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Sport · Football
On the record
Trai Jamar Essex was born 5 December 1982 — most references give Fort Wayne as his birthplace, while Pro Football Archives gives Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina — and was raised in Fort Wayne, where he starred at Paul Harding High School in football and basketball, played in the first United States Army All-American Bowl in December 2000, and was a member of Harding's 2001 Class 2A state basketball championship team. Recruited by Northwestern as a tight end, he converted to the offensive line, and the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted him in the third round (93rd overall) in 2005. He played eight NFL seasons, seven with Pittsburgh, winning Super Bowls XL and XLIII, and finished with the Indianapolis Colts in 2012. He was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
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- § 06 — people of the record
Sources: Pro Football Reference; Indiana Football Hall of Fame, Trai Essex inductee page; Wikipedia, "Trai Essex."