Whippings part of Adrian Peterson's childhood

This story was first published Sept. 15, 2014.

PALESTINE, Texas — David Cummings and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson still talk about the frequent whippings Peterson's father administered — and one whipping in particular.

Cummings says he and Peterson were leaving football practice while in middle school when Peterson's father, Nelson, was waiting near the parking lot.

School officials had called Nelson Peterson to report that Adrian had been disruptive in class, recalled Cummings, who played football and basketball with Adrian Peterson during their youth and through high school.

"His dad asked what happened, and Adrian told him," Cummings said.

With that, Nelson Peterson unstrapped his belt and whipped Adrian Peterson in front of more than 20 students, Cummings said.

"We still talk about it to this day," Cummings told USA TODAY Sports. "My dad was tough, but his dad was real tough."

Family and friends recall Nelson Peterson and, to a lesser extent Adrian's mother, Bonita Jackson, as parents who raised their son with a stern disciplinary style that included whippings. Then again, corporal punishment is accepted and expected in many families across the region, as well as in other parts of the country.

The question is whether Adrian Peterson crossed the line when disciplining his son. The NFL's MVP in 2012 was indicted and arrested last week on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child stemming from an incident during which he whipped his 4-year-old son with a tree branch.

"I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man," Peterson said in a statement released Monday.

Peterson's father, Nelson Peterson, declined comment when asked whether he whipped his son. Jackson had no comment about her son's indictment.

Corporal punishment is legal in Texas, but going too far can result in a felony conviction that carries a prison sentence of two to 10 years. Among the considerations are the extent of the injuries to the child, the age of the child and the "totality" of the parent's relationship with the child, experts say.

"Corporal punishment has been held to be reasonable under some circumstances and not reasonable on others," says Scott McCown, a clinical professor at the University of Texas School of Law and the director of the Children's Rights Clinic. "Generally speaking, law enforcement and district attorney's take the position that if there's injury that requires seeking medical attention, it is not reasonable discipline."

Peterson has acknowledged injuring his son but said that was not his intent, and said he has sought counseling from a psychologist on other ways to discipline children. The running back's upbringing could be a factor in Peterson's favor in court.

Lynn Davis, CEO of the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, says charges are often set aside if it's a parent's first offense and he is willing to get counseling.

"My guess is did that happen to Adrian as a kid? Quite possibly," Davis said, "but that was 20 years ago. We've advanced hopefully as a society."

But, McCown said, "Every child deserves the same protection regardless of their parent's upbringing."

PADDLINGS RECALLED

Two of Nelson Peterson's brothers, Larry and Greg Peterson, and a former wife, Phyllis Peterson, confirmed that Nelson Peterson used corporal punishment and said they knew the story about what took place at Palestine Middle School. They say Peterson whipped his children and some of their friends with a belt or a tree branch known as a "switch."

"When Adrian showed out or was bad, he got a whupping," Greg Peterson said of his nephew.

Larry Peterson says Adrian Peterson's parents were told their son needed medication for attention deficit disorder when Adrian was in elementary school. Nelson Peterson objected, according to Larry Peterson, who told USA TODAY SPORTS that his brother said, "It's not something that a little whipping can't take care of."

Nelson Peterson nicknamed his son AD — for All Day, because Adrian Peterson had boundless energy. But that energy also led to a lot of whippings, says Cummings, who grew up across from the split-level brick house where Nelson Peterson lived with his mother and where Adrian Peterson spent many weekends.

Cummings says no one reported the whippings to authorities, even after the public incident outside the middle school.

"It's normal," Cummings says of the disciplinary style, and he showed a visitor the two trees in the front yard of his family's home at the top of Robinson Street where he says he and Adrian picked switches that their fathers used to whip them.

Corporal punishment is still used at Palestine High School and many schools across Texas.

"If a kid is chewing gum in class, we don't necessarily give the students swats for that," says Jason Marshall, superintendent of schools in Palestine, a city of about 18,000 about two hours southeast of Dallas. "If a student has several disciplinary situations that just continue to mount, then corporal punishment is an option."

Marshall says he did not know the specifics of the incident that led to the Adrian Peterson indictment, but added, "Myself as a father and then for our 3,400 students (in the Palestine school district), we certainly would not want any of them, under any circumstances, to be harmed in any way."

Cummings says he and Adrian Peterson got whipped several times by the football team's defensive coordinator, Booker Bowie, with a solid-oak paddle that measured about 18 inches by 6 inches and hung on a nail in the coaches' office.

"You would bend over and brace yourself and get however many licks had been assigned for you," Cummings says. "Sometimes it would leave a bruise on the buttocks or just a red mark. It was not a pleasant feeling. You were not able to sit for a few hours."

Bowie, now retired, says he could not remember paddling Adrian Peterson but it may have happened "once or twice."

Bowie chuckles and says paddling amounts to "tough love" — and he thinks that's what motivated Peterson when Peterson whipped his 4-year-old son in an incident that led to his indictment.

CHANGING TIMES

Phyllis Peterson, former wife of Nelson Peterson, also says Adrian Peterson learned how to mete out whippings from his father, who in 1999 — when Adrian was in high school — pleaded guilty to laundering money from the distribution of cocaine and served time in prison.

Cummings says he talked with Adrian Peterson on Saturday, a day after the abuse indictment was announced, and says they both lamented that many people now view corporal punishment as abuse. He also was one of many people who offered Peterson support on Facebook, posting a photo of the two he says was taken in New Orleans the day before the Vikings' 2010 season opener.

"Im riding wit my boy AD, all day!!!" Cummings wrote. "I like how his real family and day one friends showing love with the profile pics!!!"

Vikings fullback Jerome Felton, a good friend of Peterson's, grew up in Tennessee and says he also was whipped as a child.

"I know that there's differences in where you grow up and what type of household you grow up in," Felton says. "But a lot of people that I know got that type of discipline. I feel like I'm a better person for it. I just feel like it gave me a direction of what I can and can't do. But some people don't agree with that, and I understand that."

Meanwhile, Larry Peterson lamented how times have changed since he, Nelson Peterson and their siblings were growing up.

"Back in that time, the neighborhood disciplined you,'' he said. "If you got in a fight at a neighbor's house, you got a whupping then when we got home we got another whupping for having to get a whupping there. That's the way they brought kids up then.''

Adrian Peterson draws on that same tradition, according to his stepmother Phyllis Peterson.

"I think every parent has the right to discipline their child,'' she said. "He wouldn't intentionally harm his child. He loves his children.''

Contributing: Tom Pelissero and Rachel Axon