The story almost sounded too good to be true:

A young, white teacher moves in 1970 from East Baton Rouge Parish to Jackson, Miss., when her husband gets a new job.

She lands a job at a previously all-black school in the first year of full-blown integration of Jackson’s public schools. Except that the racial makeup of students at her new school is basically the same because white students are leaving the public schools.

Meanwhile, her husband is catching the dickens at work because his wife is teaching at a black school, and the frostiness and pettiness extends to the teacher outside in the community.

The couple soon realizes they’ve made a big mistake, and the husband arranges to return to his old job in Baton Rouge while the wife finishes out the semester. Her students are heartbroken.

Nearly 39 years later, the teacher gets a call from the Louisiana Department of Education. A former National Football League player wants to talk to her, and his lawyer asked the department to track her down.

Mary “Mimi” Hagan responded by making that call to former Mississippi State University and Chicago Bears lineman Tyrone Keys, now the head of a nonprofit organization affiliated with NFL Charities, that helps students pursue higher education through community service and mentoring.

Hagan said she was nearly floored when Keys asked her to attend his July 31 induction into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Keys, by then, already was a member of Mississippi State’s Education Hall of Fame.

Hagan remembered Keys from her short time in his classroom, and she also found she had written the names of her students and other sixth-graders in Dawson Elementary on sheets of notebook paper when she left. She still had the papers at her home.

What she didn’t know was how much of an impression she had made on her students and that she figures prominently in motivational talks that Keys gives to groups of young people.

And yet, on a return visit in mid-August to the Hall of Fame in Jackson, Hagan viewed the partially finished exhibit honoring Keys.

“You push a button to see his video, and he’s talking about me!” Hagan said.

Keys said last month that 1970 was a turbulent time in Mississippi, as black families and white families grappled with issues raised by desegregation of the public schools.

Hagan gave Keys and his classmates a different perspective, he said.

“Mrs. Hagan was just there for about six months, but what I remember is the courage and compassion she shared and she showed. I never forgot it,” Keys said.

After a story of the reunion appeared, Southern University history professor Charles Vincent, of Baker, said he was not surprised at Keys’ reaction because he had seen Hagan exhibit the same concern and compassion for her students at Baker’s Park Ridge Elementary School, especially the New Orleans children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Hagan and Keys also have been invited to speak at the July 2010 fourth annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Symposium and Celebration, where top Louisiana educators are honored.

“You would be such an inspiration to the educators who struggle every day to do the right thing and to make a difference in the life of a child,” the invitation reads.

James Minton covers Baker, Zachary and the Felicianas for The Advocate. His e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The voice was never far away. “When I was younger I used to wonder who or what it was,” Fredrick Burns says. “But now I know it was the devil.” The better grades Burns made, the nicer he was to people, the more goals he set, the sooner the voice returned: “You are from the streets. That is where you belong. Quit believing all this stuff people are telling you and listen to me. I know you.”

Tyrone Keys
DE – 6’7” – 270 - #98

Born: October 24,1959, Jackson, MS
High School: Callaway (Jackson, MS)
Residence: Tampa, FL
College: Mississippi State
NFL Year: 5       Buc Year: 2
NFL Acquisition: Drafted by New York Jets in the fifth round, 1981
Buc Acquisition: Claimed on waivers from Chicago, September

The story can send chills down your spine, listening to Tyrone Keys describe one of college football's greatest upsets.

He was a defensive lineman for Mississippi State, and he made the biggest play in the biggest game in his college career.

No. 1 Alabama suffered a shocking 6-3 loss to heavy underdog Mississippi State on Nov. 1, 1980, and the Bulldogs had no reason to be quiet. And then they did.

Legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant walked in.

Click Here to Watch Video

Gentry's book, Mississippi's Uncovered Glory, covers the 1975 Callaway Chargers, the first team in the state to record a 12-0 season and the only team in the past 50 years from the Jackson metro area to record an undefeated season.

So when he was invited to Washington, D.C. to be a guest at the White House, he demanded his presence not be a political venture.

Today, Lewis is Vice President of Global Operations and Supplier Relationship Development with the Bank of America. He supports Bank of America Global Consumer Small Business Banking and Global Commercial Investment Bank, Global Wealth and Investment Management, and Global Product Solutions business lines and strategic sourcing teams.

Although Foster’s brother is older, he made some bad decisions in his life, and has been incarcerated a few times.

Despite the distractions, Foster knew he needed to make a critical decision about his life.

• 5day/4night hotel stay
• Airfare for 2
• 2 tickets to the SUPER BOWL
• 2 tickets to the NFL Alumni’s Player of the Year Awards Dinner.

A second prize of $1000.00 and a third prize of $500.00 will also be given away. The drawing will be held on Dec 17th 2008. The raffle officially closes on midnight Dec 15th 2008. There is only a limited amount of tickets sold for this raffle. So don't wait tickets are moving out. To purchase ticket(s) online:

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or contact:

All Sports Community Services
813-348-3729 - Office
813-348-3999 - Fax

At the same time just a few miles away, Ollie Hoyte helped coach participants at the Mike Alstott Football Camp, including a young teen from Dallas.

The link between the two? All Sports Community Service and founder Tyrone Keys

Keys was selected as an invited guest by a presidential volunteers committee and President George W. Bush to recognize his charitable efforts.

The charity Keys founded is All Sports Community Service (ASCS), a Tampa-based 501(3)c organization supported by NFL Charities that provides opportunities for student/athletes to attain personal enrichment through higher education.

All Sports Community Service has been a major service organization in the Tampa Bay area for many years, and is an important part of your life. Who or what inspired you to create All Sports Community Service?

Well, I was part of an informal mentoring program during high school. At that time, I met a gentleman by the name of Odell Jenkins. He had come to my high school as a football coach, and saw a lot of potential in me. He quickly became a father figure to me; he was the guy who helped me and a lot of other students in the community develop a game plan for college and beyond. He had helped a lot of others get onto college football teams and eventually play professionally, so his guidance greatly helped me...

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Four of the six new members have football ties, including former Southern Miss coaches Jim Carmody and Jeff Bower.

The class also features former NFL players and college football greats Tyrone Keys (Mississippi State, 1978-80) and Hugh Green (North Natchez High School, 1973-76).

John Stroud, the all-time scoring leader in Ole Miss men’s basketball history, and Robert Morgan, who served as the director of Mississippi's only PGA Tour event for 40 years, are the two non-football inductees for 2009.

Bower, Carmody, Stroud, Morgan and Green’s wife, Guy, were in attendance at Tuesday’s announcement of the class at the Sports Hall of Fame & Museum in Jackson.

The six will be inducted at the 47th Annual BancorpSouth Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on July 31.

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By Ernest Hooper
Times Staff Writer

In a Panera Bread store in Carrollwood, T.J. Lewis talked to William Joseph about what he could expect.

At the same time just a few miles away, Ollie Hoyte helped coach participants at the Mike Alstott Football Camp, including a young teen from Dallas.

The link between the two? All Sports Community Service and founder Tyrone Keys.

It is with the deepest sorrow that I inform our friends of the passing of Ms. Christina Whidden on Friday morning, April 4, 2008. As All Sports’ Director of Grants and Scholarships, Chris showed all of our students unconditional love and respect. Her presence and contribution to the All Sports Community family will be truly missed.

Her physical heart may have weakened, but her true heart, her inner soul, will always live on. Chris used her special gifts to inspire All Sports students to seek their educational potential and return to the community to help the next generation. She was truly dedicated to the belief that when you are helped, it is your privilege and responsibility to come back and give back. She was always thrilled when an All Sports graduate reached out to help at least one student of the next generation. Just last year, Chris encouraged two of our students, Gilbert and Sergio, to establish the Perez Brothers Scholarship. She beamed as she watched the ceremony and saw the smiles of the young people who received their awards. It is a tribute to Chris that her life touched so many young people in our community.

By Ernest Hooper
Times Staff Writer

TAMPA -- When T.J. Lewis stands before NationsBank employees in shirt and tie soliciting United Way donations, he looks little like "the kid" who used to play point guard at Gaither High.

Yet thanks indirectly to some United Way seed money, Lewis has grown in many ways since he completed his senior year at Gaither in 1993. You could argue the charitable organization never has made a smarter investment.

Lewis' full-circle story began when United Way gave Tyrone Keys the seed money to begin All Sports Community Service, a scholarship service for high school students that also promotes community involvement.

One of the first players Keys helped was Lewis, who averaged 17.8 points and became Gaither's second all-time leading scorer. Keys sent tapes of the ball-handler to Queens College and Lewis landed a scholarship with the Division II school in Charlotte, N.C.

"Some of your smaller schools don't have a recruiting budget," Keys explained. "They tend to look in the paper and see a guy averaging 18 points and they say, "We can get the same type of guy locally without paying out-of-state fees.' What they don't know is the character and leadership the guy is able to bring. Those are some of the things I try to bring out."

After two seasons as a reserve, Lewis broke into the starting lineup last season. One of five starters in double figures, Lewis averaged 11 points and four assists for Queens, which went 25-6 and made the Division II Sweet 16. The team captain, Lewis was given the Royal Award for academic and athletic leadership.

Tyrone Keys, who has made helping others his lifelong mission, returned last Saturday to his alma mater, Mississippi State University. Keys was honored for his work with All Sports Community Service, his Tampa-based non-profit organization that was featured in "Story of Character" television spots to commemorate the SEC's 75th anniversary.

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Albert Einstein once observed the condition of the world around him and remarked, “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” Tyrone Keys, the Founder and Director of All Sports Community Service, a 501(3)c organization providing opportunities for student/athletes to attain personal enrichment through higher education, may not be aware of Einstein’s words. Nevertheless, he has certainly lived them out in his life.

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The 2008 NFL ALUMNI SUPER BOWL RAFFLE is here! For $100.00 you will get a chance to win a 5day/4night hotel stay, round trip airfare to Arizona, 2 tickets to the game and 2 tickets to the NFL Alumni’s Player of the Year Awards Dinner.

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From their mother, Flora Curley, a nurse, Gilbert and Sergio Perez learned to balance their lives between athletics and academics.

From their father, Gilberto Perez, a carpenter, the brothers learned the value of hard work and never taking anything for granted. 

Sean Farrell, the new Managing Director for the Merrill Lynch Tampa Complex, presented the 2007 Success In Education Award to Tyrone Keys during a community event on March 15 at Higgins Hall.  The inaugural event, titled Success In Education:  A Look At Our Future, gave local universities an opportunity to showcase themselves to the business community, alumni associations and honor roll students from Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk County.  A representative from Saint Leo University, the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida spoke about The Year 2010, and the advantages of staying in Tampa for their college education as well as their careers.

To our donors and friends:

After retiring from pro football, I had to have three surgeries: back, knee, and shoulder. But before I could have these surgeries I had to have several EKGs, tests that check the heart’s function. After that I was ordered to have a heart catheterization. Everything checked out fine. But it was during this stressful time that I was given a book called The Heart’s Code, by Paul Pearsall. Pearsall said, “Our ancestors knew that the heart had powerful energy and that it conveyed deep wisdom. However, as the human species developed its brain, it began to lose sight of its heart.” I wondered to myself if this had happened to me. Playing football and reaching the ultimate pinnacle of my career in Super Bowl XX, I knew I had reached a dream. But I began to see that was only a portion of what I was. I had achieved a physical goal, but now I was seeking the connection to my soul, my real purpose in life. I began to get involved in programs in housing projects and the Juvenile Detention Center, as well as a program in the suburbs.

The Super Bowl often is touted as the ultimate event in sports. But for 46-year-old Jackson native Tyrone Keys, who helped the Chicago Bears win Super Bowl XX, football's biggest game served more as a means to an end.

Jenkins, once Keys' coach at Callaway, directing 15 young men in 'Gentlemen's Quest'

Non Profit Group Helps Community 

TAMPA - Louisville senior J.R. Russell is projected to be one of the top receivers in the nation this year, but he was barely recruited out of Gaither High. Russell led Gaither with 34 receptions, 465 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior. He al-so led the Cowboys to the sec-ond round of the region play-offs.

The odds seemed against her. Kylie Moord and her brother were being raised by a single mom who was a teacher's aide and then worked a second job so she could provide for her children. But Kylie dreamed of going to college. "I knew early on how important that piece of paper was. My Mom, whom 1 admire so much, worked low-paying job. 1 knew 1 would get there though, even if 1 had to sit outside the classroom door."

Why you might know him: In the 80’s Keys was a defensive end for the ’85 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

The Mike Alstott Football Camp for Kids takes place for 4 days in Tampa and 4 days in St. Petersburg. Kids from 8 to 17 learn football skills and get to personally meet Mike Alstott. Each year All Sports Community Service selects young men who are now successful college players to teach alongside the Camp's college coaches. This allows young people to see what can be attained with hard work and a good attitude. It also helps remind the youth that college is the stop between adolescence and the pros.

Growing up in poverty and an area of high crime, Todd Williams lost his mother, who he barely knew, at a young age. His grandmother, who cared for Todd and was the love of his life, passed away when he was only 14. In addition, he lost his father during that same time. Homeless, with no place to stay and no one to turn to, he took to the streets of Miami where he lived in a car and stole food to survive. When boredom set in, he returned to the area where he grew up, stole a car and was arrested. That's when fate invented and he was introduced to All Sports Community Service. With a strong will and desire to fulfill the promise he made to his grandmother, he graduated from high school, attended Florida State and graduated with two degrees - one in Psychology and one in criminology. Recently, he returned to Tampa where he spoke to the young men in the same halfway house where he once lived.

All Sports Founder and Director Tyrone Keys has had a storied career in football, both as a collegian and as a professional career was climaxed as a member of the Super Bowl Shuffle-winning Chicago Bears, and recently he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Mississippi State University.

Todd Williams, 23, spent two years living on the streets during a crime-filled youth. At 14 he met All Sports Community Service director Tyrone Keys at the Leslie Peters Halfway House in Tamp and began to turn his life around. Now a senior offensive tackle for Florida State University, Williams dreams of playing pro football - and more.

Four years ago, a tall, lanky student graduated from Hillsborough High School and headed north to college, leaving behind the Robles Park Housing Project where he had grown up, a place surrounded by drugs, violence, and hopelessness. "I'm glad to see anyone make it out of this neighborhood, "one neighbor said to a Channel 8 reporter covering the story.

A decade ago, Albert Perry, a young athlete from a tough inner city neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, was headed to Texas Southern University. Few doubted that this thousand-yard rusher would one day play collegiate football. But a few weeks after the fall semester began, something went wrong and Albert was back home.

Tyrone Keys wanted to give something back. He had just about everything an athlete could ask for. He played during a winning era at Mississippi State. He played on the 1980 team that beat #1 Alabama in Jackson, his hometown. He went on to a nine-year pro football career, including a stint with the Super Bowl Champion 1985 Chicago Bears.

Former NFL star and current Executive Director and Founder of All Sports Community Services, Tyrone Keys, spends endless days and time helping local high school athletes reach the collegiate level, especially those who possessed marginal talent or weren't offered a scholarship. His track record reads of nothing but success with these young men once they've reached college and follows their progress up until the time they graduate and either go on to a professional sports career, or enter the world of business.

When T.J. Lewis stands before NationsBank employees in shirt and tie soliciting United Way donations, he looks little like "the kid" who used to play point guard at Gaither High.

When a limousine cruises through a housing project, it usually represents and ending. The sight of a long black car with multiple doors is most often associated with funeral processions.

The story of Nathan Peoples isn't that uncommon, but he is.

Peoples, 6-foot-2, 218 pounds, is a heralded linebacker for Armwood who had every reason to believe his future was with a Division I school. For as long as he can remember, the advice has been the same: practice hard, play well, make good grades, do well on the college entrance exam and a scholarship will be yours.

I was born 21 years ago, the first of three boys to the proud parents, Shelton and Johnnie Ruth Keys. My parents graduated from Alcorn University. So from day one all I heard was education and going to college. My mother is a typing teacher; although I am not the best typist in the world, I do type a little. My father, who is retired now, was formerly a Farmer Home Administration Appraiser.