Jonesboro siblings gave it all to reach the NFL and NBA

They have found their rightful places in the world. Harry, the extrovert, chose football. Toney, the quiet one who never sought the contact, sided with the pull-up jumper. All without losing each other.

“I have no friends, really. My friend is my brother,” said Toney, 18 months younger than Harry, who turns 26 in September.

They have begun leaving their marks on their community, opening, with their parents, the Douglas Brothers Foundation in Morrow. Growing up in Jonesboro, the brothers always told each other that, if they ever did sign pro contracts, they would do something for other kids who didn’t have the support they did. Last Christmas, they backed a big party at their old high school for underprivileged youngsters. And now, in some reconfigured office space, a small group of middle schoolers do their homework, get some computer time and pick up life skills with the help of the Douglas family. Next summer, they’re even planning a college tour throughout Florida for about 20 of the better students.

“Everyone likes to feel love and not everyone can get all they need at home,” Harry said. “Maybe my brother and I and my family can help provide it.”

That’s a wrap, right?

Not exactly.

Much is expected

It seldom is so neat and simple where bone and ligament are concerned. The storyline got all jumbled a year ago during a routine training camp drill.

Harry Douglas went up for a Matt Ryan pass as a promising big-play receiver who, in his rookie year, had scored touchdowns catching, rushing and punt returning. He came down an outpatient.

Among the players featured in the Falcons’ radio “Rise Up” ads is the young comeback receiver with the repaired knee ligament. Much is expected from him, especially given a shoulder injury that will sideline Michael Jenkins at the season’s beginning.

Yes, Douglas said, just like the strident voice on that ad reported, they did occasionally strap him down during rehab so he wouldn’t fall off the therapy table in pain.

And, yes, there was some truth in the advertising assertion that he never cursed his fate or asked “Why me?”

“There are a lot bigger problems [in the world] than me coming back from a knee injury,” he said.

A few details, however, can’t be squeezed into a 30-second radio spot.

Harry III and Stephanie Douglas were the type of parents who challenged their three children — they also have a daughter, Jamila.

On Tuesdays, they insisted the kids wear their Sunday best to school to get used to dressing for success.

School was never optional. In the building that houses the Douglas Brothers Foundation, photos and trophies representing their athletic conquests cover the walls. Posted most prominently in the central hallway are Harry’s and Toney’s college degrees.

As the boys grew older, and the dreams grew with them, Harry III and Stephanie would even hold make-believe interview sessions with them, propping them up on barstools and peppering them with questions. They videotaped the exercise to review points like speaking clearly and looking their questioner in the eye.

As for the games they played, the Douglas boys might have been most proficient at baseball, their father said. But they grew frustrated with that sport. Basketball was Toney’s indisputable forte. All those evenings when he came running into the house, crying about some absurdly lopsided beating his brother had administered on the rim out front paid off years later. By his senior season at FSU, the 6-foot-2 guard was the ACC’s leading scorer, soon to be a NBA first-rounder.

Harry, who still is a slight 6-foot, 180 pounds, ran into plenty of doubters as he gravitated toward football, those who figured he’d never grow enough to meet the demands of the sport.

“People were always telling me I was too small. And always my family told me don’t worry about it, work hard and take care of your own business the rest will take care of itself,” he said.

His solution was to out-work and out-run the bigger guys. One quirky manifestation of his work habits is the ever-present bucket of rice. Harry still keeps with him – he continually kneads it to strengthen his hands. “We keep a bag at home just for that,” laughed Stephanie.

All the way through high school and college, the Douglas boys could count on their bodies to respond to any demand. Save for a busted hand Toney suffered at FSU, injuries were something other people confronted.

Until Harry met calamity.

When he got word of the camp injury, Toney said, “I actually cried, because I know him and I know how much he wants this [career].”

Then it came time to move on and begin the repairs.

Family comes in handy sometimes. His parents moved into Harry’s Lawrenceville home during the initial recovery.

By the end of 2009 and into this year, he spent more time with Toney in New York, competing vicariously through him and rehabbing. Harry even spent some of the time preparing for life after playing, interning at the NFL Manhattan offices, shadowing league executives.

Having been the teacher all these years, Harry now found himself leaning on his younger brother. “He taught me how to be calm, relaxed, go with the flow,” Harry said.

And he came to see the injury as another lesson about taking nothing for granted.

Savors the game

Off the field, the foundation named for him and his brother and manned by his parents is spreading roots in his hometown. “It’s a blessing,” Harry said.

On it, last Thursday, against New England, he ran his first competitive routes, caught two humble passes for 13 yards and rejoiced in the fact that his left knee didn’t talk back the next day.

“It was a joy to see. You don’t even remember the injury — like it never happened,” said his mother.

Here late in the preseason, when the training camp drudgery weighs heavy on players, Douglas is downright rhapsodic.

Last week, from a bleacher seat overlooking the team’s practice fields, following another midday sweat-fest, he talked about how much he savored the smell of the grass when first walking onto the practice field and how good it felt to be in the sunlight, running free.

“I love the game of football like no other. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to play football,” Harry said.

According the Elias Sports bureau, the Douglases are only the sixth set of brothers to play in the NFL and NBA at the same time.

The last was the Burlesons — Nate with the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin, who played eight games with the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006.

The rarest kind of brother act is back on track.

Comparing the Douglas brothers

Harry

Toney