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A work of heart: much of Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent's hometown of Trenton, N.J., is in disrepair. But his plentiful, passionate and personal work to rebuild and revitalize the community is beginning to show results and makes him No. 1 on TSN's annual list of Good Guys in pro sports
Sporting News, The, July 7, 2003 by Paul Attner
Vincent and his wife are deeply religious, and they have prayed about their mission in life. The answer keeps coming back: Trenton. "It is simple," says Vincent. "Like The Wizard of Oz, there is no place Like home" Tommi feels it, too. "We just want to do what is on our hearts" she says. "Someone has to tackle it. We need to empower the people through information. That will give them the answers they are seeking."
Vincent's impact on the city is everywhere. He spent $61,000 to equip the weight room at Trenton Central, the city's only high school; now, it's available to the whole community. When they realized the city had no summer basketball league for girls, he and Tommi started one, investing $150,000 in the Trenton Recreation Department in 2001. They've coached in the league and routinely supply rides for players who otherwise couldn't get to games. They sponsor drill teams for hundreds more girls. They've begun programs to improve literacy, take care of kids' eye problems and tend to the medical needs of families that can't afford treatment. They award annual scholarships, both at Trenton Central and at nearby Pennsbury, where Troy finished high school. He maintains the only Little League park in West Trenton. The Vincents feed hundreds around the holidays, but Troy also buys $25 and $35 certificates, travels with them in his vehicles and hands them out along with a bus pass to the homeless so they can buy food. Tommi soon will offer a weekly free day at her salon for the benefit of hospitalized cancer patients.
The Vincents also have continued a family legacy in north Philadelphia. Troy was raised by his mother and grandparents; his grandfather, who lived at No. 9 Faircrest, would have the family make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and distribute them to the hungry. Troy and Tommi and their three kids do that now; they prepare the sandwiches in their kitchen and drive the half hour to north Philly and give away the food to the needy, right there on the street. They also buy coats, hats and gloves at Wal-Mart, fill two or three trucks and return to north Philly to pass everything out. In addition, Troy is deeply tied to many of the Eagles' team-sponsored programs, helping to raise money and serve as a spokesman for such activities as the team's Bookmobile.
Still, Trenton remains his special focus. Two years ago, he and Tommi decided their piecemeal approach to helping the needy wasn't the answer. They thought there was a better way; Love Thy Neighbor became the answer. Its goal is to develop entire inner-city communities through new housing, job training, financial education and life-skills improvement--a package designed to break the circle of poverty in these areas, not just put the poor in Section 8 homes that inevitably fall into disrepair. In Wilbur, Vincent wants market-rate housing, brick structures resembling what was there in the past, not low-income places that will continue to reflect poverty.
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