Tedy Bruschi Visits BGCH

Bruschi Speech Inspires Young Men at Boy’s & Girls Clubs of Hartford ‘Boys to Men’ Event

By Christopher Hanna

Three-time Super Bowl champion and former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi captivated the attention of young children and adults alike in his speech for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford’s Boys to Men event Thursday evening at the Aetna Auditorium.

The event, emceed by SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris, showcased the impact of the Boys & Girls Clubs on the lives of young men in the clubs’ Passport to Manhood program.

“There’s a point in time where you need to be guided by a male role model and the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford provides that for these kids,” Bruschi said.

“It’s a great thing that they do and you see the quality of young men here, so it’s a good program.” Bruschi said the main thing he hoped kids would take away from his speech is that their future is bright and that they can be anything they want to be.

As a celebrity figure in his own right, Bruschi discussed how important it was for him to be a role model for these kids.

“It’s humbling [to be a role model]. It’s very humbling actually. I just always try to conduct myself with class and humility the best that I can because I’ve made mistakes, too,” Bruschi said during a networking hour. “I think being a proper role model is showing that when you do make mistakes and you come back from them, how you came back from them and then who you are, and how you’re better from them.”

Kyren Fair, a 17-year-old who has spent the last 12 years at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford at the Asylum Hill Unit, was honored as the 2018 Young Man of the Year and shared a personal story about why the club is so important to him and what the recognition means.

“These have been the best years of my life,” Fair said of his time in the club. “Anyone can come here and have a better future ahead of them because that’s what the club is all about.”

Three-time Super Bowl champion and former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi talks about what it means to be a role model for young kids.

During the networking hour prior to the program, Samuel S. Gray Jr., President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, said the Passport to Manhood is important to the kids because of the journey of growing up and becoming a man.

“[The kids] have been taking a journey, a journey into manhood,” Gray, Jr. said. “This Passport to Manhood program that the Boys & Girls Club offers is a phenomenal opportunity for them to be men in our community giving back in a very, very positive way.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Hartford was the first chapter of the Boys & Girls Club of America and it was in Hartford that the organization was first founded in 1860. Last year, the Hartford chapter helped over 10,000 children in the city.