Kevin thought about the sacrifices of his oldest brother, Morrison Jr., who was a trailblazer as a top student-athlete in Arizona, becoming one of the first Black football players to earn a scholarship to Stanford in 1961. He thought about how Morrison Jr. “had the foresight as a Black 17-year-old young man from Phoenix” to take a Greyhound bus by himself to Palo Alto, Calif. to get to college, persevere through injuries on the football field to achieve academic success and, later, join the United States Marine Corps and serve as a Lieutenant during the Vietnam War.
Then he thought of his nephew, Morrison, who followed in his father’s footsteps academically and athletically, playing rugby and football at Occidental College before heading to Notre Dame Law School, where he met his wife, Cathy.
“Those were the things, for some reason or another, that I was really thinking about — of all the things that have to fit from a relationship standpoint, to the timing, to kids being born,” Warren said. “After that qualifying race, I came back into my office and just sobbed. And my prayer is that more people are put in a position to allow the atmosphere to bring that out.
“And then you add on for what she has had to go through — the multiple knee and ankle surgeries and the hard work and the determination and all those different things coming so closely that everything had to just really line up. And that was just to have a chance to make the team. Now you get a chance to go compete at the Olympics.”
With family spread out around the country and various professional lives making it difficult for the Warrens to reunite, the Milan trip will also serve as quality family time. Even in their busy schedules, Kevin and Sarah have made time over the years to support each other, whether that meant Kevin driving down to Champaign-Urbana for Sarah’s college soccer games and attending her races in Minnesota or Sarah catching “Uncle Kevin” at Bears games over the past few seasons, most recently their Week 3 win over the Cowboys at Soldier Field.