Roy Exum
Sometime in the next few weeks former football star Warrick Dunn will stand on a porch with a single poor mother and her children and, without saying much or making a fuss, he will hand her the keys to a nice house. Inside the linen closet will be full, as will the kitchen pantry. There will be laundry detergent, dishwasher soap and every bathroom will have toothpaste, fluffy towels and plenty of other supplies. TV and computer? You bet. “All you need to bring are your kids and their clothes.”
As a matter of fact, the only thing missing will be the TV trucks, the photography cameras and any hoopla. Warrick Dunn, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist at Florida State and then played 12 glorious years in the NFL, knows what he’s doing. He does it very quietly, and this spring he will give away House No. 150.
If you are wondering why Warrick Dunn does it, he knows there are already well over 300 children who have been deeply touched with a fresh start. He knows what that means. And he remembers six others who needed the same thing as he cried and agonized because he was unable to help like he wanted. So in his first year with the Bucs in Tampa, where he would one day become the sixth man in NFL history to rush for over 10,000 yards, he launched his foundation.
That’s right …. 150 families with their own place to live and grow. The website for Warrick Dunn Charities reads that the all-star running back started the effort in 1997 “in the belief that a better future starts with hope. We are dedicated to strengthening and transforming communities by combating poverty, hunger and improving the quality of life for families and children.”
The way it works is his foundation buys the house, fixes it up and pays a sizable down payment. This way the single parent can assume “ownership” with an affordable monthly payment. With the help from other charities like “Home For The Holidays” and Betty’s Hope (which offers grief counseling and emotional aid for children,) Warrick has made houses – fully stocked and equipped – possible in Tampa, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge and Atlanta. House No. 147 just made a mother in Detroit delirious with joy.
Now, about the six kids who Warrick had to watch endure poverty and hunger. A standout athlete at Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Warrick had just celebrated his 18th birthday when his mother, an off-duty police officer, was killed in an ambush as she delivered a grocery-store deposit where she was working a second job to make ends meet. Two days after he became 18, Warrick Dunn became the guardian for his six younger siblings.
His is a legendary tale. With the help of his grandmother, Dunn balanced becoming an All-American in football and in track at Florida State with caring for his brothers and sisters, making decisions from everything to school work to doctor’s visits. To drive from Tallahassee to Baton Rouge takes over six hours. Warrick did it hundreds of times while attending FSU.
Every house he dedicates to the memory of his mother, who longed to own her own house, and when he finally signed a multi-million-dollar deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he could take better care of his family. “We were used to buying only necessities,” he said in an interview. “We handled what I earned very carefully so creating homes is something my mother would have loved.”
Oh, it hasn’t all been easy. Dunn has battled depression ever since his mother was killed. In 2007, Warrick took advantage of a bye week and visited Louisiana’s Angola Prison where his mother’s killer – Kevan Brumfield -- still sits on death row. The two talked for over an hour.
At the time he told a reporter with the Tampa Bay Times, “It was not something I wanted to do … it was something I had to do.
“I’m trying to find peace in my life and move on,” he said. “This has hovered over my life. It has been 14 years. It has been a long, long journey to get to this point. I think this is where I am in my life. You do re-open doors and wounds and emotions But I got the opportunity to say some things and express how I felt. I am happy I did that.”
Dunn admitted the confrontation was emotional. “I said all the things I felt. That my family felt … when you lose someone in your family like that, no one can understand what you go through … I don’t hate him anymore. I’ve moved on. I’m in a better place,” Dunn said in December of 2007.
At the time Warrick was asked if he wanted Brumfield put to death. “He’s going to get his due, whatever that is. It’s up to God. I am fine with whatever happens.”
But last summer, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Brumfield should be fully “assessed” to see if he wasn’t intellectually disabled and thus be ineligible for the death sentence. Dunn called the “intellectually disabled” ruling “offensive and morally wrong.”
Justice Clarence Thomas was furious over the ruling and wrote a dissent saying Brumfield and Dunn were “a study in contrasts.”
“On the one hand, we have Kevan Brumfield, a man who has spent the last 20 years claiming that his actions were the product of circumstances beyond his control,” the Supreme Court Justice wrote. “On the other hand, we have Warrick Dunn, who responded to circumstances beyond his control by caring for his family, building a professional football career, and turning his success on the field into charitable work off the field.”
Three months ago the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Brumfield was “intellectually disabled” and spared his life. In several weeks, the son of Brumfield’s victim will give away the 150th house in his mother’s memory. Yes, quite a study in contrasts.
Thank God Warrick Dunn has finally moved on and – for the record -- is looking for house No. 151.
royexum@aol.com