I can remember many afternoons sitting in the sauna at One Buc Place with Derrick Brooks, when I was coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I would join other players and coaches after practice and we would talk a little about what happened on the field that day, but more often we’d talk about things that took place away from football.
Derrick was one person who always had thoughts and dreams about what he wanted to do in the community-how he wanted to use his platform to help people. He was also very focused on education; in fact, he completed his master’s degree while he was playing for me.
This past week, I got a chance to see one of his dreams come true. The Brooks-Debartolo Collegiate High School, a charter school in Tampa that Derrick helped launch, graduated its first class of seniors and I was asked to be the commencement speaker. It was quite an honor, one that was very special to me because of my relationship with Derrick and also because of my parents’ love of education.
It was a wonderful, moving ceremony. Watching young people come to that milestone moment of achievement is always great, but seeing this class, the first charter school in Hillsborough County to have a graduating class, was even more significant.
I challenged the students to go forward and make a difference, not by what they choose to do, but by who they are. I asked them not to follow the crowd, but to follow their hearts and to not leave God out of their decision making. When it was over, I couldn’t have been more proud of those young people, or of Derrick Brooks. I thanked him for making a difference in Tampa with his life and his commitment to our young people.
