TACOMA, Wash. — He's one of the hosts of a hit TV show.
"American Ninja Warrior has been a lecture hall for me," says Akbar Gbajabiamila. "I've learned so much seeing these ninjas go through these obstacles."
Gbajabiamila has faced a few obstacles, too.
"Purpose will always defeat fear."
He and his six siblings grew up in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood, the children of hardworking Nigerian immigrants.
"I thank my dad for making sure that I never quit."
Gbajabiamila was a star high school basketball player but ended up going to college on a football scholarship.
"How did I ever get into football?" he says.
It's a sport he didn't even like.
"It was brutal. It was barbaric. Why would I ever want to put myself to this? Especially when I was a basketball player."
Learning to love the game and take it all the way to the NFL is just one of the stories in Akbar's book, "Everyone Can Be A Ninja."
"I wanted to be more vulnerable and share some of the obstacles I had to overcome in my life."
He describes his transition from athlete to broadcaster, his father's struggle with Parkinson's, and his mother's death in a 2002 car crash.
"I think all of us, we're constantly evolving. And I think it's embracing the evolution. And for me, it was embracing my evolution."
The life of Akbar Gbajabiamila is a work in progress.
"If you have a purpose and you know exactly what you want to do, you're going to get to your destination."
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