Cancer took Freddie, but his spirit will live on in Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - I never had the pleasure of seeing young Freddie Solomon play football for the University of Tampa.

I’ve had people say that if he had gone to a big-time university, he would have had his name on the Heisman Trophy.

A pure athlete, Freddie was.

I did see Solomon on the receiving end of many a Joe Montana pass.  I saw Freddie Solomon win two Super Bowls with the 49ers.

All of this on the big screen. 

Not long after I arrived in Tampa, just a few years, I ran into Freddie at a local high school practice.

He was there to talk to one of the players who was “acting up” a bit and needed a push in the right direction.

It was actually near the beginning of his sojourn as Tampa’s adopted father to thousands of young troubled youth.

My God, I was standing there talking with Freddie Solomon!

The last time I was surprised with a chance meeting with an athlete I admired was Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack, who was introduced to me on the first tee of the golf club I belonged to a long time ago in Bettendorf, Iowa.

The head pro, Butch Harmon, yep that Butch Harmon, introduced me to Johnny.

There was no introduction with Freddie.  He just walked up and said, “Hi Tom, I’m Freddie Solomon.”

We talked about those 49ers days.  We also talked about those UT days, ones that he never forgot.

You see, Freddie “grew up” at UT.

His playing days behind him, Freddie watched the young man he was going to talk to practice on this hot summer day.

At that time, I never grasped the significance of that chance meeting.

Freddie was beginning to pave a hero’s road. 

He would spend the better part of the next two decades helping kids overcome their hurdles.

We would run into each other from time to time.

The only other man as gentle as Freddie played for the Bucs.  His name -- Lee Roy Selmon.

I listened to George Levy speak of Freddie Monday night.

George was a Tampa friend of Freddie’s for around 40 years.  All the way back to Solomon’s UT days.

George summed up Freddie when he spoke of humility. 

He would ask Freddie to bring his Super Bowl rings over so he could see them, but Freddie never did.  Freddie was appreciative of what he accomplished, but he didn’t revel in it.

That wasn’t Freddie Solomon.

Now, if you were talk about a man who would spend his days mentoring young troubled kids, he would talk about that forever.

As George said tonight, Freddie never knew how many friends he really had in Tampa until he got sick.

It shocked Freddie.

Those friends will gather one more time on Monday to say goodbye.

For those of you who never knew Freddie Solomon, take a drive to the Hillsborough County Sherriff’s Annex and look at the monument out front.

That was the man who became a hero around these parts.

Not his Super Bowl rings or his star status.

It’s the way Freddie wanted it.  It’s the way it will be.

A memorial service is planned at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Tampa at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, February 20.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the University of Tampa Freddie Solomon Scholarship Fund or HCSO Charities, Inc., or the DeBartolo Family Foundation.