MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Darius Victor and Titus Swen have found a home in the Memphis Showboats backfield this season.
Victor joined the team this offseason after playing two years with the no longer USFL New Jersey Generals. Swen joined the team later in the preseason. These are his first real pro minutes after being cut by the Indianapolis Colts.
However, this isn’t the first time the running backs have shared a home.
“When Titus first came, I saw he had an African chain on. I said, 'Are you from Africa?' And he said, 'Yeah.' And I said, 'What country?' And he said, 'Liberia,' and I said, 'Bro, you might be my cousin!'" And we started laughing," Victor said.
The dynamic duo spent their early years in or around Liberia during the Civil War.
Victor was born in a refugee camp in the Ivory Coast and spent the first five years of his life there before his parents immigrated to the United States, specifically Maryland.
Swen was born in Liberia and thinks he might have gone to a refugee camp briefly before his family moved to Texas when he was about seven.
According to Reuters, the Liberian Civil War spanned from 1989-2003 and killed up to a quarter of a million people and thousands more were mutilated and raped.
It’s a time neither have clear memories of, but a time that their parents have used to inspire and motivate them their entire life.
“It’s pretty much like you guys have to make the most of the opportunity because we know many people who didn’t get the chance to make it out of Africa," Victor said.
Swen said they talk about it every time he gets a bump in the road or an achievement.
“You’ve got to remember where you came from," Swen said. "We’re not from here. It’s a different system back home, so thank God for every step you get to take.”
While they were in different cities, with different friends and cultures to emerge themselves in, they both found love for the same game, which kept them out of trouble while their parents worked around the clock to support them.
“I've got a lot of gratitude for the game because it took me places I'd never even dreamed of seeing," Swen said.
“I’m thankful that they took the risk to get us out of there and I owe them my life honestly," Victor said. "I’d probably still be back in the village doing Lord knows what, but I wouldn’t be on the trajectory I'm on now."
Over the years, the duo ran parallel in different backfields. Now those lines intersect in Memphis with the Showboats.
“That’s a unique situation, most definitely. Like, you can never really dream or imagine these two guys came together," Swen said. "That’s just unheard of.”
“That’s my nephew, that’s family," Victor said.
The two will be back in action with the Showboats on Saturday at 11.30 a.m. when they play at St. Louis on ABC. They will return home next Sunday at 2 p.m. to play the Michigan Panthers.
Both Victor and Swen haven't been back to Liberia since they moved when they were young, but it's something they plan on doing in the next couple of years, as they say it's important for them to see where they came from.