Havelock to honor Giants' Guy Whimper with key to the city

Welcoming home a hero makes for a happy moment in almost any town but you can super size that for Havelock on Monday.

Mayor Jimmy Sanders will present the key to the city to Guy Whimper Jr., New York Giants Super Bowl 2008 team member and 2001 Havelock High School graduate, at the Board of Commissioners' 7 p.m. meeting.

The Giants' offensive tackle played football for Havelock High School and East Carolina University. He was drafted to play professional football by the Giants in 2006.

The high school presented his old jersey to Whimper when he returned home to Havelock, where his parents still live, in February following the Giants' 17-14 win over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.

Why the key to the city so soon and to such a young man?

"He is a young man," Mayor Jimmy Sanders said. "And he is a good role model for the kids today. You couldn't have a better role model. He has worked hard and earned the respect of us all."

Whimper's tenacity is a matter of record.

He struggled with his grades while at ECU and was declared academically ineligible in the spring of 2005. He had to get them back on track before the 2005-06 season to keep playing football.

In a Sun Journal interview days before being tapped by the Giants as a fourth-round draft pick in April 2006, Whimper said his life drifted off path in other ways as well.

The academic difficulty gave a wake-up call he needed to work hard to achieve his career goals and to take care of a young daughter.

Whimper went to summer school, worked hard, and brought up his grades. When the season began, he worked hard at the game in his second season as an offensive tackle after playing two years as defensive end, and made the draft.

A Giants reserve and special teams player for two years with a contract that takes him to another, Whimper can now wear the ring of champions.

In the off season, with his parents' encouragement, Whimper shares his struggle and its rewards with young people around Havelock, at Tucker Creek Middle School, schools around New Bern, and Havelock Boys and Girls Club.

That is a super act in the eyes of Havelock leaders, also.

"He did it the right way," Sanders said. "We are very fortunate to have somebody of his quality representing Havelock. We need a whole lot more athletes just like him."

[More at www.newbernsj.com]