When Sherman Smith entered Deland McCullough’s life, he became his lifelong friend, role model and father figure. The two football pros had many parallels in their careers, but neither of them had any idea that they had something much more significant in common: genetics.

McCullough, who was raised by his adoptive mother, Adelle Comer, in Youngstown, Ohio, first met Smith when he was 16 years old. At the time, McCullough was being recruited to play football for Miami University in Ohio, where Smith was the running backs coach. From the very beginning, Smith was determined to play an important role in the young recruit’s life.

“The statement that I would make to the players as I coached them, I would say, ‘You may not be looking for a father, but I treat you like you’re my son,’” he told NBC’s Kathy Park for TODAY.

Smith himself had played for Miami of Ohio and went on to play eight seasons in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers before he coached at Miami. His path eventually led him back to the Seahawks, where he became a running backs coach.

As for McCullough, he too went to the NFL, though his stint was brief; he suffered a knee injury that tanked his dreams of a pro career.

Many years after they first met, when McCullough had taken up coaching and became a husband and father himself, he embarked on a journey to find his biological father. He discovered through his adoption records that his birth mother lived just minutes away from him and set up a meeting with her.