in Administration of Human Service, with a focus in the juvenile justice system and at-risk children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explains his educational choice this way: \u201cAnytime you come through what I went through, you want to give back to kids who are less fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image2661_683ca2-2b .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image2661_683ca2-2b\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"324\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002-324x480.jpg\" alt=\"Haddix on the football field carrying the ball as a Philadelphia Eagle\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-2662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002-324x480.jpg 324w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002-169x250.jpg 169w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002-768x1139.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002-1036x1536.jpg 1036w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/41798-Box-58-Haddix-Michael-Sheet-001-e006-002.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 324px) 100vw, 324px\" \/><figcaption>Haddix on the football field carrying the ball as a Philadelphia Eagle.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Haddix graduated from Walnut High School in 1979 with a desire for a college education instilled in him by his grandmother. His exceptional athletic ability helped him fulfill that desire with a four-year scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy true love was basketball,\u201d he says, \u201cand I got offers, but I was only 6-2 and a power forward and I figured I was too short to play power forward in college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That left him with football. Big, fast and country strong, he terrorized opposing defenses from his running back position. Although Walnut High \u2014 with a graduating class of 45 \u2014 was hardly a gridiron powerhouse, Haddix caught the attention of several schools and wound up accepting a full ride to Mississippi State University, in Starkville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Losing his parents and the long, hard days on the farm had combined to forge a mature young man, and that helped him in the classroom, where he earned a degree in Elementary Education, as well as on the football field, where he averaged six yards a carry \u2014 still an MSU record \u2014 and was twice named to the All-Southeastern Conference team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Haddix\u2019s journey to Wilmington College can be traced to the 1983 NFL draft, when the Philadelphia Eagles picked him in the first round (eighth overall). He went on to play six seasons with the Eagles, usually as the starting fullback, before finishing the last two years of his career with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI loved Philadelphia,\u201d Haddix says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He especially appreciated Head Coach Marion Campbell, who drafted him ahead of some big-name players, telling him he had \u201cthe size, the speed and the toughness\u201d to eventually replace star running back Wilbert Montgomery, who was near retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During his Eagles career, Haddix earned the nickname \u201cGiant killer\u201d from Buddy Ryan, who succeeded Campbell in 1986. Ryan habitually mispronounced players\u2019 names, and he usually called his fullback \u201cMaddix.\u201d Explains Haddix: \u201cI was pretty much the only one who could block (All-Pro New York Giant linebacker) Lawrence Taylor, and Buddy said, \u2018Yeah, that Maddix kid, he\u2019s my Giant killer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking on the unglamorous role of a blocking back helped his image with the Eagles faithful. \u201cThe fans were always good to me,\u201d Haddix remembers. \u201cI think they appreciated a blue-collar guy, a hard worker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He retired in 1991, then accepted a job at a residential facility for youth in Mount Holly, New Jersey. He also joined his wife, Yulanda, to help her in a program in Camden, New Jersey, that focused on rehabilitating former gang members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helping youth was his \u201cpassion,\u201d Haddix says. \u201cI also wanted to try to dispel the myth that all football players could do is coach or teach. So I went in a total different direction, and I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While working with troubled youth for several years, Haddix also became something of an entrepreneur. \u201cI got into the tailoring business,\u201d he says. \u201cWe would tailor suits for professional athletes. We would go all over \u2014 Chicago, Washington, wherever \u2014 and measure these guys and they would order five or six suits at a time. It did real well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a few years in the workforce, he felt the need for an advanced degree. He researched nearby colleges and decided to continue his education at Wilmington. \u201cI lived in Washington Township, New Jersey, so it was close,\u201d he says, \u201cand I had heard good things about the school. It was a nice, quiet place where I wouldn\u2019t be distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide wu-blockquote-row is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cPeople were really about business there,&#8221; he adds, referring to adjuncts who were actually working in his chosen field. &#8220;I enjoyed all my classes and my professors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He received his degree in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Haddix and Yulanda live in Starkville, where they are both fully invested in the community. Haddix has established the Professional Football Players Charitable Foundation, of which he is president and C.O.O. He says the nonprofit deals largely with \u201cbehavior modification in adjudicated youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yulanda Haddix became president of the Oktibbeha County chapter of the NAACP in January of last year. In a story on her election in The Dispatch, the local newspaper, her predecessor, Chris Taylor, said: \u201cShe and her husband really want to give back. I think they\u2019re going to be a great team because her husband is really involved in some of everything in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Haddix also has retained an entrepreneurial spirit. Together with his wife, he owns Big Dawg\u2019s Station 26 (his jersey number), which he calls \u201ca country store.\u201d Customers can fill their gas tanks, buy bait, and feast on barbecue, catfish sandwiches and Yulanda\u2019s caramel cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Haddix is proud of his seven sons and two daughters, all of whom are successful. One son, Tajee Almon, played basketball for WilmU from 2012\u201317, and still holds the single-game record for blocks \u2014 nine. Another son, Michael Jr., is founder and CEO of Empower3d, which provides athletes with financial advice and a network of experts to support the next chapter of their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last fall, Haddix was inducted into the Mississippi State Sports Hall of Fame. In his speech, he said he viewed the honor as an acknowledgement that he was more than a football player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am being recognized not only for the talent I brought on the field but for my character and demeanor off the field as a student-athlete,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is one thing I don\u2019t think people realize: You are not just an athlete. You are a role model, and you influence a lot of young people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Haddix understood this maxim at an early age, and he has lived his life accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Haddix accepts an award on the football field next to his wife. A master\u2019s from WilmU influenced this former Philadelphia Eagle\u2019s lifetime work. Now&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[179,634],"class_list":["post-2661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-alumni","tag-magazine-fall-2020"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":179,"label":"Alumni"},{"value":634,"label":"Magazine Fall 2020"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/092119_FB_vs_Kentucky_AC4084-604x480.jpg",604,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rebecca Slinger","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rebecca\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":179,"name":"Alumni","slug":"alumni","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":736,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":634,"name":"Magazine Fall 2020","slug":"magazine-fall-2020","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1191,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17561,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2661\/revisions\/17561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}