That red backpack carried his last possessions — and his second chance

That red backpack there? Sampson James used it to carry around his meager possessions during a stint of homelessness.

Little did James know at the time this photo was taken that it was also carrying his salvation. The story, featured in Steve Hartman’s “On the Road” segment on CBS News, starts with a walk in a park in Austin, Texas.

“I saw the Indiana University athletic backpack, and since I had just graduated from Indiana, we had that commonality,” recalled Jasper Steinmetz, a recent IU graduate. “And I figured, you know, why not talk to him?”Steinmetz shook the man’s hand and learned he was from Indiana and had been homeless for eight months.

On a lark, Steinmetz Googled the name and was shocked to discover the homeless man with the red IU backpack was a former star running back for the Indiana Hoosiers — “an amazing athlete,” Steinmetz called him.

James’ NFL dream ended with a knee injury. Shortly after, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, dropped out of university, and ended up homeless.

With nothing in common but the same school on their CVs and the design on their backpacks, Steinmetz felt it was enough to act. He set up a GoFundMe tapping into Hoosier pride to get James back on his feet.

He raised $20,000.”Thanks to an overwhelming wave of support — including generous donations from former IU teammates — we successfully got Sampson out of homelessness,” Steinmetz wrote in a GoFundMe update.”

The initial funds allowed us to secure a safe rental apartment for him, supply him with essential clothing, food, and household furniture, and give him the foundation he needed to rebuild his life and achieve stability.””He told me he went to IU as well. So I was like, wow, that’s amazing, go Hoosiers,” James told CBS News. He said he recognized the Hoosier community was counting on him and he was not going to let them down.