The ranch-style house where Pete Carroll grew up sits on a suburban cul-de-sac near San Francisco in Marin County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country. It was a gathering place for friends, with a pool table inside and football games out front. The door was always open.
“It literally was, because they had a screen door,” said Henry Diaz, one of Carroll’s boyhood friends. “You could walk in and say hello to his parents, even if he wasn’t there, and Jim and Rita would tell you to come in.”
Across San Francisco Bay, the house where Marshawn Lynch grew up sits next to a freeway in Oakland, one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country. It was a hiding place from deadly shootings, drug deals and prostitutes out front. The gate was always locked.
