New Orleans Saints and former Westlake quarterback Drew Brees is a sure-fire future Hall of Famer on the gridiron. But, perhaps Brees could have had similar success on grass and clay, as well?
According to NOLA.com's Jeff Duncan, Brees was a highly-touted youth tennis player in Austin. In fact, he was the top-ranked tennis player in Texas when he was 12 years old, according to Duncan.
As an 11-year-old, Brees beat 9-year-old Andy Roddick -- who would later become the No. 1 ranked player in the world in 2003 and a future Hall of Famer in his own right -- twice. Roddick says once he finally beat Brees, the youngster quit tennis and Brees began his road to gridiron greatness.
"The announcers always talk about what a good athlete (Brees) was and one of the references they make is he beat me in tennis when we were kids. He did beat me. I have a losing record to Drew Brees," Roddick told FOX Sports Live. "I'm down two-for-one in my life. (Brees) was the guy who played tennis as a hobby like once a week while the rest of us played six days a week. He beat me the first two times, I finally beat him and I guess he decided that was enough to quit."
Roddick said Brees went on to dominate in basketball, football, and other sports after quitting tennis.
At Westlake, Brees lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. On the football field, he never lost a game as a high school varsity quarterback -- finishing 12-0-1 in his junior season and eventually leading the Chaps to the state title after going 16-0 his senior year. He went on to play for Purdue and eventually for the Chargers and Saints in his historic NFL career.
In 2003, Roddick became the first American to finish a year ranked No.1 since Andre Agassi in 1999. There has not been an American finish the year as the No. 1 ranked player in the world ever since.
And while Brees may have stopped serving tennis balls on the court, he's still found a way to train with them. Brees continues to work on his hand-eye coordination in his workout routine.
One thing is clear: the football world thanks you, Mr. Roddick, for playing a part in the creation of a gridiron legend. Even if he was better than you at your own sport back when you were kids.
