Nick Eason, Part 3

In March, Clemson assistant coach Nick Eason shared his life story in full for the first time when he sat down with Tigerillustrated.com for three-plus hours.

The six-part series was published in April and featured an almost breathtaking series of life struggles Eason has fought and overcome -- from overt racism as a high-schooler in his hometown of Lyons, Ga., to watching teammate and friend Brandon Rouse die of a heart attack at Clemson, to almost losing his own life when as a Pittsburgh Steeler he was hospitalized for weeks with complications from a ruptured appendix.

Over the last week we've presented Parts 1 and 2 of the conversation. Today we present the third and final part.