On his first day of Northwestern football practice in 1999, Austin King’s mother received the diagnosis — she had breast cancer.

Mary Beth King, didn’t tell her son right away, because she said he had enough on his mind, proving himself on the football team and adjusting to college as a freshman.

When King learned of his mother’s cancer a few weeks later, Mary Beth King said she remembers him saying, “If you can hold out for four years, I can help you out.”

Now, after finishing his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the former NU player has made good on the promise. He paid off his mother’s medical bills and bought her a Toyota Camry.

“He did this all before he bought himself a thing,” Mary Beth King said.

For some players, making the jump from college to the NFL is reason to splurge.

But for Austin King it wasn’t.

He has been careful not to squander his six-figure paycheck.

King drives the same Jeep Wrangler he had during college, shares a condo in Tampa, Fla., with former NU kicker David Wasielewski and still sports some of his Wildcats gear.

“I’d like to think I’m still the same person,” King said. “It’s not like it’s a totally different life or lifestyle, but maybe that’s just who I am.”

King still wears sandals with a NU logo, and he said his teammates tease him and joke that they’re going to steal or throw away the ratty, worn shoes.

Mary Beth King said wealth hasn’t changed her son.

“No, Austin, changed? No,” she said. “A lot of people do, but he didn’t. He didn’t get a big head about himself. He just has more money, that’s all.”

Last season King earned the rookie minimum salary, $225,000, which allowed him to help his mother with the expenses she accumulated while fighting cancer.