Noel Devine - Personal Life

Personal Life

Devine was only three months old when his father died in 1988 of complications from AIDS, and 11 years old when his mother also died of AIDS. Custody passed to his maternal grandmother, but the two were not compatible. Eventually, Noel moved in with Liz and Robert Harlow Sr, parents of one of Noel's friends. By his junior year in high school, Devine had fathered two children by two different women. He was also witness to a shooting in late 2004, in which one of his friends, 15-year-old Rashard Patterson, was killed by a shotgun blast to the chest.

Devine has a relationship with Deion Sanders, who himself is a graduate of North Fort Myers High School. At one point, Sanders planned to become Devine's legal guardian. Devine moved to Prosper, Texas, where he lived with Sanders, but after a few weeks, he took Sanders' wife's vehicle to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, where a plane ticket back to Florida awaited him. Devine and Sanders remained in contact, perhaps more so as the 2007 signing day approached, when Sanders assisted Devine in preparing to sign a letter of intent to play football in the college ranks. Sanders revealed the nature of his mentor role in Devine's decisions in his column for The News-Press, a Fort Myers news outlet. He had recommended that a prep school would better prepare Devine for college.

Devine was interviewed by ESPN The Magazine under their NEXT editions, which picks the next big athlete of the year. Devine was a nominee for the 2008 edition, along with Brandon Roy, Joba Chamberlain, Tyson Gay, Patrick Willis, and Novak Đoković. In the interview, Devine stated that his idol is Barry Sanders, and that his best game of his career at that point was against Maryland.