Once in a while, it's good to see a story reporting youth coaches and players doing the right thing. GREAT STORY from the St. Pete Times.
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http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/11/Sports/To_Plant_coach__it_s_.shtml
To Plant coach, it's like a new home
By JOE SMITH, Times Staff Writer
Published January 11, 2008
TAMPA - Welcome to Extreme Home Makeover: South Tampa-style.
Plant High junior quarterback Aaron Murray and the Panthers are known
for their efficient two-minute offense, which often leads to late-game
heroics.
On Saturday, however, the Panthers traded their pads for paint brushes
to perfect a two-hour home paint job as a thank-you for one of their
heroes, coach Robert Weiner.
More than three dozen players, parents and community members pitched in
to surprise Weiner with a memorable makeover of his one-story home in
Tampa.
When Weiner arrived home Thursday night from a one-week trip to Los
Angeles for a coaches convention, he was welcomed by about 30 players,
parents and friends who stood in the driveway of a place he barely
recognized.
"It's like you brought me a whole new house," a stunned Weiner joked.
"Incredible."
While Weiner was away, players and parents replaced weeds in his front
yard with fresh sod, power washed his driveway and painted new black
shutters.
To save money, some stores sold supplies at cost, sparking the sprucing
up of Weiner's bachelor pad. The former Jesuit assistant led a
once-dormant program at Plant to the 2006 Class 4A state championship and a
26-2 record the past two seasons. Parents joked that Weiner lives at the
school's field house, putting household chores and renovations on a
permanent back burner. Weiner admitted that he hasn't done much to the home
he bought in 1994, located north of Hillsborough Avenue and east of
Himes Avenue.
"When the kids were around, that was his home," said Karen Breit,
mother of Panthers senior linebacker Chris Breit. "He slept in the
fieldhouse. He ate at the field house. This home was just an accessory."
The players and parents dressed up the inside with personal touches.
They found six black-and-white pictures that Weiner, a photography buff,
took two decades ago, and they hung them in the living room. And they
displayed his collection of lighthouses and placed a signed photo of
Babe Ruth above his desk. (Weiner's grandfather was the former home run
king's lawyer.) Chimes and a Plant flag hung from a big tree in the front
yard, which once was covered in weeds and a fallen tree from a past
hurricane. Two place settings with silverware were set neatly on the
kitchen table.
"It's now truly a home," Weiner said. "It's not just a house."
Lauren Murray, Aaron's mother, said the idea was sparked last fall,
when Weiner's mom, Carol, visited from California. Carol noticed how much
time her son spent working, talking on the phone with college coaches,
dedicating his life to the kids.
Carol, a 5-foot-3 resident of Los Angeles, said Weiner's weeds once
"came up to my shoulders."
The players found out about the plan and joined the cleanup crew. Aaron
Murray, receiver Derek Winter, defensive back Luke Martin and
defensive lineman Jamar Williams were a few of the nearly 30 players who shared
painting duties Saturday.
Weiner "is like another father figure," said former Plant and current
LSU linebacker Zachary Midulla, in town after the Tigers' national
championship victory. "When I came in, he taught me everything I needed to
know about being a man.
"It's great to thank him like this."
Joe Smith can be reached at
© Copyright 2002-2008, St. Petersburg Times
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