BRUCE SURPRISES STL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/long-after-his-playing-days-isaac-bruce-keeps-giving-back/article_59d34c83-c397-5ff4-b85f-02028184caee.html

By Jim Thomas, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Damon Tatum II remembers being in a car last weekend heading somewhere in the neighborhood when he got the call.

“I didn’t know who it was at first,” Tatum said Friday. “I was talking to my uncle but then after the phone call I saw a text message that said: ‘Isaac Bruce. Congratulations.’ So I called him back.”

Tatum, a senior at Francis Howell North High, is this year’s winner of a $5,000 scholarship from the Isaac Bruce Foundation. If that wasn’t enough of a surprise, imagine having Bruce on hand Friday at the high school to congratulate him in person.

Tatum was munching on cinnamon bread at lunchtime when assistant principal Jeff Blankenship told him head principal Andy Downs needed to see him. Tatum thought nothing of it as he walked to the principal’s office, until he saw dozens of students gathered in the school’s lobby, not to mention his parents, brothers Nathan and Terry, a couple of television cameras, and the wide receiver once known as the Rev. Ike.

“He was totally surprised by this today,” said Tatum’s father, Damon Sr. “Damon’s always been studious and really dedicated to his studies. Takes AP classes and is on his way to Missouri.”

He’s heading there with an extra $5,000 in his pocket, thanks to the Bruce Foundation scholarship.

Normally such occasions would call for a school assembly. But this is state testing week and the school’s two gyms were unavailable because they were being used for testing.

So an informal ceremony was held in the lobby where Tatum was greeted by Bruce and D-Lori Newsome-Pitts of Ameren, which partners with Bruce in the scholarship program.

It’s the 11th year Bruce has awarded a $5,000 college scholarship to a St. Louis-area high school student. Turns out it’s the second time a member of the Tatum family has won the award. Kacey Tatum won the scholarship in 2015.

“I just found that out,” Bruce said. “When I was reading the application I had no idea that his sister had won earlier. But I knew I had been at Francis Howell (North) before, and I kind of put it together. So the family’s doing great.”

A committee goes through the initial batch of scholarship applications, narrows down the list, and presents Bruce with the most deserving candidates. Bruce then reads through the applications of those finalists and decides on the winner himself.

“It’s legacy building, and it’s kinda what I imagined when I got in the NFL as what I wanted to do,” Bruce said. “This will last longer than any touchdown, any catch, anything else from the actual football game itself.

“This will last longer because this will touch so many people through myself, through the foundation, through the recipient this year. Because he’s gonna grow up, he’s gonna go out and have his education, his career, come back and do the exact same thing that I’m doing.”

Bruce has since started similar scholarship programs in Fort Lauderdale, his hometown, and at the University of Memphis, where he played college football and earned his degree. The fact that he continues the program in St. Louis 11 years after he caught his final pass as a Ram is testament to how strongly he still feels about the community and his time here.

“St. Louis provided a lot of great memories for a lot of players,” Bruce said. “I was 22 when I got here and I pretty much grew up here in this city, so it’s always great to come back.”

Obviously, Tatum II is glad that’s the case. He carries a 4.2 grade-point average and is active in the National Honor Society and the Francis Howell North Mentors program, which assists incoming freshmen, among other activities. At Mizzou, he plans to major in computer science.

He has no memories of Bruce as a football player, but why should he? Tatum was only 7 when Bruce played the last of his 14 NFL seasons with the Rams. He was born Jan. 22, 2000 — eight days before Bruce caught the game-winning touchdown pass for the Rams in their Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans.

Nonetheless, there is a football connection.

“I’ve seen him a lot on Madden,” Tatum said. “A lot of his Madden plays. but I haven’t really watched him, any highlights. I’ve heard of him, though.”

That was a reference of course to the ultra-popular Madden NFL video game. Tatum says he has used Bruce on his Madden team with good success.

“Very good,” Tatum said.