Light playing guardian role, on and off the field

Archdeacon

like to be Tom Brady’s guardian angel?”

“Guardian angel?” Light said with a bemused smile. “Yeah, I float everywhere I go. ... I’m not sure, though, how he characterizes me, but I’m pretty sure guardian angel is a far cry from it.”

He might not call himself that — and New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who’ll knock heads with him in Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVI, certainly doesn’t embrace that thought — but a lot of other folks sure see the 6-foot-4, 305-pound lineman from Greenville as a jumbo-sized guardian.

Those who have truly witnessed his protective wingspan are young people in need — inner-city kids from Nashville and Rhode Island, teenagers from West Lafayette, Ind., a Cheyenne Indian reservation in Montana and, especially, youngsters from his own Darke County.

There is no place where Light’s presence “floats” over the area like it does in Greenville. It’s not just that he grew up there and that his parents, Bill and Marilyn, still live there. It’s where he has built the centerpiece of his Matt Light Foundation, a nearly 500-acre camp outside of town called Chenoweth Trails.

The Foundation has been in the news the past few days because Light has sponsored a Super Bowl raffle in which the winner will be his guest in Indianapolis this weekend.

And that means two tickets to the game at Lucas Oil Stadium, a room at a premium hotel tonight, Saturday and Sunday nights, transportation costs, payment of the gift tax that’s placed on such a prize, an autographed Brady jersey and a football signed by the Pats offensive line and hand-delivered by Light himself.

Tickets cost just $2 and as of Thursday morning, Light said $265,000 already had been collected. All of it was going to add facilities and improvements to Chenoweth Trails, which not only benefits kids in need from across the United States, but youth, service and church groups from across Darke County.

“Like I told my family the other day, there’s a reason I come back and keep doing these things,” the 33-year-old Light said during a break in preparations for Sunday’s game. “I love the Super Bowl rings and the recognition of being a football player is great, but to me, the most important part of it is the off-the- field stuff and being able to create a foundation is the best part of it.”

Always protective

Growing up, Light was more interested in hunting and fishing than football and said he had no idea the sport could be his ticket in life: “I wasn’t even aware you could get a scholarship to play in college. Then people started knocking on my door, saying we’ll give you a full ride.”

After winning All-ohio honors at Greenville High, he became an All-big Ten lineman at Purdue and then was chosen in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Patriots.

Since then he has played in 172 games (starting all but two), been selected to the Pro Bowl three times and won three Super Bowl rings.

While he’s made his name with muscle, he’s just as well known around the Pats dressing room for his mirth. When a hang-onevery-word young reporter asked him why he had been so successful for so many years, Light’s brown eyes lit up as he shared the secret of his success:

“I keep a salt block in my house and I lick it constantly. That’s pretty much been the key to my success. I’m like a deer in the woods looking for minerals at any chance.”

One thing he did find was gold, signing a six-year contract extension worth $27 million in 2004. After that, Light enrolled in the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program and soon after began his foundation, which now has a bit more than a $1 million endowment.

“It was all his idea to start the foundation,” Bill Light said. “From the time Matt was a little kid, he was looking out for someone else. He was a protector — literally. If there was another little kid getting picked on, even if it took physicality, Matt would put a stop to it. He’s been like that forever.”

Light’s foundation not only uses the outdoors to help young people better themselves, but it takes on a myriad of other causes. He holds a football camp every year in Greenville. An auction last fall raised $40,000 for three elementary schools in Foxborough, Mass.

When Dan Pires, a popular 52year-old New Bedford Standard Times sportswriter died during a workout on a school track in

That scary stare

Light might consider inviting Umenyiora to enroll in the Vohokase program.

The past few times they’ve met on the field, they have ended up in some shoving matches after plays are over.

Earlier this week, the Giants’ talented pass rusher talked about how Light gets under his skin: “He does all that extra pushing and tries to hit you over the pile and stuff like that.”

Light missed Monday’s practice and Tuesday’s Super Bowl Media Day because of a stomach virus, but was back for everything Wednesday.

When asked what he thought of Umenyiora’s comments — the Giant lineman had offered him a tongue-in-cheek get well — Light shrugged: “Look, I have a hard time understanding what my wife says to me on a daily basis so I try not to read too much into anything.”

The Patriots will need Light at full force because the Giants have an aggressive front seven that has helped the defense compile a league-leading 57 sacks.

That Light is unrattled by Umenyiora is not surprising. He’s already battled some of the league’s best pass rushers this season in Tamba Hali, Trent Cole, Elvis Dumervil, Brian Orakpo and Dwight Freeney.

“More often than not these guys develop a healthy respect for each other,” said Bill Light, who shared a story about his son and John Abraham, who at the time was a perennial All-pro defender with the New York Jets:

“It was at a playoff game with the Colts and afterward Mr. Kraft (Pats owner Robert Kraft) would have a big tent sent up where the families would get together. Johnny came as a fan and showed up there and we sat down and talked.

“Out of the blue he said, ‘Mr. Light, your son scares me.’ I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘Other guys will talk trash, but your son just stares at me.’

“I thought about it and then it hit me. I said, ‘Johnny, it’s not that he’s staring. I taught him when we were in the woods hunting not to use his center vision because if you try to look behind every tree, it’s impossible. You use your total vision, your full peripheral vision, so you see everything at the same time. It looks like he’s staring, but he’s actually using that vision he uses when he hunts.’

“I said, ‘Truthfully, my son has the utmost respect for you not just as a football player but as a man.’ And he said he had the same for Matt.”

A lot of people agree with Abraham.

“You could not have a better guy in your community,” said Greenville mayor Mike Bowers. “What he does here with his foundation for the schools and the community is outstanding. He’s a big guy with a big heart to match.”

And with that in mind, Light was asked where he rates among the treasures of his hometown.

“Aahh man, Annie Oakley’s from right near there, she’s first,” he said. “And Made Rites (hamburgers) are second and you’ve got to put Lowell Thomas and the Garst Museum in there. They’re all way above me. Me, I’d rather just help people when I can, but be kinda out of sight about it.”

Kind of sounds like a guardian angel after all.