Small World, Part I: Ontario's Bodpegn Miller thriving after adoption form Ethiopia

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Part 1 of a three-part series.

ONTARIO — All it took was a grainy mug shot on a cell phone for Alan and Deanna Miller to fall in love.

That was the first time they saw a boy named Bodpegn. And from that day forward, they knew their hearts would forever be full of unconditional love for someone they had not yet even met in person.

And what a gift Ontario junior quarterback Bodpegn Miller has been to the family and athletic community.

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Bodpegn Miller's Adoption Story

Alan Miller grew up in North Carolina and met his wife, Deanna, in the military. He followed her back to Ontario, and they started a family with three children. After his sister passed away, her kids came to live with them.

The Millers had a full house, and Alan loved every second of having a big family.

As his sister’s kids grew older, they moved to live with Alan’s mother. Soon after, the routine of walking his daughter, Grace, into school hand in hand was over. She was too old and too cool for that now.

Alan went home that day and knew he wanted more children. His father passed away when he was five; he said it still breaks his heart to have not grown up with a father, but having children has mended that feeling. Beyond Bryce, Abby and Grace, the Millers decided adoption would be the best way to grow their family.

“I can show you the picture on my phone,” Alan said. “All I had was a mug shot and I still have it on there to this day. I didn’t ask a single question. We knew he was our son."

Bodpegn was born into the Anuak tribe, also known as Anyuak and Anywaa, located in the Gambela region of southwestern Ethiopia. It is estimated to have between 250,000 and 300,000 people worldwide.

"I came from a tribe of loving people," Bodpegn said. "The taught us, through God, to just respect other people. Be nice to everyone and treat everyone how you want to be treated."

“There were just less opportunities,” Bodpegn said.

When he was five years old, Bodpegn's biological mother put him up for adoption. The Anuak are subject to racial discrimination and marginalization in Ethiopia, limiting access to education, health care and basic services.

“I remember hanging out with my brothers and all the fun we had, but I do remember my birth mother wanting to provide me with a better life,” Bodpegn said. “The Miller family has been an absolute blessing. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

On a first trip to Ethiopia to meet Bodpegn, Alan Miller was blow away by the hospitality. He and his son Bryce were made to feel right at home, the locals openly sharing their culture. It showcased why Bodpegn's mother made her decision, and why Americans struggle to understand the difficulty of life in that part of the world.

“It is a beautiful country and a beautiful culture,” Alan said. “I was lucky enough to go to where he is from but there just aren’t a ton of opportunities there. There is no middle class. He had three older brothers and a younger sister and it is impossible to feed everyone. It is difficult.

“It doesn’t mean it is a bad place or a horrible country,” he later added. “It is just different.”

Finding football

Alan signed his son up for soccer in kindergarten, but frustration quickly set in for Bodpegn. He was far ahead of his classmates in knowing when and where the ball needed to go. He decided that American soccer just wasn’t for him.

“I didn’t even know football existed,” Bodpegn said. “It was mostly just soccer. Everywhere in the world, soccer is No. 1 except here in America. When I came over, I initially started with soccer and was pretty good at it, but my brother and my dad introduced me to football and it has led to this.”

Now a junior and one of the best quarterbacks in Richland County, Bodpegn has a promising future. On Sept. 29 against Pleasant, he threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, giving him 24 touchdowns for the season. He is already the No. 2 passer on the all-time list at Ontario and is destined to leave as its best QB of all time.

It didn’t take Bodpegn long to pick up the sport. His father, also the eighth-grade coach at Ontario, and brother Bryce grew up around football and were always watching the game. Naturally, Bodpegn tagged along. He soaked it up like a sponge, asking questions regularly that were well beyond his age. He wanted to know why a certain player did what they did on the field, even if they may not have been impactful in the play.

“When Bryce played here, Bodpegn would sit in the stands and ask so many questions that it was hard to keep up with,” Alan Miller said. “He just wanted to know everything. So, when he came of age, I signed him up for tackle football and his class was the last class to play youth tackle football. When he got on the field, he ran left, ran right and he was a natural.”

Bodpegn already has impressed college coaches nationwide. He has been in contact with Coastal Carolina and is followed on social media by Yale head coach Tony Reno and staff members at Ohio University, West Virginia and Kentucky. It is no surprise, considering he has led the Warriors to their first 7-0 start since 2001.

"He has a great attitude about his football future," Alan said. "He has told me numerous times that he doesn't care where he plays or what division, he just wants to play football."

After a tough transition from when he arrived in Ohio, Bodpegn has adjusted to new food and overcome a language barrier, with a family to help him every step of the way.

“It makes me feel good to always have someone I can lean on,” Bodpegn said. “My biological mom, it feels good knowing I can live a life knowing she passed me along to a family so loving and caring and that will do absolutely anything for me.”

Today, he is like most high school football players: Obsessed with football and regularly studying tapes, watching a game with his family or attending one in person. And he loves cooking shows on television.

“I personally cannot cook,” Bodpegn said with a laugh. “But I love food and I love watching shows of how the process goes because it is so interesting to me how you can create something from something else.”

A chance encounter

While Bodpegn Miller was starting his high school football career, he heard a rumor that rival Clear Fork, located less than 20 miles away, was receiving two transfer students from Bay Village who were dynamic at football.

Those two boys would affect his life more than he could have imagined. It sparked a friendship that is strong and will remain strong as long as he lives.

jfurr@gannett.com

740-244-9934

X: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario quarterback Bodpegn Miller thrives after Ethiopian adoption