HARTFORD — Jack Cochran sent away for a Hall of Fame helmet during Dwight Freeney’s rookie year, more than 20 years ago, and put it away.
He was sure that one day he’d be able to present it to him one day and, hey, he saved 20 years worth of mark-ups.
“He just had this off-the-charts, burning desire to succeed,” said Cochran, who first coached Freeney at Bloomfield High. “I bought this helmet after his first year with the Colts. I just knew, if he stayed healthy, God willing, he was going to be an All-Pro, he was going to be a Hall of Famer.”
Cochran has been affixing stickers, the logos of all the teams Freeney played for, Colts, Falcons, Chargers, Cardinals, Seahawks, Lions, Syracuse. As he’d asked, someone from Bloomfield High brought he last sticker Friday, and Cochran carefully spread the Hawks logo across the back. Bloomfield to Canton and back to Bloomfield, the circuit was complete. Cochran presented the helmet to Freeney during the program in his honor at the State Capitol on Friday.
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“It’s great when you see family and friends and where you came from,” Freeney said. “And they’re still here. You’re seeing ghosts of he past. It’s nuts. These are the things I kind of treasure a little more than other ones. Anytime they need me here. I’m trying not to blink, because if I blink I might wake up.”
Last Saturday, Freeney became one of 378 players enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a team from which, he noted, he can never be traded or cut, and as he pointed out to the 60 or so assembled, that’s but a fraction of the number that have played football. Canton is for the crème de la crème. But it’s a good bet that only a fraction of those 378 experienced a day like Freeney did Friday. State rep and deputy speaker Bobby Gibson, who represents Bloomfield and West Hartford, organized the program, during which lifelong friends, coaches, teachers, political leaders, neighbors, representatives of the large West Indies community, everyone wanted to speak and offer Freeney an award, a plaque, a resolution. The tributes flowed for two hours as Freeney, in his gold Hall of Fame blazer, smiled, occasionally smirked, mostly blushed as they told their stories.
This day was made necessary not by Freeney’s legendary spin move, nor all the sacks, Super Bowls and Pro Bowls. It was necessary because Freeney has never forgotten his hometown, and Bloomfield has never forgotten him.
This, too, is a team from which he can never be traded nor cut.
“Foundation is crucial,” Freeney told them. “And my foundation is you right here, solid ground, solid foundation.”
Members of the Bloomfield High football team, the current CIAC Class S champs, were there, taking in the words, the latest example Freeney was setting. They have something he didn’t have: a Hall of Famer ready to mentor.
“The truth is, I can help them, prepare them for things that could potentially happen for them, things they don’t understand are coming,” Freeney said. “Prepare them, if they have any aspirations of trying to be where I am today, I can help them. That’s part of me getting to where I am now, giving back to our youth is an important initiative to me. I didn’t have that growing up and I’m here for those guys if they need me.”
Cochran’s Warhawks won the state title capping Freeney’s senior year in 1997, the first of four in a row; this year’s title for coach Ty Outlaw was the school’s 10th, nine coming since ’97.
Dwight Freeney Day at the State Capitol. Former coach Jack Cochran applied a Bloomfield High sticker to an HOF helmet he bought 20 years ago, sure Dwight would one day be enshrined. He’s applied stickers of each team Freeney player on. He will present it to him this morning. pic.twitter.com/fJuS3G8JlX
— Dom Amore (@AmoreCourant) August 9, 2024
“I call it ‘The Freeney Effect,'” Cochran said. “When Dwight signed his scholarship with Syracuse, we didn’t lose a game for several years, we won three straight state championships. We had over 40 kids sign Division I scholarships, three more NFL players, without Dwight none of that would have happened. As a coach, you can talk until you’re blue in the face, ‘study … come to training … work out … eat right … sleep right.’ There’s no credibility. Now, I could say, ‘Dwight did it, he got a scholarship, he got drafted in the first round.’ We couldn’t pay a college coach to come to Bloomfield — UConn didn’t offer Dwight, and they were I-AA at the time, we had to bring Dwight to Syracuse for a camp to get him looked at. The next year, we had seven kids get scholarships, and we had Lou Holtz, Nick Saban, Joe Paterno in the building. That was because of Dwight.”
The Freeney Effect has gone beyond football. His parents, Hugh and Joy, pointed out in their talks that Dwight has been generous whenever he has been asked to donate to a community cause, especially helpful to the West Indies organizations to honor the family’s roots.
Valerie Gange, who was Freeney’s favorite teacher, came to talk about his earnestness as a student, expect for when she’d catch him staring out the window at the football field behind the high school.
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“Teachers are probably the most underpaid, unappreciated people in our society, in our communities,” Freeney said. “Without them, there would be no people like me. There’s usually a story of a teacher who gave you the educational foundation that helped you, got you to where you are. I had more than one, but one great one, Valerie Gange, she was always there for me.”
Freeney lives near Palm Beach, Fla., now, and spends much of his free time golfing on Michael Jordan’s course, with Michael himself, but he doesn’t have too much free time. His young daughters, Olivia and Alana, have first dibs on his time. He’s dabbling in TV and podcasting, but isn’t sure what his next career move might be.
It’s usually best to look forward, not back. But when Dwight Freeney looks back, back to Bloomfield, he can only love what he sees: a town that loves him back.
“I was lucky enough to play in the NFL for 16 years,” Freeney said, “but hopefully I have another 40 years, 50 years, the meat and potatoes of your life, so you would love to be known as someone who gives back and is a stand-up citizen. That’s majority of your life, to help people. Whenever someone needs me, I’ll be here.”