Football always has come naturally for Florida offensive lineman Max Starks, but it took 17 years to understand it wasn’t a coincidence.
At a summer football camp at Georgia in 1999, then-high school senior Starks met NFL great Ross Browner–his biological father, a man who was a mystery to him.
That encounter prompted questions, fears and nerves. But once Browner, who learned Starks was his son in February 1999, gripped his boy’s shoulders with both hands, the unknown became familiar.
“We held each other for a minute, separated, looked each other up and down and hugged again,” said Browner, a nine-year NFL veteran and two-time All-American in the late 1970s as a defensive end at Notre Dame. “Just looking at him was great–his body, his eyes, his head, his nose. He looks just like me.”
On Valentine’s Day 1999, Browner received a phone call that changed his life. The message? “You have a son.”
Starks’ mother, Elleanor, dated Browner for almost two years and conceived a child with him. But the two broke up, and Elleanor never told Browner she was pregnant.
Elleanor married Max Starks III in the summer of 1981, and they moved to Orlando. On Jan. 10, 1982, Max Starks IV was born, and Max Starks III became a father.
When Starks hit a major growth spurt in high school, it was clear he didn’t much resemble Max III. Instead, he became a “carbon copy” of Browner, Elleanor said.
Elleanor, now president of the Gators Parents Association, wasn’t the only one who noticed. Some of Starks’ high school coaches mentioned the resemblance to Elleanor. After much soul-searching, she decided the time had come to share her secret.
She told Browner first. Then she sat down with her son.
“He needed to hear it from me,” she said. “I didn’t tell him for the longest time because he had a great relationship with Max. He was raised by Max. It can be a difficult situation when someone tells you that your father is someone different than you thought.”
For 17 years, Starks called Max III his father. Suddenly, two men shared that title.
“It was a shock to me, but it didn’t hurt me,” Starks said. “I know it was hard for my mother to tell me.”
The day he learned Browner was his father, Starks and his mother called him. Father and son spoke a few times thereafter, and the two decided to meet at the July football camp. Afterward, Browner took Starks to lunch.
“Hey, Dad, where have you been?” Browner remembers Starks saying.
Tough question. Tougher answer.
“We continued to talk things out,” said Browner, who lives in Atlanta. “I told him my situation and about my family. I told him about my mother’s name and my father’s name. We started to communicate.”
Starks was in the process of picking a college when Browner entered his life, and the options seemed endless: Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Stanford. Browner, an Outland and Lombardi Trophy winner at Notre Dame, wanted his son to attend his alma mater, but Starks’ heart was in Gainesville.
Starks, who started 35 games for the Gators, became an All-Southeastern Conference player. Throughout his college career, Starks turned to Browner for advice.
“He’s helped me out a lot with the playing process of college football and how to handle it,” Starks said.
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“I always admired what he did on the field.”
Said Browner: “I always tell him to study [former Bengals offensive lineman] Anthony Munoz, because he was one of the best to play the position.”
Starks played his final college game Thursday in the Outback Bowl, which resulted in a 37-17 loss to Iowa. Next comes the 2004 NFL draft. Browner plans to help him any way he can.
“There are a lot of NFL teams that need a good offensive lineman, and Max is a good one,” Browner said. “I hope the Atlanta Falcons would pick him up, because then he’d be close.”
Starks’ fondest memory of his father is when, while at Browner’s home in Atlanta, Browner showed him the trophy room, along with a scrapbook customized for Starks.
“Just seeing the Lombardi Trophy, seeing the Outland, the AFC championship ring with the Bengals, the numerous Sports Illustrated covers, it was really cool,” Starks said. “We just hung out at his house, and he showed me everything that he has.”
They speak on the phone once a week, strengthening their new relationship.
Said Starks: “But I’ve learned to grow with him.”