ts Scott Fujita a champion for New Orleans, coastal restoration

Scott Fujita a champion for New Orleans, coastal restoration
By Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune
March 07, 2010, 5:34AM
This column was going to be about why Scott Fujita, New Orleans Saints linebacker, is a great role model for local football fans. But upon further review, I had to change that call.


Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneLinebacker Scott Fujita, holding one of his daughters after the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl victory, says he and his family felt compelled 'to protect the city we have come to love so much.'Now it's: Scott Fujita, New Orleans resident, is a great role model for all New Orleanians.

The reason I'm putting him on a pedestal is not because of his work on the football field, but because of what he has chosen to do as a citizen with the rewards of that labor.

Fujita has decided to donate half of his $82,000 in NFL playoff earnings to two causes, one of which is coastal restoration.

His reasons?

"The people of this city and region have been so good to me and my family that we just felt strongly about doing something to protect the city we have come to love so much, " Fujita said. "And helping on the coastal issue has been on the back of my mind since I first got here."

Fujita first got here in the spring of 2006 when a mention of New Orleans to those outside the city evoked mostly pity and criticism. Pity, for the suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina. Criticism, from certain quarters that some of us will never forgive, because we were stupid for living here, we were dumb to have been flooded, and this city had no future and should be razed or moved.

Fujita heard it all when he was with the Dallas Cowboys - and he still moved his family here.

"People thought we were crazy when we first signed, " said Fujita, who always speaks of himself as a family collective that includes his wife, Jaclyn and two daughters. "We got a lot of the stuff about the destruction, the uncertain future, the safety issues. You know, the 'Who would want to live there.' stuff. "

But the opportunity to put his notoriety as professional athlete to work on a social struggle had a special appeal to a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. And as it turned out, the chance to be a do-gooder was just lagniappe. Fujita quickly fell in love with the unique flavor and character of the city and its eclectic collection of residents.

"You always hear about southern hospitality, but I experienced it from my first days here, " Fujita recalled. "I was living in a residence hotel for the first few weeks while we looked for a place in town, and spent that time just walking around the city and bar hopping, getting to know the place.

"Well, when people found out I was moving here from another city, I couldn't pay for a drink. They didn't know I was an NFL player. They just knew I was a guy who had come to join them, and that was it - I was a hero. I don't think I paid for a drink for the first three or four weeks."

As the months passed Fujita said his family fell in love with the idea of New Orleans.

"It's just such a unique place, with a unique character and way of life, " he said. "It has a blend of the Old World and the Caribbean.

"My wife and I have traveled extensively, and this is the perfect blend of cultures, great food and great music."

He put his love for the city to work, getting involved in many causes that were asking for help as the city continued rebuilding. Fujita's teammates voted him the Saints Man of The Year for 2008, which honors the player who has done the most for the community.

The love affair hasn't been one-way. The emotional lift the newly winning Saints gave the community has been well documented. And if any corner of the planet wasn't aware of the special bond between the team and the Who Dat Nation, they couldn't escape it after the Super Bowl.

Fujita, who has been among the most vocal Saints about the team's commitment to the city and its sense of mission, had already decided he wanted to do something more than bring back the Lombardi Trophy.

"Jaclyn and I were looking not just for a cause to donate to, but more importantly something we believe in, something we think we could actually make a difference in by using the visibility of the New Orleans Saints, " he said. "And the coastal issue had been in the back of my mind almost since I got here."

The Audubon Institute IMAX film "Hurricane on the Bayou" had awoken Fujita to the problem. Later readings informed him that the crisis was reaching the critical stage on the other sides of the levees, a crisis that imperils the city he has grown to love.

"I read somewhere that we're losing a football field every hour, and for a kid from California, that sounds like a whole lot, " he said. "Then I read somewhere else where a certain amount of vegetated wetlands could reduce storm surge by a foot, and to me that sounds like a lot, too."

So about $20,000 of that $82,000 will go to one or more groups working for that cause.

"This place have given us so much, we feel a responsibility to give something back, " Fujita said.

That last line convinced me Scott Fujita is the proper role model for his fellow New Orleanians. Because he gets it. He not only understands there's a serious problem that threatens the very future of the city and region. He and his family also understand its their responsibility as citizens to do something about it.

Sadly, that decision puts the Fujitas far ahead of most residents who were raised here.

The general level of awareness or concern about the problem just beyond our front doors was on display a few months ago when President Obama held a Town Hall meeting here; he wasn't asked a single question about coastal restoration. And it was evident again in the recent mayoral election; the threat wetlands loss poses to the city were never an issue, nor was it the topic at any of the many candidate forums.

But the Fujitas get it. They get the threat to this place they love, and the responsibility they have as citizens to be involved. So much so, in fact, that Fujita said he will honor his pledge, even if he is lost to the Saints during this free agent period.

"Of course we'll keep the commitment, " he said. "This place has given us too much."

And, in case you're wondering, the Fujitas also take seriously their responsibilities as citizens of the planet: The other half of that gift is going to Haitian relief.

(Coastal groups wishing to contact Scott Fujita can do so through his Web site.

Bob Marshall can be reached at 504.826.3539 or bmarshall@timespicayune.com.