Hines Ward

Hines Ward has been one of my favorite receivers since three years ago, when I picked him up from free agency in my fantasy football league, but I never realized that he was half-Asian.

From the Korea Times:

Steelers receiver Hines Ward, who was born in Seoul to a Korean woman and an African-American GI 29 years ago, caught five passes and a touchdown in the game against the Denver Broncos, contributing to the team’s 34-17 triumph.

Looking around a bit online, I ran across this interview by SI.com from last week. It sounds like he has an interesting personal history:

I was born in Seoul. My mom's Korean. My dad [Hines Ward Sr.] was in the military. We moved to the U.S. when I was one, and my parents got divorced. My dad remarried, and the courts wouldn't let me live with my mom. They said she was an unfit parent because she couldn't speak English and had no way to support us. So early on I lived with my dad and stepmom.

I went to live with [my mom] when I was in second grade. She was amazing. She had three jobs. Cleaned dishes at the Atlanta airport. Cleaned hotels. Was a grocery-store cashier. She'd work till two in the morning, then get up to make me breakfast before her airport job. She'd come home from that, and before she left for her next job, she'd have lunch on the table for me when I came home from school. I could never, ever repay my mother for everything she did for me.