"Mario Williams looks back with pride on his summer job as a youngster,even though there was absolutely nothing fun about the work."My dad laid bricks his whole life, working in the hot sun," Williams says. "It gets hot in North Carolina in the summer, and that's when I got to experience it. That was my summer job from the time I was 10 years old." "We're talking 80-pound bags of cement that you've got to throw on top of the mixer, with 12 shovels of sand," Williams said. "That was my childhood. That was me growing up in the country, in a small town, helping my dad lay bricks, while my mother was working two jobs, trying to make a life for us." Life is considerably more comfortable for Williams these days. He earned about $54 million in six seasons with the Houston Texans. In March, the Buffalo Bills made him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history by signing him to a six-year, $100 million contract, $50 million of which is guaranteed. With that kind of fame and fortune in his life, Williams understands the importance - make that the necessity - of staying grounded. He sounds grateful for his manual-labor experience. "In the summertime," he said, "most kids were talking about what they were going to do on vacation, and I was like, 'I'm going to lay bricks." He embraces his small-town roots, having grown up in rural Richlands - population 912 - in southeastern North Carolina. He clings to the example of hard work and discipline set by his parents, especially his mother, Mary, with whom he lived most of his childhood after his parents divorced." Read more: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article959222.ece
