N.Y Times Article: Revis

For Revis, Some Precarious Roots Have Helped Him Grow Stronger

By GREG BISHOP
Published: October 11, 2008
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. ? The hill atop Seventh Avenue overlooks rows of rundown and abandoned houses, followed by tree clusters that rise in the distance until interrupted by the black-and-red bleachers of the Aliquippa High School football field.

Before Darrelle Revis was old enough to attend games, and long before he became the Jets? shutdown cornerback, he stood outside his childhood home here most Friday nights, alone in the silence of a town that shut down for every football game.

?All I thought about was playing there,? Revis said. ?When those lights come on, everybody in this town is there. That field is what keeps this town going.?

During a recent tour of Aliquippa, Revis stood outside the brick house at 309 Seventh Avenue, the one with the boarded windows and the cracked foundation, the one with 13 rooms once filled by four generations of his family.

His memories brought the silent neighborhood to life. Like the time he crashed his Tonka truck and ripped open his left eyebrow, which is still scarred. Or the time a neighbor saw the boys turning a slanted lawn into a football field ? and threw boiling water at one receiver, giving new meaning to the term hot route.

Here, Revis imitated cornerback Deion Sanders and quarterback Brett Favre, who, all these years later, is his teammate. Here, Revis dribbled basketballs for hours on the sidewalk, certain he would one day star in the N.B.A. Here, Revis broke at least seven plastic basketball hoops with ferocious dunks.
In the middle of his second N.F.L. season, Revis has making the Pro Bowl as one of his goals. So far, so good. His interception against the Miami Dolphins sealed the Jets? first win. He shut down the New England Patriots? All-Pro receiver Randy Moss.

He also snagged two interceptions against Arizona and returned one for a touchdown, as predicted the night before the game by Sean Gilbert, his uncle and another star in the long line of Aliquippa?s top export ? professional athletes.

But Revis?s rise from this rundown town to become a burgeoning star is not as simple as the familiar narrative of athletes escaping brutal conditions.

In fact, Revis maintained he made it because of Aliquippa, not in spite of it. Because of his family full of athletes, who were born here, raised here, and, for the most part, still live here. Because of the athletic tradition at his school and in his town.

Football is actually the only thing we have here,? said Sherman McBride, who coached Revis in football, basketball and track. ?It?s more competitive than any place around. Because everybody wants to be the next Darrelle Revis.?

Just like Revis wanted to be the next Ty Law, and Law wanted to be the next Gilbert, and Gilbert wanted to be the next Mike Ditka. But before these Aliquippa standouts reached the N.F.L., they had to survive these streets.

Above Seventh Avenue, a path leads to the Griffin Heights apartment complex. Revis said one of his uncles belonged to a gang there. Revis always bugged his uncle about letting him tag along, and after months of cajoling, his uncle finally relented. What Revis saw stopped him cold. He said he never went back after that.

Others chose the gang path, like the friend Revis and another uncle, Jammal Gilbert, discussed recently in the kitchen of the house the family lives in on Broadhead Road.

?I heard he?s missing a leg,? Revis said.

?Blown off,? Gilbert said. ?He?s got a nub.?

?Wow,? Revis responded, shaking his head.

?That?s what a 40-caliber will do for you,? Gilbert said. ?Take a limb right off, boy.?

Located north of the Pittsburgh airport, Aliquippa sits in the heart of Steelers country, as evidenced by the inflatable Steelers doll floating in front of a local house. Flags hang on street poles, imploring locals to ?Take Pride in Aliquippa.?

Franklin Avenue runs through downtown, and for every Payton?s Barber Shop or Today?s Kidz Daycare Center, there are two boarded-up storefronts with ?for lease? signs out front. Asked how long downtown has looked like this, Revis said, ?For as long as I?ve been born.?

On the tour, Revis steered his rented Cadillac into another apartment complex called Linmar Terrace. As he explained the inherent dangers there, another car pulled up and a man walked from a stoop to that car, and an obvious exchange took place.
Revis glanced at a police substation not more than 20 feet away. He laughed.

?They don?t care,? he said.

?Like, you know how on any given Sunday you can lose a football game?? Jammal Gilbert said. ?Any given day here, you can lose everything. And I?m not talking about just what?s in your pockets.?

Family surrounded Revis, keeping him safe. Uncle Jammal took care of Revis and his younger siblings while his mother, Diana Gilbert, worked as everything from a corrections officer to a hairstylist.

His mother remains his biggest supporter, raving about her son?s ?hidden talents.? She says he draws lifelike sketches, plays the drums, sings like Brian McKnight and tells more jokes than a comedian.
Uncle Sean instilled in Revis a drive to win that is so strong, Jets Coach Eric Mangini labeled Revis as ?inherently competitive,? the kind of cornerback who is upset when receivers catch the ball ? in practice. Uncle Mark, who played basketball at Duquesne, taught Revis to write out his goals, which he still keeps on a piece of paper in his bedroom.

What family did not teach him, folks at his high school did. Revis stopped there on the tour and upon seeing the slogan painted at the entryway ? ?You can?t change your past, but you can change your future? ? he said, ?They?ve been saying that since I was here.?

Moments after Revis walked inside, teachers surrounded him like paparazzi, taking pictures, asking for autographs, cooing at his designer threads. They pointed to pictures on the walls ? of Revis running back interceptions, of Revis wearing glasses with thick frames.
The teacher Jackie Belcastro told the story of how Revis wrote her a thank-you card for donating to the Quarterbacks Club. She has the letter at home, framed, because, ?I just knew he would be in the pros one day.?

Another teacher, Judy Paich, remembered when Revis took a special-needs student to his prom.

McBride spun stories for 15 minutes. He said everyone called Revis Rare Rev. He talked about the talent that sometimes overshadowed Revis on the football team during his senior year. Revis never complained, and when it came time for the playoffs, he scored 14 touchdowns in five games, including five in the state final.

?He was a humble kid,? McBride said. ?He was unselfish.?

With all that in mind, the town Revis grew up in gathered on Oct. 3 at the football field that can still be seen from Seventh Avenue. But instead of looking at it from his childhood home, Revis stood in the center of the field, Aliquippa born and Aliquippa bred.

That night, only five years after he graduated, Aliquippa High School retired the No. 2 jersey he wore on a field Revis still describes as ?hallowed ground.? Never satisfied, Revis found McBride on the field and told him he next wanted to earn a Pro Bowl nomination, the same as Law did.

His younger brother scored two touchdowns, as the cycle continued. Sean Gilbert turned to his nephew and said, ?This is something to remember.?

?When I was growing up, I looked at the people who made it to the N.F.L.,? Revis said. ?But I wanted to be better than them. I wanted to surpass them.

?Now, it?s my time.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/sports/football/12revis.html?_r=1&ref=sports&pagewanted=all