By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The odds of safety Alden Darby making the Steelers roster that will open play in September at New England are long. Very long. Not as long, though, as those he already overcame.
He has seen friends and family members die young in and around his hometown of Long Beach, Calif., wearing the colors of various gangs that tried but never enticed Darby to join. With his parents in and out of jail, he slept in more places growing up than a migrating swallow.
“I grew up in Long Beach, I grew up in a place where Snoop Dogg and those guys rap about,” Darby, 22, said.