GREENVILLE – The new Greenville City Schools Alumni Stadium is taking shape and caught the eye of GHS alum and three-time Super Bowl Champion Matt Light at the just-completed Matt Light All-Conference Football Camp.
“This stadium, you look at the work they are doing right now and look at how the landscape has changed, my goodness, it took a tornado to kick it in high gear,” said Light. “When Brian Rehmert called me and said, ‘hey man, these tornadoes wiped out the park’, and I thought all these old growth oaks and these beautiful trees and he said, ‘the stadium is in bad shape’ and I said, did anybody get hurt, he said ‘no’ and I said then we have a chance, we’re going to build something special. You know, these aren’t easy things. The amount of work that has gone into getting us where we are today, the last eight or ten years, it’s been a lot.”
“From my perspective, this community, as much as they’re looking forward to the future of the football program here at Greenville, the bottom line is there’s a lot that we can hang our hat on. We’ve had some great coaches, we’ve had some great players come through here, we’ve taught a lot of young men the game of football, and I am excited to see what happens here in Greenville.”
“There is a new coach, a new attitude, there’s a lot of excitement around what he can do,” Light added. “He’s had a lot of success in other places. He brought over a number of the guys who are here working out today, and I got to meet a lot of these guys, so I’m excited for them. I’m excited for the history, and at the same time, we have all this change, we have a new stadium finally, so it’s a cool time to be here in Greenville.”
Light has not forgotten his roots and returns home many times each year, spending time at the Light Foundation’s Chenoweth Trails.
Light’s experience of growing up in Greenville, a rural farming community, taught him the values of hard work, responsibility, and accountability. He started playing football as a kid at Greenville High School, and eventually won a scholarship to Purdue University, where he served as left tackle behind his friend and future Super Bowl MVP, quarterback Drew Brees. He took up the same position in 2001 for Tom Brady, after being drafted by the New England Patriots, launching what would be a storied NFL career. Matt met his wife, Susie, a native of Hammond, Indiana, while at Purdue. They married during his rookie year with the Patriots, and now have four children: Grace, Collin, William, and Anna.
It was during Matt’s early days in the NFL that he and Susie decided to establish The Light Foundation, providing young people with the opportunity to experience and enjoy the outdoors in the same way they had in their own lives. The goal is to help children develop the skills, values, and mindset they need to create meaningful and productive futures.
“For me, I love to see things change, and I love to see when the power of what good people can do,” said Light. “I think back to people in my own family, my great-grandfather was out there at the Gatehouse in Wayne Lakes when they were changing that from a dust bowl and a bunch of pits to Wayne Lakes and the vision that he had back then and I’ve learned from so many people in this community and other communities who had to put a lot of time and effort in, but they also get to look and sit back at times and I think this is kind of a treat for me, I get to walk around here and watch all these kids having a good time.”
“I have been able to be a part of a number of these things,” continued Light. “You look at this project, you look around here, and what it took for people to come together and build just this track and field complex. I remember having the conversation with Brad Jennings, a guy whom I went to school with. He was definitely the catalyst that kicked this thing off, and when his commitment came in and all these other people jumped on board, they moved mountains and made this happen. That was one of the coolest things to watch.”
Jennings made a significant contribution to the Jennings Center Track and Field Complex, located on the grounds of the Greenville Senior High School campus.
“I can remember growing up, and I would hear the story of the spirit of Greenville, when they had that cannon, and what some of these guys did that came back from Vietnam. I can’t remember the details exactly, but I heard a lot about some of the leaders in this community who said, ‘We’re going to take this, we’re going to make these games a focal point.’ That wasn’t a school run thing; that was community jumping in and being a big part of the history and the pride we have here.”
“Then I got to see cannon 2.0 when my dad and Scottie Fitzgerald did that project. I have been blessed to have people who can literally move mountains because they have the experience, the know-how, and the ability to say, ‘Hey, you know what, this is the right thing to do.’ It may cost me money, it may take me away from things that I want, but we’re going to do this and have fun doing it. To see that new cannon come to life was cool as heck.”
“I don’t know if people know all these stories, but at some point, I hope people do look back into things and ask, How did we get to this? Who are the people behind it, and take the time to shake one of their hands or let them know how much you appreciate it. That’s a lost art form; tradition and being thankful and understanding the history of things, but I hope it comes back.”
“This new coach we have now, I enjoyed meeting him,” Light concluded. “He kind of reminded me of Frank Horvath (Light’s former GHS coach) a little bit. It’s an exciting time, it’ll be fun.”
