LOS ANGELES—In The Blind Side, a young man with limited aspirations becomes involved in a surprising relationship with someone who is far removed from the life he lives. That relationship is the key to opening the door to a better life. These things did happen to Michael Oher, an African-American teenager from the wrong side of the Memphis tracks. He met a wealthy woman named Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) who helped him become an outstanding high-school football player. In the film (which opens Friday, November 20), Tuohy persuades her husband, Sean, played by singing star Tim McGraw, to adopt the boy.

McGraw could relate to the story. He was an 11-year-old Philadelphia Phillies fan named Samuel Timothy Smith who believed his mother’s ex-husband, Horace Smith, was his birth father. That changed when a visit to his mother’s closet led him to discover his birth certificate. Ironically, the man whose name was on the certificate turned out to be Phillies pitching star Tug McGraw, whose baseball card was taped to Tim’s bedroom wall.

After his mother told him that the birth certificate was correct, Tim changed his name, and although Tug at first denied paternity, they eventually became good friends—good enough that Tim would send Tug CDs of his music. His life changed again when Tug put on one of his son’s CDs while driving with an old friend from his baseball days.

In a Los Angeles hotel room, McGraw tells the Georgia Straight that although he wasn’t doing that badly when he discovered the truth about his father, there were things in Oher’s life that felt familiar.

“I wouldn’t put myself as being in as bad a position as Michael was as a child,” he says, “but there are some parallels. Certainly, finding out about my father changed the trajectory my life was on. Then when I was 22, he was playing a CD I had made of my music when he was with a guy named Bruce Windell, who used to be a batboy for the Phillies. Bruce had been in the record business in L.A., and after he listened to the songs and found out it was me, he said he knew a guy in Nashville who was involved in country music. He gave Tug a name and Tug passed it to me. Then I spent several months trying to get the guy to open the door. He never got back to me, so I just showed up there one day and played for him. And that is how I got a record deal.”

Twenty years later, McGraw is one of country music’s biggest stars. He married well. He and his wife, fellow country star Faith Hill, have three children and have had spectacular success on tour. McGraw says that he has never taken their private and public success for granted.

“We were both successful before we met, so we could see that if we were going to start a family that was going to have to be a priority. We could do that. A lot of people wish they could do that and they can’t, so I don’t ever want to sound like I am so much better than anyone else. We also try to maintain a strong work ethic so that our kids can see that we are working hard and that these things have to be earned.”

He has become the father he never had. He says that although Tug and Horace did the best they could, it’s unlikely he would have achieved a lot without the strong support of the women in his life.

“Tug and I were as close as we could be, given the circumstances,” he says. “I think we were close enough. We weren’t father and son, unless I was the father and he was the son on occasions. We saw each other three or four times a year, but it wasn’t real close. I had a good relationship with my stepfather, but it was a rocky relationship with ups and downs our whole life. He was there for me when a father should be there, and he was not available and not the best father at times. My mother was very strong. She believed in me, as did my grandparents and my sisters. I couldn’t have done it without their support. And I couldn’t do anything without Faith. There are times when if it was left up to me I would probably just go and lay down in a corner and be done with it. She is my backbone.”