The 2023 Louisiana Legends Interview series is brought to you by presenting sponsor, the Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation.

Our premiere sponsor, the William J. Dory family, with additional support provided in part by the Irene and C.B.

Pennington Foundation, Louisiana Lottery, and Roy O. Martin, with the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Work done.

Hometown hero.

Football legend 2023 Louisiana legend for LPB.

So very glad to be visiting with you here in Baton Rouge today.

Glad you're back home.

And and welcome home.

Oh thank you.

Thank.

It's always good to be home.

come back to eat.

Of course, a lot of times this summer I eat bad.

I have that 8020 rule, okay?

That 20% of the time is Louisiana.

So fried catfish, crawfish are two for grandma.

Grandma likes to make sure I'm prepared.

So when I leave, I get to take food back with me.

It's even better.

Yeah.

So you got a little bit to go home with us.

And speaking of your grandmother, let's talk a bit about your childhood.

And you were one of six children growing up here in Baton Rouge.

Tell us a bit about your childhood.

Well, being older, some six.

I was always outside being active.

We sun up, the sun down.

it's a lot different than today's environment, but we we were always outside, and I started, you know, playing organized sports at nine, ten years old.

I just happened to have a guy come into the community said, hey, is there a fast kid around here?

And and they pointed to my to, to the house and came by.

Then I started running track.

Then I started playing football.

So just growing up, doing a lot of different things, at what point, as a child, did you realize that you had the skill set to go further than high school or even college, or even make it to college?

I mean, at what point did you realize that at some point growing up, I never thought that I could.

I never thought because I was always the smallest kid.

The lightest kid.

Yeah.

And, you know, for me, I've always had to prove myself.

So when you saw me, I kind with this kid, I was faced.

Right?

But, you know, I wasn't big.

So the prototype or what, they wanted the running back to be and and, you know, college player and a professional player, I just I wasn't that Warwick excelled early on in sports, playing quarterback, cornerback and running back.

His sophomore year at Catholic High School, Warwick helped lead his team to the state for a championship for the first time in its history.

But during Warwick senior year of high school, tragedy struck two days before his 18th birthday.

His mother was killed while working an off duty security job on January 7th in 1993.

Changed our whole life.

And, not knowing if we were going to stay together, we were going be separated.

Warwick was determined to keep us together.

And in the end, it happened.

We stayed together.

And you couldn't ask that from another 18 year old?

Anytime we needed him, he was always there.

Regardless of what college class he had or what he beat.

He has.

He has stepped up and gave us that father figure, that missing piece that we didn't have.

And when we lost that mom, he took care of us before his own needs.

were.

You were 18 years old when your mother was tragically killed.

That his mother's police officer.

Everyone knew the story.

Everyone in Louisiana follow that story and remembers it very vividly.

How did that change the trajectory of your life?

Well, I would say it changed my life a lot because a lot of responsibility.

I feel like, fell on me and but it also changed.

Definitely.

You know, just how I was just moving forward in life because I couldn't worry about myself.

I had to make sure I focus on my five brothers and sisters.

And I tried to do that early on.

So, I think today I look back and I'm thankful that, you know what she taught me?

How she challenged me to be better.

I mean, for an example, when I was a Catholic high school, I had a I hate to say this, but the I couldn't play football back then.

I call it prop 48.

When you're not eligible to play, play football or play sports.

And I had a 0.9 GPA so she challenged me.

So like, what are you going to do?

When are you going to show these people that you can do it?

Oh, I can just take you out and we can go somewhere else.

And I said, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a I'm a stay at home mom.

So yeah, I can do it.

And I did that.

So she challenged me to be better.

And I just think that's been my mentality.

So she prepared me in my mind that if anything ever happened to her, that I can step in and you don't think about that when you're going through that process.

But looking back on it, I would say yes, she was preparing me.

And, you know, I'm just happy that I was I had the mindset, not focusing on myself, but focusing on my brothers and sister who was in their best interest then I just always remember being at the hospital and walk into the room, see my mom's body.

And I'm speechless.

Most I mean, I had no idea what thing, and the first thing that started came in my mind is that I got to get back home to my brothers and sisters because that's what she would want me to be.

So I went immediately into I got to make sure they're good, take care of them.

And, you know, that was that was really my focus pretty much majority of my adulthood For an example, my second year in the league, the youngest three moved in with me.

Okay, so I'm in Tampa, the youngest three I got.

I'm going to PTA meetings, going and doing all this stuff while I'm playing professional football.

Yes, I got to make sure they, you know, attending class and making a grades, and I try to support them at that point in sports.

So it wasn't you?

Yeah.

It wasn't like I had a normal life like other athletes.

I had to hone in and really focus.

Hey, this is my priority.

All this other stuff that comes last, even football you know, work you have given given so much back, to the community?

but I want to go back just a moment to your legal ups and downs that you had to deal with, following the tragic death of your mother.

And you found, it very important to write to the Supreme Court and put a statement out saying, you know, these people who did this to you have no power over you anymore and that you've forgiven them.

Talk a bit about that forgiveness journey, because that's something I think everyone can learn from.

And so many people struggle with it.

yeah, I just felt like I need to go see the guy who shot and killed my mom and and go to prison and I did that.

And one of the things that I wanted to do was to see him and says, tell him, you know, you changed my life.

That one incident of being selfish because that was a selfish thing to do.

But I forgive you.

I hadn't forgotten about it.

It's it impacts my life.

But I told him I forgave him because for me, I didn't want him to have power in my life.

I just felt like he was controlling my life.

That whole situation was controlling my life.

I didn't want to hold hands.

I didn't want to have a family.

I didn't want to.

It changed my life.

A lot, and I just felt like I needed to break free of that.

I needed to, you know, take my life back, take the power that this person had over me because, you know, for so many years I was like a robot, a train, how my mom train me.

But I was just so laser focus on the things that were in front of me.

That's right.

And I put myself last, and I just had to get to the point where I needed to take care of myself.

And that was one of the steps and the things that I needed to do.

And I asked my counselor, should I go?

And she felt like I was in a good place to to do it.

And honestly, I you know, I told my brothers and sisters about it and I said, hey, you guys have anything you want me to say to them?

And I shared, their point of view.

But I felt different when I left.

It's a very powerful and bold move to do, to confront face to face, knowing all of the things that you had to, to deal with to get to that place to do that.

Yeah.

and even even since and prior to and since you have given, so much back to the community, early on in his career.

He founded homes for the holidays, a program that helped single parents secure a fully furnished home.

His foundation works to break generational poverty, and we know that it's going to affect the mother's life.

But he is also interested in the way that it affects the children's lives, too.

More than 210 families have been helped through Warwick's foundation.

The ultimate tribute to Warwick's mother.

I think the Magic of Works program, palms for the holidays is that it's genuine because it's connected to his experience.

it was my mom's dream of owning her own home.

She wanted to provide a stable environment for us and not making enough money by having ability to purchase a home.

I started something in 1997 by the challenge of Coach Dungy about who was the head coach of the Bay Buccaneers at the time, about getting involved and giving back to the community.

homes for holidays was was born.

And now actually 26 years later.

Wow.

We're, we've helped 223 single parent families become first time homeowners.

we've helped so many kids create stability.

They're much more confident.

They're doing better in school, and they're much more engaged in their community and not understanding and realizing what a sense, the statement that having a stable of environment, a stable house, how can it how that would impact you.

tell us a bit about one something football accomplishment and off the field accomplishment.

Things that you're most proud of.

I want to be recognized for the things I did on the field.

Yeah.

Most importantly for the game of football I love it.

I play with passion.

I gave it my all my heart.

I put everything into it.

you know, I tell kids today I worked out three times a day.

Incredibly time today.

Yes.

When you're undersized, I was always I was always, always ready to say, hey, you know, a coach, call my number.

I'm gonna prove to them that I can do it.

So I was always in that mindset of being ready and being prepared.

And, you know, I think for me, the benefit of, you know, off the field activities unfortunately comes from a tragedy.

What I have done, what I've done, I have no idea.

But now I enjoy what I do.

Why?

Because I see life changing moments and individuals and families, and I'm just.

And how it impacts the kids.

I'm just moving forward their futures.

And it gives them an opportunity to not experience what I experienced as a kid, work done.

This has been an absolute pleasure and inspiration to have this conversation with you.

I hope, you know, we can continue moving forward, impact on the community.

But most importantly, I just want to better help more people in the state of Louisiana.

For.

The 2023 Louisiana Legends Interview series is brought to you by presenting sponsor, the Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation.

Our premiere sponsor, the William J. Dory family, with additional support provided in part by the Irene and C.B.

Pennington Foundation, Louisiana Lottery, and Roy O. Martin, with the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.