Dreams do come true

You’ve heard of one dream coming true sometimes, but two, in the same moment?

It happened to Jimmy Garoppolo on May 9, courtesy of the 2014 National Football League college draft. Just after 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 9, Garoppolo, the grandson of Sun Citians Antonio and Jane Garoppolo, heard nearly a decade of hopes and dreams explode into reality in the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He was selected by the New England Patriots as the 62nd player chosen in the second round.

He not only was invited to play professional football, he has joined the team that has been quarterbacked for the last decade by his boyhood idol – Tom Brady. Minutes after his selection in New York, Jimmy told an ESPN broadcaster that he was especially excited to be in the same locker room with Brady, one of the NFL’s premier signal callers.

“I almost can’t believe it was the Patriots,” a very happy Jimmy said. “I’m really looking forward to meeting him and learning from him and going to work.”

Garoppolo will also get to play for one of the game’s top coaches in Bill Belichick. He will probably compete with Ryan Mallet, who has been with the Patriots for three years, for the backup role to Brady, who is in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent next year.

The Patriots have won several Super Bowls behind Belichick and Brady and are perennial playoff qualifiers.

Jane Garoppolo, Jimmy’s grandmother, said she and Antonio, together with their daughter, who lives in the Chicago area, watched the entire draft for three hours on May 8 and 2 more hours on May 9 before they heard Jimmy’s name announced by former Patriot Hall of Famer Willie McGinest.

“It was kind of nerve-wracking but positively so,” Jane said. “We knew it was only a matter of time, not if, he would be selected. Everything turned out beautifully in the draft. We know he’ll learn a lot from the Patriots and get a great chance to play professional football.”

Jimmy was one of 30 NFL prospects invited to New York to attend the draft. He was there with his parents, Tony and Denise, and brothers Tony, Mike, and Billy, all of whom are or have been high school and/or college athletes.

Jane and Antonio have watched Jimmy develop his talents since he was a pre-teenager and from age 13, when he started playing quarterback in middle school. At Rolling Meadows High School, he threw for 3,960 yards and 23 touchdowns as a varsity two-year starter. He tossed 118 TD passes and threw for more than 13,100 yards as a four-year starter at EIU. He broke most of the records set there by another one of his idols, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. EIU is located in downstate Charleston and grandfather Antonio attended almost all of Jimmy’s games there in the past four years.

One knowledgeable ESPN observer said of Jimmy, “He is a developmental player who will get a chance to learn a lot from Brady and eventually have an opportunity to lead a team in the NFL.”

Dreams do come true, indeed. Even in pairs.

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