Two decades before her son became the highest-paid athlete in Colorado history, Bettye Millsap loaded her four boys into the car and put the Rocky Mountains in her rearview mirror.
She had moved from Louisiana 11 years earlier, in the late 1980s, and settled in Montbello, just outside the heart of Denver. Her second-oldest son, Paul, quickly developed an affinity for football and became a middle school quarterback.
But Bettye needed help. She had to work multiple jobs to provide for her sons as a single mother. She couldn’t also be home all day to keep them out of trouble.