Matt Hasselbeck takes sixth-grader to school

By GREGG BELL | The Associated Press • Published December 04, 2008

Comments (0)

ISSAQUAH — Matt Hasselbeck woke up before dawn. His young son Henry had been up much of the night crying, but the black stretch limousine arrived anyway at 6:55 a.m.

By 7:30 the Seahawks quarterback was inside Andy Co’s house in an upper-class subdivision of this Seattle suburb, awed by a picture of his new sixth-grade pal, his brother and sister atop an elephant during a family vacation to Thailand. Andy fiddled with the oversized NFC championship ring Hasselbeck gave him to wear for the morning.

“Is that a real elephant?” Hasselbeck said. “At least it’s chained to a tree.”

Hasselbeck’s Seahawks lost to Andy’s 49ers in a video game — yes, Seattle (2-10) even loses in the virtual world these days. Then it was off to Issaquah Middle School in the limo with Andy, his brother and parents Dickson, who works in Microsoft’s financial department, and Judy, an educator for special-needs teens.

Wearing his white, No. 8 Seahawks jersey, Hasselbeck led a school assembly on the importance of staying physically active. He jumped rope some and did stretches with a gym class until a fire alarm rang.

What was the three-time Pro Bowl passer doing standing in the rain during a school fire drill on his only day off of the week in this miserable season?

Hasselbeck was one of a dozen players around the league who took contest winners to school Tuesday as part of the NFL’s “Play 60” program, which encourages youth to get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day.

The goodwill gesture came at an ideal time for the NFL, with players across the league facing questions about guns. New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was charged Monday with illegal weapons possession after he accidentally shot himself in the right thigh at a club last weekend.

Hasselbeck acknowledged palling around with Andy and his middle-school friends was even more important this week.

“When you’re a professional athlete, it’s your job to perform on the field and on the court or whatever,” he said after coming back into the gym following the fire drill. “But it’s also part of your job to be a role model in the community.”

Next page >>