- Growing up in Compton,Caylin Moore never starved

for a mother's love, buthe did go hungry a lot.

Even though all the oddswere stacked against him,

Caylin did more than justrise above his background.

He soared above it and beyond.

- [Narrator] Caylin Moore defied the odds

as a kid growing up in Compton.

He would become a prestigiousRhodes Scholar at Oxford.

But his journey to get there

was nothing short of miraculous.

- You have to dreamdreams that are too big.

You have to dream dreams that are so big,

so unimaginable, so unfathomable,

so unrealistic that theyare destined to fail

without divine intervention.

- [Narrator] In hisbook, "A Dream Too Big,"

Caylin shares how his pursuit of hope

and unclenching faith in God

helped him overcome tremendous adversity

and how you can too.

(uplifting music)

- Please welcome to The700 Club Caylin Moore.

It's so awesome to have you here.

- Thank you.

- Your book is remarkable.

I mean, I read it and underlinedand wrote in the sides.

You have a story that is just astonishing.

I want you to talk a little bitabout your beginnings though

because you didn't...

You weren't born in Compton.

You were born into a middleclass American family

and what happened that got you there?

- Yeah, so we started off pretty well,

you know, middle class American family,

upper middle class at the time,

and my parents ended up divorcing

after a marriage of nine years,

and it was due to domesticissues, never anything physical,

but always that verbaland emotional abuse.

So as my mom fled, we wentto the only place we could,

which was grandma--- Three kids.

- Right, with three kids.

We went to my grandmother's house

on the borderline of Compton and Carson,

and that's when thingsreally changed for me,

where I went from arefrigerator full of food

to you're struggling tobe able to find a meal,

you're in competition to get a meal.

And it was just very humbling,

you know, hearing thosegunshots at nighttime,

those rats and those roaches

in the wall.- Well, frightening.

- I was quite frightening.

- Yeah, exactly.

I mean you had hunger, fear, threats.

You were afraid to carrya backpack to school

for many years because you thought,

"When I have to run, Ican't run fast enough

- Yeah.- "with all of this."

How did you cope with that?

I mean a lot of kids would'vegone into a deep depression

or would've just thrown up their hands

and been sort of swallowed up by it.

- Right, and I couldunderstand why they would.

For me, I was blessed enough

to have an incrediblerole model in my mom.

My mom always stated thatwe may live in the hood,

but the hood does not have to live in us.

And even first grade,during these time periods

where we're having this transition,

my mom wanted to be an example to us

and she ended upgraduating from law school

when I was six years old.

So it set a certaintype of standard for us

of what we were capable of doing.

- A lot of people, I think,wouldn't realize the intensity

of what you walked through at that time.

I've heard people, "If youhaven't walked in my shoes,

"you'll never understandwhere I've come from,"

and I think that's true for your story.

I think it's true for anybody who grows up

in that kind of anatmosphere and environment

because it wasn't just thatyou were afraid of kids

that were in the gangs, but your coaches

and even some teacherswhen you were younger,

if you tried to excel,they'd put you down for it.

I mean how did you deal with that?

- I think sometimes you walk home

incredibly discouraged some nights.

As you're reading thebook, I had times where,

even myself, I did get discouraged

or you start thinking,"I want to give up,"

but it's always that thingin the back of your mind

that if I quit, where do I go?

I'll just be sleeping onthe floor in the garage.

There's not even an opportunity to quit.

How will I eat?

So I just kept going forwardand I had to have faith

that God would work it out.

- Let's talk about yourdreams for a minute

because you saw your mom go to college,

you had a dream to go to college.

How did you make that happen?

- Incredible faith.

I had to have faith in thethings unseen, as they say.

I worked hard,

so many different things.- You worked really hard.

- Right.- I mean it wasn't

a little bit of work.

It was a lot of hard work.- Right, but I must say

I was incredibly blessedto have opportunities that,

you know, in a place that's so underfunded

and underresourced, a lot of times,

you don't get opportunities,so I was very blessed

to be able to take advantageand receive opportunities

that some other kidsin my class never got.

- You had a dream to playNCAA Division I football.

- Right.

- How in the world did that come to pass?

- So I started off playing

in the Snoop Dogg Youth Football League.

The rapper Snoop Dogg

- Yes.- started a league

in my community, andit was the saving grace

for a lot of us.

In a community where youdon't have Kumon math centers

and you don't have Montessori schools,

you need those things thatyoung black boys, in particular,

can get involved in that are positive.

So we started playing football at that age

and just fell in love with the game.

- And you eventually,

your mom and dad actually saw you play

Division I football.- That's right.

- That's awesome.

- But from very different places.

My mom saw me from the stands,

but my father saw me from prison.

- Yeah, but you neverlet that identify you

with him, with where you came from.

I meet people in life sometimes that,

it's like they refuse tobe denied the opportunity

to be more than they are.

And it seemed like that wasjust planted in your heart.

Where did that come from?

- As humbly as I can say,

I think I inherited that from my mother.

You know, she's a trailblazer

or a maverick in her own right,

so just kinda seeing how sheapproached being in law firms

as the only black woman usually,

or how she approached, evenbeing a youth football coach.

I'd seen that example every day.

It made me think of whatI could do for myself

in a similar vein.

- Well now, let's get to thedream that kind of tops them.

A Rhodes Scholar.

I mean only, what is it,

32 people every year- Right.

Yes.- become Rhodes Scholars?

So here you become a Rhodes Scholar.

You are off to educate at Oxford.

What was that like for you?

- It was an incredible opportunity.

I remember the moment that Iwon the Rhodes Scholarship.

I literally, I didn't carewhat anyone thought of me.

I got down on my knees in that room

and I just thanked God.

I kissed the floor.

I started crying immediately.

I was overwhelmed by whatGod was doing in my life.

- When you called yourmom, I cried with you.

(Terry and Caylin laugh)

It's a great story.

I know because of whatyou've been through, Caylin,

that you have such acompelling desire to give back.

How does one do that?

Because the odds for all kids

who grow up in scenarioslike this are very difficult.

How do you give back?

- I think it just takes, wehave to take a very deep look

at what we need to change societally,

that kids that need that extra help

or that extra opportunitythat are just as capable,

they get that opportunity.

At my elementary school,

I remember we haddictionaries that were so old

that they didn't havethe word computer in it.

- Come on.- And I remember

my first conversation on the school yard

was with some young boys.

One young man said, "Oneday when I go to prison,

"I'm gonna become a gang member."

Another one said, "When I go to prison,

"I'm gonna pretend to be religious.

"I heard they won't mess with you."

And then when it came myturn to say what I would do,

I didn't even know how to respond.

I had never imaginedmyself going to prison.

So if there's anythingthat we can do to help,

I think you have to start with the youth.

I think you need to lookheavily at education

and just training people andgiving people opportunities

because that's the onething that we can do,

is make sure that we democratizeopportunities to succeed.

- Get rid of the name callingand create the promise.

- Right.- Boy, amazing.

Well, this is a fascinating story.

You can read all aboutCaylin and his overcoming,

his success, and hisvision for the future.

It's in his new book.

It's called, "A Dream Too Big:

"The Story of an Improbable Journey

"from Compton to Oxford."

It's available everywhere.

Highly recommend it.

Plus you can hear more fromCaylin on our Facebook page.

Go to Facebook.com/700Club.

Wonderful to have you here today.

Thank you so much.- Thank you so much

as well, thank you.