Big Mike’s parents have written a book…In a Heartbeat!


This time last year year no one would have guessed that a movie about a high school football player and his adoptive family would turn out to be one of the year’s biggest box office draws. That is what The Blind Side was taking in the mid nine figures worldwide. It also showed Sandra Bullock’s talents and rewarded her with movies highest honor…the coveted Oscar!

It also catapulted the real life Tuohy family into the national spotlight. They have now written a book about it. It is a Hollywood script that no one would believe is true that contains a no-nonsense southern belle from Memphis, TN Leigh Anne Tuohy (played by Bullock) her husband Sean Tuohy, and a down on his luck street kid named Michael Oher taken in by the Tuohy family. The family opened their home to Mike realizing he needed someone to look after him due to his mother’s drug addiction. Through love and direction, they were able to point Michael to success not only on the football field but in the class room as well!

Mike graduated High School and went on to star academically and in college football at Ole’ Miss. Upon graduation from the University of Mississippi, he was drafted #1 by the Baltimore Ravens and started as an offensive lineman where he anchored one of the best running games in the NFL!

After the success of “The Blind Side“, the Tuohys wanted to tell their side of the story about giving back. They say “if there is one meaning we want you to take from our family is; the person (or persons) that you just walked by could be the person who could change your life…so stop and turn around!” Sean Tuohy says that he remembers that expression “turn around” very well. Leigh Anne said it very forcefully to him when she first saw Michael on the street. He goes on to say that is the message that they want to convey to the readers of their book, turn around and introduce yourself and meet this person. It will change your perception of that person. It is more than writing a check or donating time or money to something. It is making that one on one contact. Leigh Anne goes on to say that IT IS great to write a check because that helps but some people will need time and attention from you and it is especially what kids need now a days.

Due to the entire country knowing their story, it has given them an opportunity to share their story in a much larger way. It obviously is not something that they ask for or even necessarily what they wanted but they feel that they were given this platform for a reason and therefore must share with the rest of the country what there message is. It is incredible the number of emails and letters that they get on a monthly basis. They are not letters asking for something, it’s people telling them how the Tuohys have inspired them to do something along the same lines.

Here is a recent interview with George Stephanopoulos.

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Here is an interview with the Tuohy family that Mike Huckabee did:

Mike Huckabee:  It is a touching story of a white southern family who taking in a black impoverished teenager and helping him turn his life around and it is busting all the predictions at the box office.  The Blindside was inspired by the true story of Michael Oher who is now an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens as well as the family who accepted him as one of their own who join me now.  Please welcome Leigh Anne, Sean, Collins and Sean Tuohy, Jr.  When my wife and I saw the movie we both were just blown away by how powerful the story is.  And I think that what makes it even more touching is that it is true!   Leigh Anne, that scene where Sandra Bullock is walking around out in the rain, did it happen like that?

Leigh Anne:  Almost…there were some artistic liberties taken with that scene.  We actually did pick Michael up on a cold night but it was not for taking him straight to our home that night.  We had picked him up because he had come on the campus to go to the gym for some heat so we gave him a ride back to a bus stop to get him home a little quicker otherwise he would have taken a bus that would have stopped 8 or 9 other places that would have taken him longer to get home.

Mike Huckabee:  Something touched you….you saw this guy walking on the side of the street so what is going on inside of Leigh Anne Tuohy when you saw this great big guy walking around out there by himself?

Leigh Anne:  I think it was just a mother’s intuition…something that just keeps nagging at you to turn around.  I think that those words have been very impact-full in my life lately and I will be forever grateful that we did because that fine young man has changed our lives!

Mike Huckabee:  I think that that was one of the most powerful moments where the scene is that your friends say that you have changed that young man’s life  and you say “No, he has changed mine!” and I thought that that was very powerful.

Mike Huckabee:  Sean, when Leigh Anne started to talk about bringing Michael into the Tuohy family, were you just kind of use to Leigh Anne doing things like that?

Sean:  ‘Talking’ about it is a little bit of a stretch…she TELLS us is more like it! :)   Truth is there never was this epiphany moment.  You know it is kind of the hardest question to answer for some people, ‘When did you decide?…Heck, we don’t remember cause it was…well…we kind of joked about it so we would just say, “…because it was Wednesday that came after Tuesday and right after Monday so…” …it just all kind of come together and all of a sudden we were in the middle of it…and you know it was 8 years later he’s in Baltimore and we are in Memphis.  I don’t really know if there was this big sit down thing but it obviously had to be a conscious thing that is this good or bad but there never was one openly.  You know we vote…Sean, Collins and Sean Jr. have 49 and  1/2 percent and we voted all the time the same but we just seem to never win.

Mike Huckabee:  I understand how that works…

Sean:  I know you do! :)

Mike Huckabee:  …I am married to a southern women myself!

Mike Huckabee:  Collins, I want to ask you…you and Michael were the same age…you went to school with Michael…when your mom said that hey, we are going to invite him home, what was your reaction to that experience?

Collins: It didn’t go exactly like that.  It wasn’t a big sit down moment that they kind of made it out to be it was really gradual as Michael and I had already spent a lot of time around each other with him being part of the family as an option because he played football and I cheered and ran track and he did as well.  We were already acclimated to knowing each other before the big push to move in happened.

Mike Huckabee:  Were there friends of yours that thought that your family was crazy?

Collins:  I sure there was but they weren’t vocal about it.  Well at least they never said anything…(she smiles) probably because they would be afraid that Michael may kill them! :)   No, really, my friends were very open about Michael.  And now that I look back on it, they were very sweet to Michael and we all got along very well.  His friends were always welcome in our house because it was his home and my friends were the same…we all got along very well.

Mike Huckabee:  SJ, I want to ask you, are you as entrepreneurial as you are portrayed to be?…because I see you as the CEO of one of the top companies in the country some day and not very long from now.

SJ:  Well Jae (Jae Head, the actor who played SJ in the movie) did a pretty good job and I don’t know if I was quite like that but I like to tell myself that I guess but Jae may have pulled me off better than I could do myself.

Mike Huckabee:  It has got to be pretty good to have this big brother who could keep an eye on you and watch over you?

SJ:  Yeah, it’s kind of like I never had that and now, it’s just there but it was more like he was a friend than a brother for a long time…I started introducing Mike as my big brother before he was my big brother and that was something….I guess I really never grew up without Mike…

Sean:  Yeah.. he met him when he was about 7 or 8 years old.  But he worked those coaches pretty hard…yeah (laughter) I think it was about the second or third trip that those coaches made before they actually talked to Michael….he (SJ) just handled the whole process…

Leigh Anne:  Yeah it got towards that end of the recruiting process that the coaches use to call and ask if SJ was going to be home tonight because they knew that a whole lot was not going to happen without SJ being there… (laughter)

Mike Huckabee:  …he was really working them hard!…now does he get that from you Leigh Anne or does…(laughter)

Leigh Anne:  …no, he gets that from his Dad.

Mike Huckabee:  I think he got it from both of you…we are just going to talking and come back and talk about this incredible experience.  We will be right back after this…

Filed under: Michael Oher

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