Randy Foye's incredible journey to the NBA

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• Randy Foye's remarkable journey to the Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 Sports) - When he was three years old, Randy Foye's father died in a motorcycle accident. At the age of six, Foye's mother, who was caught up in drugs, was kidnapped and murdered.

Abandoned, parentless in the rough streets of Newark, New Jersey, Foye was forced to grow up faster than any child should. He had to live with his grandmother, who was battling demons of his own.

"My grandmother was a recovering drug addict, but she was a strong lady," said Foye, who just signed a 1-year contract with the Utah Jazz. "She had to do whatever she had to do to help us get by. It was tough, but at the same time, I don't complain about it because it made me the person I am today."

Rather the turning to a life in the streets, filled with anger and self-pity, Foye dedicated himself to school and basketball. He was now on a mission to prove all the doubters in the world wrong.

"Early on, when I had some setbacks, people said, 'Oh, he won't make it out of high school,'" Foye recalled. "I graduated high school. When I chose to go to Villanova, they said, 'Oh, he won't make it more than a year.' I got my degree there. Every boundary and every uphill battle, I'm defeating them."

Because Foye had so many people help him get to where he is today, from family to coaches to teachers, when he made it big in the NBA, he decided to start the Randy Foye Foundation to help underprivileged kids from the Newark area.

"It could be white kids, black kids, hispanic kids, it don't matter," Foye said. "I just want to see them be successful. We make them sign a contract, and the contract is saying that all these great things that we want you to do and participate in, you have to keep your grades up."

Here's something else you should know about Randy Foye. He was born with a condition called situs inversus, where his internal organs are reversed. So his heart is actually on the right side of his body. The condition does not limit him physically, other than the fact that he gets to throw doctors for a loop every once in a while.

"I figure if my heart is on the right side, it's in the right place," Foye said. "So if it was on the left, it probably would be in the wrong place. But since it's on the right, it's definitely in the right place."

There are a lot of people would attest to that.