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Standards are set high for quality outcomes

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published May 2, 2006

Derrick Brooks still can remember when he first met Natasha Spencer.

It was 10 years ago when the Tampa Bay Buccaneer started working with youth from two Boys & Girls Clubs in Tampa, his goal to reach out and make a difference in the lives of kids who didn't know of a life beyond the inner city.

Spencer, then 12, was more silly than serious, more sassy than somber. Underneath her smiling innocence, however, was a spark of ambition. Brooks saw a fire that needed to be kindled.

"She asked questions you want kids to ask," Brooks said. "She was always respectful. When I talked, I could tell she was listening because of the questions she asked.

"I just kind of gravitated toward her."

How things have changed. Brooks' simple interaction with the kids has blossomed into Derrick Brooks Charities. Brooks has taken the kids, known as the Brooks Bunch, on trips to various U.S. cities. Two groups have gone to South Africa.

Spencer has grown, too. On Saturday, the 21-year-old became the first Brooks Bunch kid to earn a college degree, graduating from Florida State University as a pre-med student with a 3.6 grade point average.

At Sunday's pairings party for his annual celebrity golf tournament at Old Memorial, Brooks teased Spencer about how sophisticated she appeared in high heels. Of course, she didn't need pumps to stand tall. Her poise and grace gave little indication that years ago she was unsure of her future growing up in Tampa's Ponce de Leon neighborhood.

"In my community no one really wanted to venture out and do anything different from the community besides staying there, growing up there, living there and eventually dying there," Spencer said. "That's all I ever saw.

"Derrick Brooks Charities has made me open my eyes to a bigger world instead of the small world I was living in. It made me realize there are things out there that I can be a part of, that I can grasp."

Thanks to a grasp of science and biology, Spencer has excelled. It wasn't always easy, however. In her first year, she struggled with being away from home for the first time. Brooks shared with her his own experiences of being a freshman at FSU, and how everyone goes through an adjustment period.

"At the same time, I told her there was no other option," said Brooks, a member of the university's board of trustees. "It wasn't like she was coming back home."

Whenever Brooks speaks of one of his Brooks Brunch kids, it is with uncompromising compassion. It's the reason they see him as a big brother instead of a perennial All Pro likely to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It's the reason he strives to get the best out of every kid.

"I don't think I'm tough, but I do set high standards," said Brooks, who entertained players and celebrities Monday at his charity tourney. "That's the only way I can weed out the ones who aren't serious. I tell them if you don't want to use these tools, there is someone else who will."

In a number of ways, Spencer and Brooks embrace the very definition of commencement.

Brooks will use Spencer as a symbol of possibilities as he continues to help kids. His focus has turned to a new program called "First-and-10," which will get students ready for life after high school through college prep courses or vocational training.

In a time when sociologists paint a statistical nightmare for innercity youth, Brooks won't talk about how his work has had a positive impact. He can only look forward.

"If I stop at Natasha's success, I'm failing somebody else," Brooks said. "I have to use her example, her aspirations, to inspire others. I don't have any room for complacency because every kid has a different story, a different starting point and a different ending.

"That's what keeps the foundation going."

Spencer will keep going because of her high aspirations and willingness to give back. She plans to apply to medical school in June and wants to make sure the college that accepts her will offer opportunities to provide health care to underserved communities. She dreams of some day opening a health clinic in her old Ponce de Leon area.

"I've changed a lot in my life and I've done so many things and I don't really like to look back," Spencer said. "I might have still been living with my mom. I told her once when I was little I was going to live with her until I'm 30.

"(Without Brooks), I probably would be living with her, or living somewhere, with a couple of kids, not really doing much."

That's all I'm saying.

--Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 2, 2006, 01:57:13]