J. R. Conrad

J. R. Conrad was born in Miami, Oklahoma, and is a member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. He was raised largely by his grandmother and an uncle who was a Vietnam veteran Marine. At tiny Fairland High School (a senior class of 18) he was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Oklahoma. Andy Reid recruited him to Missouri, but he chose OU out of respect for assistant Merv Johnson. Although he had never played center, he started there in 1992 and became the first true freshman ever to start at center for OU, earning Freshman All-American honors. New England drafted him in the seventh round, 247th overall, in 1996. He played 12 NFL games for the Patriots, the Jets and Dallas, then coached high school and arena football, notably with the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz. The Oklahoman wrote on September 2, 1992: "Conrad, a Miami native, moved to Fairland when he was a high school sophomore." Miami News-Record wrote on June 5, 2016: "Midway during his freshman year of high school, Conrad moved to Fairland."