Ty Montgomery's mother, foster brothers pushed the NFL star to amazing heights

MILWAUKEE -- As a youngster, Ty Montgomery had a dream of making it in the NFL. Today, he's a Green Bay Packers player with a promising future -- but his biggest dream came true years before.

Ty Montgomery

Life has been good for Packers receiver turned running back Ty Montgomery. An ankle injury that required surgery put the brakes on a promising rookie season in 2015. But the former Stanford star got a foothold in year two, once he replaced the injured Eddie Lacy.

Ty Montgomery

However, growing up as the only child of a single mom in Dallas, Ty wanted siblings.

All Lisa Montgomery did was bring 17 foster kids into their home over the years. Most were at-risk youngsters who didn't make it in the foster system.

"I would say she is super mom; which I would just go ahead and say Superwoman. I really believe that somewhere under her shirt there's an 'S,'" said Eddie Fair, Ty Montgomery's foster brother.

Montgomery family

Eddie Fair

Eddie Fair came from an abusive family. His mother was in and out of jail on drugs. Today, Fair -- who was a terrific basketball player -- has a lovely bride named Tanesha, who's in the military. When he's not busy being a pro bowl dad to his beautiful daughter, Amari, he works with kids. Fair says Lisa gets a lot of credit for his brother Ty's Packers success.

"She basically taught Ty the basics and fundamentals of football. And when the brothers came in, we just implemented the system. She'd just tell us to work hard and play hard and just be together," said Fair.

Eddie remembers Lisa as a super fan at his games; and at Ty's.

"Ty played baseball; she was like 'Three up! Three down!' And the next thing you know the whole stand's, 'Three up!, Three down!' Basketball, she was like, 'You shoot that ball baby,'" said Fair. "I'd be at the free throw line. You know, it's quiet at the free throw line, she's like, 'Don't you miss!' I was like, 'Mom it's quiet at the free throw line.'"

Eddie Fair, Lisa Montgomery

All fun aside, Tanesha appreciates what Lisa Montgomery did for her husband. Eddie moved in with Lisa and Ty when he was 11.

Lisa Montgomery

"Miss Lisa, she did a good job of raising Eddie at the point that she did have him. It did help Eddie to become a good family man, to be there for me and my daughter," said Tanesha. "I think he turned out to be a good person."

Tenesha Pettis

"When my mother, she brought me in with Ty, they were very loving. Ty, he wanted an older brother and he's very accepting with me coming in. And my mother, she really impacted me because she taught me how to work hard, and don't listen to what people say about you -- because there are some things in my life to where some people said I couldn't accomplish anything," said Fair. "She would teach me how to be strong, and even though he was her only son, she would treat us equally. She taught me how to be a great person whether I've been through a hard situation; she taught me how to love and give back and there's a lot of people in my situation where I would like to help them."

At 29, Eddie is five years older than Ty. On the basketball court, he didn't take it easy on him. Fair feels that the competition and encouragement helped his younger brother make it to the NFL.

Ty Montgomery

"He would always say, 'Well you're just bigger than me. Wait until I get older; I'm going to be bigger than you -- I'm going to be stronger,'" said Fair. "I said, yeah, you're right I know you're right! We'd go to his games and he would score three touchdowns. He would go beast mode."

Eddie Fair predicted that his brother would score three touchdowns in the playoff game at Dallas, and the Packers would win by 17 -- Ty scored twice and of course, the Packers won on Mason Crosby's dramatic field goal.

Alas, the season ended a game shy of the Super Bowl. For Eddie Fair, the greatest, most enduring victory came when he became part of Lisa Montgomery's family.

If you'd like more information on fostering, visit FosterParentsRock.org.