Joiner: Was there anything Tom didn't do in high school? Besides several sports, Tom was in the Block Club for students who excelled in athletics and the Trvia Club that featured quiz show competitions
Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady previews Super Bowl XLIX
'He gets to do things that normal people don't get to do. Yes, like being married to a super model but that all comes with a price.
He can't go to the super market. He can't go out and play with his kids in public at all. Things we take for granted. He can't go shopping or spend time in public places, especially with the kids. Essentially, he lives a Hollywood star's life.
'Whatever he says is watched with scrutiny and small things are made into big deals like a slightly deflated football. He has to watch every word he says all the time. He lives in a fish bowl.
Full-faced Tom posed for his junior year high school yearbook
Full-faced Tom posed for his junior year high school yearbook
'There's always going to be people who are critical of his every move, his every word. Always subjected to scrutiny that you and I don't have to deal with.
'This whole age thing is offensive. Come on. He gets beat up and battered. Sacked hard. And everybody and their brother has an opinion about it, saying he's washed up, that he should be benched or traded.
'Who are these people? Are they players, reporters, experts, pundits that feel so free to make judgments about what Tom has done or not done?
'When I first laid eyes on Tom as a freshman, he was just the back up. I don't think the team won one game that year. He was thrust into performing in his sophomore year. All of a sudden, Tom grew a couple inches. He was no more that lanky kid with a bit of baby fat. He started to show nice accuracy.
He could throw a fade route as good as the varsity quarter back. He started to win more than he was losing. We were competitive, and I wanted him to leave his high school experience with positive memories of improving from year to year.
'I knew during his sophomore year, as I watched him that he was going to be my quarterback right away. No one was able to compete for that starting job.
'He had an arm and I felt that if he did the right things to improve, there was a strong possibility for him to play major college football.
Padre forever: His friend Kirby says Tom came back a few years ago to help with 'Fund a Dream.' He gave a 20-minute speech and talked about how Serra helped lay the groundwork for his success. He talked about the teachers who were instrumental in his success and the memories he had here growing up
Padre forever: His friend Kirby says Tom came back a few years ago to help with 'Fund a Dream.' He gave a 20-minute speech and talked about how Serra helped lay the groundwork for his success. He talked about the teachers who were instrumental in his success and the memories he had here growing up
Alum Tom posing with students at Junipero Sierra. He has never forgotten his roots, says his coach
Alum Tom posing with students at Junipero Sierra. He has never forgotten his roots, says his coach
'Boy was I wrong! He went straight to the top.'
MacKenzie tried to broach that subject with Tom and his father right at end of his junior year, within a week or two after his season ended.
'I basically said, 'Tom, you have a Division One arm but your lower body is not close to Division One.
'He was slow as molasses but he had no quickness. You look at him now. He's skipping rope and doing all the things we were training him to do back then to be a better athlete. Better athletes make better football players.
'One turning point in his speed was when I invited a kid from the cross-country track team to run with the football team around the track. It was ugly. My guys looked ugly as hell. They were all over the place but they got to see the difference it made with good running technique.
'So when I talked to Brady and his dad, I said, "Tom needs to do whatever he can to improve his quickness, his agility, his speed, in the next year and a half. Whatever you can do to make that commitment," and he did it. By his senior year, he was absolutely determined and I told him that it gives him options to play major league college ball.'
'Tom's basically such a nice guy and a couple of his teammates were a lot nastier and more physical than he is. He looks like an altar boy, choir boy and to look at him, I could see how some of the guys would try to intimidate him. I put an end to all that.'
'One time, we were at 'team mass' which we'd do before every game on Fridays. The chaplin would give a homily and we would pray. Not pray for victory, no. But if things got difficult and hard, they'd have the ability to reach deep and find a way to compete with success.
I worked long hours back then and I didn't have time to mess around. No visiting friends. I needed fannies in the pews so we are ready to go. I quickly took roll and guess who's absent. Brady. I ask everybody. I got a lot of smirks and dumb looks, but nobody knows a damn thing. I say,
'Where the hell is he?' Nothing. So I went to the locker room and the lockers are about six feet tall. I walk in, and he's smashed in, hunched down in his locker! 'What the hell are you doing in this locker?' I used more graphic words than that.
He said, 'A couple of teammates put me in here.'
Gisele & hubby Tom share kiss at Costume Institute Gala (archive)
Star couple: Tom and wife Gisele Bundchen out for a night on the town. But Coach MacKenzie believes Tom's fame and being married to a super model but that all comes with a price... privacy
Star couple: Tom and wife Gisele Bundchen out for a night on the town. But Coach MacKenzie believes Tom's fame and being married to a super model but that all comes with a price... privacy
'Teenagers being teenagers but I had no time for this stuff. I told him, 'You are supposed to be the leader. Why the hell would you allow anybody to put you into a locker? Then I got up into his face, big time. I said, 'Hey, if any of my teammates did that to me, there would be blood shed!'
'Tom had his own physical toughness going all the way back to when he was young. He liked to participate in tackle drills, believe it or not. I'd let him have one or two shots, and say 'get your sweet fanny over here and make the tackle.
'He wasn't given carte blanche to where if he fell down, he was cared for.
He's taken some hellacious hits. And often these days, he shrugs it off. You don't see him barking and yelling at guys for taking shots. He's no shrinking violet. He has a definite physical toughness about him.'
Bottom line is they were teenagers being teenagers. Were they being idiots? Yes. Were they malicious? No. But I did tell Tom and crew that I was going to get a lot nastier than I am if it happens again. We don't need this kind of silliness.
'The one thing I was always very appreciative with Tom is that he'd love to practice and I never had to tell him to step it up or threaten him. He started out doing things the right way and he knew if that changed, I'd bench him. He never made me send him to the Principal's office. He never screwed up. He was always a hard-working kid, trying to do well by the school and his parents.
'My biggest issues with him were, 'you need to be patient.' He'd go out to practice and we'd have wind blowing and if he wasn't connecting, it could be that he was inaccurate or it could be the wind. He'd get frustrated and always want to improve.
I never saw him with a girlfriend. But he was popular, outgoing, charismatic. He had a great personality.
Coach Tom MacKenzie
'Once I had to pull him over to the side and say, "Look around at everybody else on this field." And all grades and sports were out there. And I said to him, "You know what? There's a very good chance that in 10 years from now, everybody else on this field will no longer be playing. You're still going to be playing. You need to understand that you are one of a kind. And relax, and just play catch.'"
The other issue McKenzie had would be if Tom tried to be too greedy and hold on to the ball too long.
'I would accuse him of having a 'love affair with his arm.' He'd want to throw long, big plays, and sometimes the smaller plays moved the ball more efficiently.
'He had to deal with a lot. Even back then. I found out some things that were going on in the huddle that if I knew about at the time, those players would be sitting in the stands and not part of the club anymore. A player was saying, 'If you don't throw the ball to me, I'm walking off the field.' To Tom's credit he had to deal with really difficult circumstances at really early stages.
'Cheerleaders were there. Tom didn't. pay attention to them. They are not the main event and they never should be. We had a few all-girls' schools that would have cheerleaders. But it can't be on any players' mind.'
When asked about girlfriends, Coach MacKenzie said, 'You know, I never saw any of that. I never saw him with a girlfriend. But he was popular, outgoing, charismatic. He had a great personality. He wasn't shy at all,
'When I look back on it, I was hard on Tom Brady. I'm sure that even to this there are probably some things that Tom is really not really happy about. I'm not sure he really liked me a lot. What I tried to do and I would tell him and all the players this, 'I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to push you to that uncomfortable place and push you to achieve what you never thought possible.
'I don't believe in over-achievement. We just help get out of you what is yours. The best that you can really do. Tom is able to do far more than most.'
Tom Brady & mom share a moment in UGG commercial
In fact, everyone thought he would be drafted by the Expos after he graduated high school
...and he even excelled at tug of war!
...and he even excelled at tug of war!
John Kirby, 37, was Brady's close friend and primary wide receiver from 1991 to 1995.
'We got closer in our sophomore year,' he tells Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview.. 'That's when we started hooking up together, because we were on the field a lot, as well as in class.'
Now the assisatant athletic director at the all-boys Catholic school, , 'We were in a lot of classes together. Lot of good times in geometry class.'
And even through adversity he says Tom was always good-natured.
'We were driving for the winning touch down once, and right then the sprinklers came on, automatically. They turned on at 6pm I guess.
'We waited 10 minutes and started to play again but the field and the ball got soaking wet. We did a couple more plays and the sprinklers came on again. Tommy tried to drop back and through a swing route to throw it to our fullback but the ball was so wet, he fumbled and the other team got the touch down.
'That was one of our more sad sophomore journeys together but it was great that we made it that far.
'That was the first time we got to see Tommy come out of his shell as a quarter back. It was the first time we could see he would be something special. We lost but he was in charge. You could tell by the way he was walking on and off the field. He was getting confident.
'His work ethic and the way he carried himself. People used to give him a hard time because he was slow, so he worked extra hard to run faster.
'Throughout our sophomore year, he was the back up quarter back and I was the back up receiver, so whenever he'd be called in to play, I'd get called in. We became really close because of all the multiple connections on the field.
'Sundays was really cool because we'd go to his parents' house and his mom would make us a really nice lunch. Just sandwiches and chips but I always looked forward to it. Tom senior was always so nice to me.
We'd review the film with the other receivers and I always felt so comfortable over at the Brady family home. We'd study the film to get better with our timing.
Giving back: Friend and teammate John Kirby, standing in front of the Brady Family Stadium, tells MailOnline that Tom donated the Cadillac he was given when he won the Superbowl to Serra to raise $400,000 for improvements in 2005. 'That goes to show you exactly the kid of person Tommy is'
Giving back: Friend and teammate John Kirby, standing in front of the Brady Family Stadium, tells MailOnline that Tom donated the Cadillac he was given when he won the Superbowl to Serra to raise $400,000 for improvements in 2005. 'That goes to show you exactly the kid of person Tommy is'
Mr and Mrs Brady are two of the nicest people I've ever met in my entire life. They're just amazing. That goes to show that's where he gets that work ethic, and that genuine good personality comes from them. He is the same guy that I remember from high school, then as he is now. I love the Brady's to death.
What I love about Tommy is what you see is what you get. What I see on TV in press conferences, everything out of his mouth is just genuine and real and th'
'No real pranks but we'd mess with each other. We'd crack jokes back and forth. I remember having lots of classes with him. Geometry in particular was Mr. Freitas' class. He used to have a big old hunk of chew in his mouth and call out, 'Brady! Kirby! Cut it out.'
He would pull his mask down slow and I'd do the sock thing. He does the same thing with Gronk.
John Kirby
'Spit. Spit. We'd laugh?
'We had code on field. Whenever there'd be a good match up, I'd bend down and roll up my sock and he'd pull down on his face mask. I'll never forget it. We had our own little 'audible' system of our own that our coach let us have between us.
He would pull his mask down slow and I'd do the sock thing. He does the same thing with Gronk [Patriots' tight end Robert Gronkowski]. Tommy puts one arm up in this way and that's the direction he's going to throw. And whenever he does a long stare, you can see him do it during games, that's the side he's going to throw to.
'I'm surprised the Seahawks haven't figured that out yet. Don' t tell them until after the Super Bowl, though!'
'We had tons of fun in there. The seats were set up we'd be near each other, seems we always had a lot to talk about. I'd mess with him. He'd mess with me.
'I never saw him with a girl. It's all-boys Catholic school, and there were about 900 of us. So girls weren't around.
'One good thing about that is you could wear the same thing three days in a row and no one would notice! That's what's great about a boys school. You don't have to primp yourself up and worry about girls. It's fantastic. It's a great place where you can just focus on academics first.
Good influence: Brady talks with his parents Galynn and Tom, Sr. They are very close, say his friends
The stadium Tom Brady helped build
'You have to have over a 2.0 GPA to play here. We never fell below that. Tommy was a fantastic student. Back then, our day would be seven classes, one lunch period, and one independent study period. Each 50 minutes. So we were busy.
'We had to wear a collar shirt tucked in and nice pants. Definitely you have to have the big rule of shirt tucked in. Shoes can't be flip flops.
'We always tried to hang out and have fun and relax and watch film, all focused on making us a better football team at the time. We'd spend so much time at practice together or school work that on the weekends, we'd hang out and study plays.
We always tried to hang out and have fun and relax and watch film, all focused on making us a better football team at the time.
Tom and I and the other two receives on our team wed always take the extra time on Sundays to go to the Brady's and review film, the lunches at Tom's parents' house. We'd just hang out and Tommy would tell me, 'Kirb, I saw you do this and that on this route, that's why I threw this.
Hey Vic, when I throw this route do that, so that we'd all be on the same page. Plays were in, it was bout getting our timing down. We all had different levels of speed. I was slow so Tommy would have to throw the ball a little harder at me, so?just refining our timing.
Tocagino and Brady won MVP's for best players on the team in 1994.
'Tom donated the Cadillac he was given when he won the Superbowl to Serra High School to raise some much-needed money for improvements in 2005. That goes to show you exactly the kid of person Tommy is.
'As soon as he gets sudden success in his life he made sure to come back to the school and gov back to the school that helped lay the foundation for the success he's having now. We raffled it off and one of the parents won the car. We raised about $400,000.
'He came back a few years ago to help us with 'Fund a Dream' He gave a 20-minute speech and talked about how Serra helped lay the groundwork for his success. He talked about the teachers who were instrumental in his success and the memories he had here growing up.
He was actually being recruited, drafted to major league baseball, so we all thought he'd become a star baseball player.
'We all knew he was a great quarterback and would be a good college player if that's the path he chose, but if anything, the consensus was that he was going to be a pro baseball star.
'He was being drafted by the Expos right out of high school. Goofing around but still getting good grades, being responsible.
'We were both good boys. We did have dances with the two Catholic girls' schools, but off the field we had different groups of friends. 'We went to prom. But I had my own group and he had his.'
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thats just super
