Author: Harry Carson

I am saddened with a tremendous sense of loss with the passing of my old teammate Brad VanPelt. Brad was a great player when we played together for the New York Giants. I was honored to join him and Brian Kelly as the linebackers in mid 1976. We played well together as a group and with their support I was able to learn and somewhat master the position I was asked to play by the Giants coaches. We knew we were a good trio playing for the Giants defense in the late 1970s but we rose to a much higher level with addition of Lawrence Taylor. We became known as the “Crunch Bunch” a quartet of the best linebackers in the National Football League of the early 80s. With his tall frame, boyishly good looks, blond hair and wearing his #10 jersey Brad played with great pride representing the New York Football Giants. Most people will live with those memories when they hear the name Brad VanPelt.

I will always live with the relationships I formed with all of my teammates. To me, those are the things I carry with me long after the wins and losses. Brad, Brian and Lawrence are like my brothers that I love as if they are really my next of kin. The laughs we shared and the personal issues we’ve supported one another through have bound us together for life. After our playing days we joined one another yearly to play golf together in Hawaii for the NFL Charities Tournaments. We spoke frequently either on the phone or when we were all in the New York area or anytime we were together taking part in events. But two of the more special times that I will always embrace were going the Mexico to help build homes with former President Jimmy Carter for Habitat for Humanity and visiting the wounded soldier returning from Iraq at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. It was during those times that we very seldom talked about football. Actually it wasn’t about talking about anything it was more about just being in the presence of one another that was soothing to our collective souls. As former football players we took great joy in doing good works and making people smile.

Brad was a wonderful and loyal friend who died much too soon. With his wisdom, his passion for helping others, his zest for living and broad smile there was much he should have been able to contribute to make a difference in the lives of many people, especially young athletes.

I love my teammates! And right now I’m missing one of my favorites, Brad VanPelt.

This is an important message to all retired NFL Players and their families in the Tampa area during SuperBowl. I am urging all of you to take advantage of The Living Health Foundation’s offer of free cardiovascular health screenings for former players. I took part in the screenings last year at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ and found it to be a valuable asset in determing what my cardiovascular risks were. I was so impressed with the screening process that I helped to organize a screening in New York for many of my former NY Giants teammates and other former players living in the New York/New Jersey area at Mount Sinai Hospital during Giants Alumni weekend in September.

The Tampa screenings will take place at the Tampa Health Center on the Bay, hosted by Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida Health Center. Screenings will take place on Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st. To take advantage of these screenings you must pre-register by contacting the LHF Office at 732-842-5584 or registering online at www.livingheartfoundation.org.

This intense health opportunity will be extremely valuable to you because it will help you understand your risk for developing cardiovascular and other general health problems. You will learn how you can limit the chances of serious related medical complications and premature death in the future. Remember, what you don’t know about your health can hurt you and your families. As a former NFL player, a heart doctor specialist and the founder of the LHF, Dr. Archie Roberts will be present personally to meet and talk with you at the screening.

I strongly encourage you to sign up for this program. Working together and with your commitment, we stand to decrease your likelihood of experiencing adverse CV events, like heart attack or stroke, by as much as 50%! We need to make the commitment to a healthy lifestyle!

For being the outstanding coach you became after a good career as a player with the Pittsburgh Steelers and for a very short time (several weeks) with the New York Football Giants. While it was brief I enjoyed having you as a teammate. Thanks for your tenure as an assistant coach and then on to being a Head Coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then the Indianapolis Colts. Thanks for becoming the first African-American National Football League Coach to win a SuperBowl. Thanks for your coaching tree of Herman Edwards, Lovie Smith, Mike Tomlin, Rod Marinelli and now Jim Caldwell. Thanks for your support of the Fritz Pollard Alliance in it’s quest to create a greater sense of diversity in the hiring of Minority Coaches, Scouts and Personnel in the NFL. Thanks for truly being a tremendous role model for those players you’ve coached and those coaches you coached with on your journey. Thanks for doing the job the “Tony Dungy Way”! You will definitely be missed! Thanks for all that you’ve done as a football man.

I want to thank you in advance of what you are about to do as a Man! To leave the game of football at the height of your career and devote your life to making a difference in the lives of others especially young men is more important than winning any Lombardi Trophy. I’ve always respected you but that respect is clearly off the charts!

Enjoy your new life and free time with your family.

Yes We Can!!!!!

Let me join the chorus of the millions of voices around the world who have said, “WOW!!!!” in response to the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. As a rule, I don’t normally talk politics or religion with anyone when it comes to these two subjects. (I’ve found that everyone has varying opinions and while we might not see things exactly eye to eye, I defend everyone’s right to believe in what they want to believe in.) After I voted on Election Day I was asked by a reporter from the New York Daily News who I voted for and why? I told him, with pride, Barack Obama! My response was not because he is African-American but because I thought we needed a President who can help restore this country’s standing in the world. America is the greatest country on earth but we as a nation had lost the respect of the world. We all love America whether you are Black, White, Red or Yellow, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or an Independent voter we all love this country and we all are Americans. And, despite what some might want you to believe, I, as well as everyone I know are just as patriotic as anyone else in this country!

I also felt a need to share with the reporter my growing up in the South where I can still remember the separate water fountains in public places and separate entrances for Blacks and Whites for restaurants. Most importantly I remember when both Blacks and Whites were beaten and killed just to have the right for Black people to vote. Even today in various places in this country there are still efforts to keep people from exercising their right to select their own leader. Because of my long standing memories I have never ever taken my right to vote for granted.

When the announcement was made that Senator Obama was now President-Elect Obama I said to myself WOW!!! Unless you’ve grown up as a person of color, poor, discriminated against, looked down upon, considered second class by some, etc, etc. you may not even begin to understand the magnitude of the moment. In recent days you’ve probably heard stories like this, a parents telling their children that they can grow up to be anything they want to be including the President of the United States. If you are Black, you heard it and it sounded good but somewhere in the back of your mind you knew it could never happen! Yeah, you could be a Hall of Fame Football Player, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or even an Astronaut, but the President of the United States of America? C’mon that’s was a stretch but it sounded good! It has happened and my lone desire is I only wish my parents could have been here to witness this event.

The jubilant response of people around the world to the results of our election was an indication that with our change in leadership of this country we are well on the way to restoring world relationships as well as dealing the many serious problems we all as a nation share.

Well, now we all know that when we tell our children, grandchildren or any other child that we care about that they can be anything they want to be if they work hard and prepare, they can believe it and know that it can happen! This election proved it can. Nothing is impossible! Now let’s find the cures to Cancer, Autism, Alzheimer’s and other conditions that affect us all!