But the current players on the varsity football squad need no reminders of one of the school’s most famous alumni. From 3,000 miles a way he has managed to remain very much a presence here.
Consider the day last December when the team was gathered in the locker room, readying itself for the Central Coast Section Division 1 championship game. A text came in to coach Patrick Walsh’s phone.
“I am so proud of the young men and how they represent our school. This will be the last game many of them will ever play. You will remember this for the rest of your lives. My advice: just play your [butts] off for 4 quarters and don’t be out-physicaled!’’
The text was from Brady.
And he is no stranger in the Serra High halls or fields. He has stopped by, thrown a ball around with some students, just checked in. Understated, just the way he wants it. He’ll be back on Feb. 23, the featured keynote speaker at the school’s annual Fund a Dream scholarship dinner, an event that is sold out.
“The type of pride that Tommy shows in Serra, in where he went to school, rubs off on the kids that are here right now,’’ said Dean Ayoob, Serra’s athletic director, who was a senior when Brady was a freshman. “They hear an NFL MVP talking about how much he enjoyed his high school days and where he went to high school, and they really can’t complain too much.’’
Brady donated his prize for winning his second Super Bowl MVP to the school, a Cadillac that brought in $375,000. But the most important part was when Brady, who had suggested giving incentives to students for selling raffle tickets, sat for hours at Serra signing footballs and jerseys, overwhelmed at the response to his idea.
This - the multiple MVPs, and multiple Super Bowl MVPs, multiple championships - was not exactly expected from the teenager known as Tommy Brady.
“Honestly, I’m not sure he was an exceptional athlete in those days,’’ says former baseball coach Pete Jensen.
