By Lisa Zimmerman | Engagement Insider
It was a random interaction that ended up setting the course for what has become former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker and Pro Football Hall-of-Fame member Derrick Brooks’ life mission.
One Sunday morning in 1996, while on his way into the stadium for a game, Brooks saw two young boys outside near an area where the players parked. At the time, the stadium was not fenced in and people could roam around at will. Brooks asked the boys if they were going into the game. They told him they didn’t have tickets; that they were just “hanging out.”
On the spot, Brooks presented them with a deal: They would be his “personal security” and watch his car until he returned. In exchange, he offered them two tickets to the Buccaneers next home game. They agreed. Following the game he told the boys to invite a few of their friends to the next game to provide “personal security” for some of the other players and he would provide a few additional tickets. Brooks was prepared with 10 tickets, but things had snowballed. He ended up needing 40 more. It became the start of what would ultimately become Brooks Bunch, a community outreach program that also became the first endeavor of his foundation, The Derrick Brooks Charities.
“We started developing educational, after school programs at the Boys and Girls clubs in the neighborhoods that needed attention,” Brooks recalled. “I went into these neighborhoods and started to develop programs that would give them experiences of things they’d never done. We had Brooks Bunch trips to open their eyes to the world outside the walls they lived in.”
That snowballed as well. Over the years, Brooks has journeyed with members of his program as far away as Africa. And it was after one of those trips that the idea of what has become the Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School started. Dr. Phildra Swagger, one of the teachers involved, broached the idea to Brooks. He was instantly intrigued, but wasn’t sure how to get started, until Dr. Swagger laid it out in simple terms.
“She explained the things I was doing were already virtually a school,” Brooks said. “I was bringing in my own curriculum (to Boys and Girls Clubs) and bringing in other adults to teach. I prayed about it and at the end of the day, I realized I had an opportunity to increase the number of kids I could impact in an area that is near and dear to my heart and that was education.”
In fact, Brooks’ commitment to education in his own life in apparent. In addition to earning his undergraduate degree from Florida State University, he subsequently earned a Masters of Business Administration from the school and went on to earn his Doctorate in Humane Letters from St. Leo’s University.
Brooks knew he needed a partner and approached the DeBartolo family, former owners of the San Francisco 49ers, who had opened charter schools in the San Francisco area and had brought some of their business dealings to the Tampa area.
It didn’t take long for the partnership to take hold. “Shortly into the conversation Mr. DeBartolo said they were in,” Brooks said. “They bought into the vision and I can’t thank God enough for allowing us this opportunity.”
The school opened in 2008 and it has not been without its challenges. However, now in its eighth year, enrollment has grown from approximately 150 students to more than 600. For the past five years Brooks-DeBartolo has been an A-rated school in the state of Florida with a 100% graduation rate and 93% of those graduates go on to college.
In spite of the amount of time he puts into the school and his other community programs, Brooks has also maintained ties to the world of football. He is currently a part owner and president of the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm. Again, Brooks was attracted by what he saw as an opportunity to build something that would have a positive impact.
“It was a brand that needed attention,” Brooks said. “I wanted to go through the growing pains of building an organization for the first time. This gave me a chance to work for a great owner in Jeff Vinik and CEO Tod Lieweke, who was the president of the Seattle Seahawks in the 2000s. People told him about my interest in the business side. We met a few times and he presented his opportunity and I figured there was no better training ground than this role. It’s similar to John Elway when he ran the Colorado Arena team, the Colorado Crush. After several conversations with Mr. Elway I knew this was right for me.”
As numerous as they are, Brooks doesn’t spend much time, if any, reflecting on his vast accomplishments. Instead he follows a philosophy instilled in him by his parents.
“I try to stay in the moment,” he said. “If others want to toot my horn, that’s OK. If I toot my own horn I could run out of breath.”
For more information on Derrick Brooks, The Derrick Brooks Charities and Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School: www.db55.org.