Having nothing can make you something.

Hines Ward will tell you that.

He’ll tell you that not having a father around while growing up taught him how to be a devoted dad to his own 17-month-old son. That a single, immigrant mother who scraped by on minimum wage jobs turned him into a man who doesn’t mind putting in his own long hours.

It isn’t with self-pity that the 29-year-old Ward tells you about where he came from. There is no blaming of the past, no talk of the privileges other kids were born into. He is quick to assure you that he always had a roof over his head and nice clothes on his back — even brand-name shoes.

Move on to the game of his life — the years that he has dedicated to football — and he flashes his signature grin when reminded that few ever believed he was the kind of player who’d prevail in the pros.

“My whole life has been people saying I can’t do this and I can’t do that,” says Ward. “I’ve never been content of where I was. I always thought I could get better. That’s what keeps me motivated, keeps my drive going.”

Seven seasons in the NFL, all of them with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he’s played in four Pro Bowls, been voted most valuable player of his team twice, set team single-season reception records and then broken them, and is currently regarded among the top-10 wide receivers in the league.

When people don’t think much of you, you give them something to think about.

Because Ward is not the biggest, the most talented, the fastest, the prettiest — he is anything but a sexy show-off. He has built a career on stubborn courage, not fancy moves. He is not an advertiser’s dream. His first year with the Steelers was spent mostly on special teams. The second and third year, the Steelers used their highest draft picks to bring on new receivers, as if denying Ward’s presence.

But he persevered.

“I’m not as flashy as others, not as tall as them. I’m not 6-6,” says Ward, who stands at 6 feet. “I’m just an average-size, average-speed guy who’s been just as productive as all the big-time guys.”

There has never been hype around Ward, and oftentimes he gets lost among the glitzier names and the new, exciting rookies. He is hardy and consistent, not amazing.

That’s not to say he doesn’t get respect. Steelers Head Coach Bill Cowher once butted heads with Ward, but has deep admiration for the man he calls “self-made.”

And Bill Parcells, the legendary coach now with the Dallas Cowboys, can’t take his eyes off Ward, and even took the time to cross the field before a game against Pittsburgh to shake Ward’s hand and tell him he was a helluva football player.