I don't know if Brees is one of those Tebow-esqe far-right fundy types. If he is, they should all be like this.
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The Heart Of New OrleansHe's been the NFL's most prolific quarterback over the past four years, but to the city that has adopted him, Drew Brees is much more—a driving force in the ongoing effort to rebuild and renewBy PETER KING
Sports Illustrated
January 18 2009
Last Thursday night, in a private upstairs room at Commander's Palace, the landmark New Orleans restaurant, Drew Brees convened what he calls his "secret society." In the dining room were seven of the city's richest men and biggest boosters, power players who have anonymously teamed with Brees for such post-Katrina causes as the refurbishment of Tad Gormley Stadium in City Park and the funding of the New Orleans Ballet Association's flagging after-school program. Brees calls the group (two of the members were absent that night) the Quarterback Club. As a token of thanks for contributions past—each man gave at least $25,000 in 2009—and future, Brees dispensed black-and-gold cuff links engraved with QB.
"I'd like to propose a toast," he said, lifting his champagne flute. "All of you care so deeply about the future of this city, not just from a business perspective but from a philanthropic perspective, and it's so desperately needed right now. A toast to you, and to New Orleans!"
"Hear, hear! To New Orleans!" the group responded.
Earlier in the Saints' bye week, their quarterback had spent two hours working on another of his pet projects, the Lusher Charter School, for which he'd help raise the money to build a new football field, weight room, scoreboard and running track after the September 2005 hurricane had devastated the facilities and the surrounding Uptown neighborhood. Now, nine days before New Orleans's playoff opener against the Cardinals in the Superdome, Brees chatted up and rubbed elbows with the men he knew could help him do real good for the city.
"Some guys might be playing 10 hours of Madden today, which is cool," Brees said as he took his seat after his toast. "But this is my outlet. This is what I love to do."
(snip)
"When I visited New Orleans," Brees said last week, "I saw it all, the good and the bad. The city was devastated. Brittany
and I saw the Lower Ninth Ward. Unbelievable. Cars lying on top of houses. Boats through living-room windows. I felt like I was driving through a World War II documentary. But I just thought, This is a chance to be part of something incredible—the rebuilding of an American city. I felt like it was a calling. Like I was destined to be here."
Imagine the difference—for football, for New Orleans—if Saban had ignored the medical prognosis. He would have had Brees, not Daunte Culpepper, at quarterback, and he might have stayed with the Dolphins rather than bolting for Alabama. Quite possibly the Crimson Tide wouldn't have been hoisting the national championship trophy last week. And the Saints might well be playing in San Antonio or Los Angeles instead of packing the refurbished Superdome for a playoff game, with a new lease at the stadium through 2025.
"I can't even think about that," says Owen Brennan, executive director of the Krewe of Bacchus, which runs the most storied Mardi Gras parade. Brees has been appointed the King of Bacchus for the 2010 edition, the first athlete so honored. "It's a nightmare. Don't even say it. Ooooo. What he's done for this city is absolutely immeasurable."
On the measurable side the Brees Dream Foundation has raised $1.85 million for its Rebuilding Dreams campaign. Some of the money goes to Katrina-related causes, such as athletic-field reconstruction. Some of it goes to needs that would otherwise not be addressed because so much funding has been diverted to hurricane relief. The latter projects include a home for families of cancer patients, and the Samuel J. Green Charter School's "edible schoolyard," in which students grow food on campus while studying nutrition and agricultural science. The produce they grow ends up on the school menu.
One of Brees's favorite causes is the Lusher School, a battered 76-year-old facility four miles southwest of the French Quarter. Like the Superdome, Lusher was damaged by wind and water, and it served as a shelter for those made homeless by the storm. Some lived for weeks in the school, which might never have reopened if not for the ambitious efforts of New Orleans educators. "Drew realized that nothing breathes life into a city neighborhood like kids playing," says Lusher CEO Kathy Hurstell-Riedlinger as she conducts a tour of the school and its grounds. "We had to rebuild the field, which was dangerous, and show the community that this school was here to stay."
Brees's foundation and two corporate sponsors donated $671,000. In New Orleans, where more than four years after Katrina so much remains to be done, it's a measure of progress that the once-ravaged Lusher looks for the most part like any average American school. BREES FAMILY FIELD, as the scoreboard in one end zone reads, would be the envy of many athletic programs.
"Before, it was a death trap out here," says senior Pierce Wisdom during a break in soccer practice. "I remember wondering if I made the right decision to come back to school here instead of going somewhere with better facilities. We all appreciate what Drew did so much."
The rest: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1164811/1/index.htm
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