The two sides of Dupree
Off-field endeavors as impressive as ones on the field
Bud Dupree is accustomed to knocking people to the ground. But there he was, lowering himself to the ground, to offer a caring hand, a warm hug.
This wasn’t a football field where Dupree excelled. This was an area of Ethiopia known as Korah, where the smell of garbage lingers in the air and many of the inhabitants have leprosy. They live in mudthatched huts along bumpy, dirt pathways, adjacent to a trash dump.
The nerve and skin damage caused by leprosy restricts their ability to care for themselves and to meet their basic needs. Many are inflicted with the HIV virus. They find their clothes and food in the trash dump.
It has been almost a year since Dupree, a 6-foot-4, 269pound outside linebacker, made the service trip to Ethiopia with two of his University of Kentucky teammates and Jason Schlafer, the school’s executive associate athletic director.
Twice a year, Schlafer takes different student-athletes to Ethiopia. They bring the disfigured inhabitants of Korah food and clothes and provide beds so they don’t have to sleep on a pile of straw. Schlafer is not sure he has seen anyone interact with the lepers the way Dupree did last May.
“It was really obvious Bud has a big heart for the poor,” Schlafer was saying Thursday on the phone from Lexington, Ky. “I don’t know Bud’s background, but it was amazing to see. His size is unique in the U.S.; you take him to a thirdworld country it’s highlighted that much more.
“He would get down and look
at these widowed women in the eye. He was the first hug. He’s holding their hand and gives them that great big smile. He was unafraid to help them. A lot of folks are when you deal with people who are deformed because of leprosy. He was compassionate and empathetic. I’ve probably taken about 40 student athletes from different sports on this trip, and he was the most grateful that I’ve taken. He pulled me aside on several occasions to thank me for taking him.”
Thursday, on his first visit to Pittsburgh, he got to see a different sight. He saw the city open to him when his car emerged from the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Dupree said.
He posed with team president Art Rooney II, holding a Steelers jersey with his name on the back, the number “1” signifying his selection as their No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. And he recalled his trip to Ethiopia.
“The experience was dramatic … it shocked me,” Dupree said after being introduced at the Steelers’ South Side facility. “Just seeing a different lifestyle they live. I brought back — don’t take it for granted. Make sure you live every day like it’s your last. Have fun while you can. Laugh while you can. Take everything you do seriously.”
The Steelers drafted Dupree with the 22nd overall pick because they loved his explosion, his ability to rush the passer and drop into coverage, and the size and athleticism he brings to left side of their defense. But, according to former coaches and associates, the Steelers also selected a person whose character is every bit the equal of his football talents.
“My teenage daughter puts him down as her best friend,” said Jeb Stewart, head coach at Wilkinson County High School in Irwinton, Ga., where Dupree played wide receiver, tight end and defensive end. “When he was going into his senior year, me and him logged a lot of miles on my truck visiting places. A lot of Saturdays after ballgames he was at my house watching film. ”
Dupree was also an outstanding basketball player in high school and originally was going to be a tight end at Kentucky. But former head coach Joker Phillips switched him to defense right before the first game of his freshman season because he thought it was a quicker way to get Dupree on the field. Phillips is now the receivers coach for the Cleveland Browns.
“I was kind of mad at first [about the switch,] but, at the end of the day, it got me to where I am today,” Dupree said.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said his team received “a gift” when Dupree, whose stock was rapidly rising on draft boards around the league, dropped to No. 22.
He became the obvious choice when cornerbacks Trae Waynes of Michigan State and Kevin Johnson of Wake Forest were off the board. The Steelers had high first-round grades on Waynes and Johnson and would have drafted either one had they been available.
“This will be the fourth first-round draft pick I’ve been around from the defensive line, and I would say he’s the best athlete I’ve ever coached or been around,” said Kentucky defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh.
On the football field, he is an awesome package of size, speed, explosion and smarts. He is 6-foot-4, 269 pounds with 14 percent body fat, meaning it is unlikely his body will balloon and take on the shape of, say, LaMarr Woodley, who weighed 280 pounds to start the 2012 season with the Steelers.
At the NFL combine in Indianapolis, he was one of the workout wonders, running a 4.56 in the 40 (second fastest among all linebackers), posting a 42-inch vertical jump (second best by any linebacker since 2006) and 11½ feet in the standing long jump. But it was what he did on the field at Kentucky that enticed the Steelers. Not only did he drop into coverage with the Wildcats, something that is required of Steelers linebackers, but he also has a football sense that allows him to process looks and assignments quickly.
“You don’t really find a guy who can rush the passer and drop,” Brumbaugh said Friday on the phone. “They’re special. In all my years of being in a 3-4 and being around, I haven’t seen many of them who can do both — and he can do it.”
Off the field, Dupree is equally impressive. In addition to the Ethiopia trip, he took part in the university’s Big Blue Move-in, which helps 5,000 new students move on to campus; and did volunteer work with God’s Pantry Food Bank, a Feeding America affiliate that provides 30 million pounds of groceries to 50 Kentucky counties each year.
“He’s a guy I can leave my son with,” Brumbaugh said.”