Jimmy Graham

Let’s Go Saints.

The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They aremembers of the South Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL).The Saints were founded on November 1, 1966 as an expansion team and played their home games at Tulane Stadium through the 1974 season. Their early record was marked by a lack of success; they went more than a decade before they managed to finish a season with a .500 record, two decades before having a winning season, and over four decades before finally reaching the Super Bowl. The team's first successful stretch was from 1987–1992, when the team made the playoffs four times and had winning records in the non-playoff seasons. In the 2000 season, the Saints defeated the then-defending Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams for the team's first playoff win. The Saints reached the NFC Championship Game in the 2006 season but lost 39–14 to the Chicago Bears. They repeated this feat in their most successful season in 2009, this time winning the game and their first conference championship to send them to their first Super Bowl appearance. At Super Bowl XLIV, the Saints won the city of New Orleans its first league championship, defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31–17.

As a New Orleans, Louisiana native I have enjoyed watching their games since I was a young girl. This past week I watched as the New Orleans Saints took on the Indianapolis Colts. Throughout this breathtaking game, in which we won 62-7, I saw the story of a marvelous young man Jimmy Graham. Jimmy Graham was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina and is now the tight end for the New Orleans Saints as number 80. Graham had a difficult upbringing; at age 11 he was placed in a group home where he was physically beaten by older children. Graham was placed in this home by his own mother that told him she was no longer able to take care of him and he was now on his own. In high school, with help from a church youth counselor who took him into her home, he improved his grades, became a basketball star as a senior at Community Christian in Wilson, North Carolina and at Charis Prep in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Miami. Graham played basketball for the Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team from 2005 to 2009. Graham graduated from Miami in May 2009 with a double major in marketing and management, and
then stayed at Miami to take graduate classes while playing a season of football. He played tight end and finished the season with 17 receptions for 213 yards and five touchdowns. He was drafted a third round draft pick for the New Orleans Saints.