Long before Jamie Foxx entered the world of Hollywood, he was a quarterback at Terrell High School. Foxx was a man of many talents, and apart from football, he was also good in studies and a good basketball player as well.
Foxx had big dreams back then to propel ahead in football and one day represent the Dallas Cowboys and play in front of his own hometown. However, as fate would have it, he took up a scholarship from the United States International University to study music and arts.
Jamie Foxx Reveals Important Lessons He Learned While Playing Football in High School
In a recent interview on All the Smokes podcast, Foxx went down memory lane and recalled precious time he spent on the football field.
“Football in Texas was everything,” Foxx said.
He described that back then making the varsity team as a sophomore was the greatest football moment of his life.
“I remember being a sophomore, getting on the varsity team,” the actor added. “I was big back then, you know, for a sophomore. It taught me to push myself to another level, to really strive.”
In Texas, football isn’t just a game — it’s a way of life. And for Foxx, those early Friday nights under the lights were the first stage where he learned to shine.
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Jamie Foxx Recalls One Incident Which Subjected Him to Getting Hazed
Foxx also recalled one incident when Keith Henderson, a star player on the team, delivered a solar plexus punch that knocked him flat.
“I walked in, and they had carpet on the floor, man. I was like, ‘Damn, they got carpet on the floor!’ So I’m standing there, looking at the carpet, and all of a sudden, I just passed out—passed the hell out,” Foxx recalled.
“One of the guys on the team, Keith Henderson, who was a blue chip, had hit me in the solar plexus and knocked me out. He said, ‘What the hell, sophomore? What you doing with your shoes on the carpet?’ I was like, ‘What?!’ Then all the seniors started hazing me and stuff.”
Despite the rough introduction, he worked his way into a starting role as a 15-year-old, which he finds “incredible.”
“They hazed me, sure, but once I got out there, being 15 and starting on the team—it was incredible,” he said.
While his football career ultimately took a backseat to his rise in entertainment, the experience left Foxx with valuable lessons.