Food insecurity — not having enough food to eat — causes drastic and unhealthy coping solutions for many high school athletes in and around Philly.

by Aaron Carter, Updated: November 9, 2019

The Philadelphia Inquirer

His stomach was often empty. His body was always weary.

Tragedy, frustration, and pain had nearly cost Casey Williams his Division I football promise.

Yet he believed a college football scholarship meant a better life.

But to cope with pangs of hunger that made sleep improbable, Williams, a 2016 South Philadelphia High School graduate, exercised until exhaustion just so his beleaguered body could rest.

Greg Garrett, 46, current trainer of Philly-born NBA veterans Marcus and Markieff Morris, recalled he once ate gum off a sidewalk rather than walk the three miles to Sayre Junior High School on an empty stomach.

Food insecurity has caused high school athletes in the Philadelphia area to cope with hunger in drastic, often unhealthy ways for generations.