TERRE HAUTE —
“Is this your son?” a kindergarten student asked Lisa Weatherford after the school bus driver had passed out photos Friday afternoon.
Weatherford responded, “He used to be my little boy.”
Now, her grown son, Steve Weatherford, is preparing for Sunday’s Super Bowl as the punter and kick holder for the New York Giants.
Despite all the excitement in Indianapolis. Lisa Weatherford, a Vigo County School Corp. bus driver, still drove her bus route Friday afternoon for Lost Creek Elementary students. She passed out pictures of her son to bus riders prior to departure.
She also gave photos to other drivers to give to their students. One driver told Weatherford that students wanted to switch to her bus until the Super Bowl was over.
Immediately after she finished her route Friday, she and other family members planned to go to Indianapolis for a big family get together later that night; Steve would attend.
Weatherford said she had “double incentive” for wanting her son to go to the Super Bowl — she also gets to see his two children — her grandchildren — a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. Steve and his wife are expecting another child in September, she said.
The family is still adjusting to the reality that Steve will play in the Super Bowl, she said. “It’s just a dream come true. He’s so happy. As a parent, it’s so wonderful to see your child be so elated and so happy. We’re really proud.”
She and her husband Sam, her mother, and Steve’s three siblings, have tickets to attend the game Sunday. Steve’s wife and some of her immediate family also will attend.
Steve wishes he could have gotten tickets for more extended family, she said.
Her son always dreamed big.
“He has always been one of those kids who has a lot of confidence. … He would say, ‘Mom, I’m going to the [National Football] League.”
Even when he was in high school, “He kind of had a vision and stuck with it and worked really, really hard … I’m really proud of that,” she said.
He would tell her, “I’m going to be the best punter there is,” and she would respond, “Somebody’s got to do it. It might as well be you. Go out there and do your best.”
The support he is receiving from the community, especially Tuesday’s rally at Terre Haute North, “meant the world to him and I appreciate it so much, too,” she said.
People come up to her, hug her and say, “We’re rooting for him.”
One student on her bus did a school report on Steve for a project about successful people in Indiana. “I thought, oh my goodness. You’ve arrived when they start doing school reports on you,” she said. “That meant a lot to me. That was pretty neat.”
While she did see Steve Tuesday and planned to see him Friday night, his week in Indianapolis has been “pretty regimented,” she said. On Tuesday, after the pep rally, he came home for dinner and brought teammates Lawrence Tynes and Zak DeOssie.
“That was fun,” she said. It reminded her of the times Steve brought friends home for dinner during high school. “They were just so funny and teasing him about, ‘Happy Steve Weatherford Day’.”
Tynes and DeOssie also were impressed with the community’s support and encouragement, she said.
The trio of Giants combined in a memorable final play of the conference championship game on Jan. 22. DeOssie snapped the ball; Weatherford caught, righted and spotted it; and Tynes kicked for the game-winning field goal to defeat the San Francisco ’49ers in overtime.
After a short interview, Lisa had to pass out the pictures and then drive her students home. She couldn’t resist teasing one of the students who wore a New England Patriots jersey.
The boy said his dad told him to wear it. “Tell your dad I noticed,” she said. Then, she had another idea. They could just pretend it represented the Terre Haute North Patriots.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
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