In high school, there was a kid about three years younger than me who also played football. People would get us confused because they said we looked so much alike. We became good friends.
Our friendship has faded even though our paths crossed somewhat for years and our lives had eerie similarities. After we both graduated, I was a working journalist and “sometime” college student while he moved, of all places, down to Chapel Hill to play football.
His name: Michael Benefield. He played fullback for the Heels and started his final season.
I think the last I heard, he was working in Atlanta after spending many years in Delaware state government and then working for MBNA.
Sometimes, I think about that myth that “all black people look alike” when I think about our time in high school and some of the confusion it caused for others who thought they saw me but it was really Mike. And the look-alike thing can have some unintended results.
But then you run across something interesting like this to show you that despite our differences, we’re all really quite closely related.
Wanna see just how closely related we are? Check out The Genographic Project.
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My brother Hugh has season tickets to the Panthers, and this year, in the row in front of him and about three seats to his left, sits a guy who also does and who looks exactly like him. They have successfully convinced other fans that they are identical twins.