RELATED: How Saquon Barkley's path to NFL star began here in the Lehigh Valley
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Basking in the glow of being a Super Bowl champion, Saquon Barkley isn’t forgetting the folks back home.
In an interview on "The Howard Stern Show" on Sirius XM on Wednesday, Barkley — a 28-year-old Whitehall High School grad — explained how his family and Lehigh Valley upbringing had a deep impact on his life.
“My life definitely would have been a lot different if I didn’t have that father figure,” said Barkley, who set an NFL record this season rushing for more than 2,500 yards in the regular season and postseason combined.
“If I didn’t have my mom [Tonya Johnson] and all the people back in Coplay, Pennsylvania, and Whitehall having my back. It takes a village. There was a lot of people to help me get to this point.”
Barkley shared a story about considering giving up football when he was 13.
“I was immature, wasn’t doing great in school," he said. "It wasn’t going my way and I kind of wanted to quit."
"It takes a village. There was a lot of people to help me get to this point.”Saquon Barkley on "The Howard Stern Show" on SiriusXM
He said his father, Alibay Barkley, provided words of wisdom that stick with him to this day.
“Once again, I’m super thankful,"Barkley told Stern in a telephone interview. "I have both my parents in my life and healthy.
“My father gave me a quote that I kind of live by. He said, ‘You quit one thing in life, you’re going to be a quitter for the rest of your life.’
"That kind of put me right back on the right path and shaped my mindset, and I just tried to grind away harder.”
'Add more chapters to the story'
Through that advice and through football, Barkley said, he found his way.
“It teaches you about life,” he said. ”Life ain’t easy. Adversity is going to come.
“You’re going to get knocked down, gonna get back up and that moment of not just quitting football my dad was, like, ‘You’re going to quit on your family, you’re going to quit on yourself. Any time times will be hard once you quit on yourself you’re going to be quitter for the rest of your life.’”
Barkley will be among the Eagles as they ride along Broad Street in Philadelphia on Friday during the Super Bowl parade.
Earlier this week, he appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" with quarterback Jalen Hurts and shotgunned beers with the Eagles' offensive line.
The Eagles’ 40-22 shellacking of the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs was the team’s second Super Bowl triumph and Barkley’s first.
The former Penn State star signed with the Eagles before the season after six seasons with the New York Giants.
“The thing that drives me the most is being obsessed with wanting to be great. I’ve been through a lot, had a lot of ups and downs and injuries and adversity, but here I am, and I never lost hope, never lost faith, so this is my moment."Saquon Barkley on "The Howard Stern Show" on SiriusXM
Barkley said he has great respect for the Giants; they made him the No. 2 pick overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
But he acknowledged their decision to part ways with him served as motivation to what would become his best season — one of the best seasons for any running back in NFL history, really.
“The thing that drives me the most is being obsessed with wanting to be great,” he said on the Stern show.
“I’ve been through a lot, had a lot of ups and downs and injuries and adversity, but here I am, and I never lost hope, never lost faith, so this is my moment.
“It’s a business. It’s the NFL,” he said. “I took it more as a motivation [to show] my story’s not done, and I can continue to add more chapters to the story.”
