Bridgeport man with autism meets football legend, pen-pal, Jerry Rice, in new NFL film

A Bridgeport man with autism is the subject of a new NFL film that debuted on national TV this week.

News 12 Staff

Jan 17, 2020, 6:33 PM

Updated 1,553 days ago

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A Bridgeport man with autism is the subject of a new NFL film that debuted on national TV this week. 
Charles Fuller got to meet his longtime pen pal, football great Jerry Rice. 
NFL films sent a limo to take the 47-year-old, an autism advocate, to a New Jersey book signing so he could meet Rice. 
Fuller says he has been writing to Rice for years but never met him until that day.
The friendship developed after News 12 Connecticut teamed up with Joe Kaliko, of Needs Clearing House, to help get Fuller off the street and into his own place.
NFL Films chronicled how Rice was moved by the 2014 report about Fuller's story of homelessness and despair, and how they ended up becoming long-distance friends. 
Both Fuller and Rice are featured in the documentary 'NFL Presents: Jerry Rice's Biggest Fan' that debuted nationally this week on FOX SPORTS 1. 
"He gives me hope, you know, never stop believing and if you put your mind to doing things, miracles can happen," Fuller says. 
Rice is the author of the new bestseller 'America's Game, The NFL at 100.'
 


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