Today N.Y. Giants Linebacker Chase Blackburn stopped by a private event in McIntyre Lounge where he spoke to students, media and members of the community about the revitalization of McGinley Square and to discuss his inspiring road to Super Bowl XLVI.
Chase Blackburn was signed to the N.Y. Giants in 2005 as an undrafted rookie and played until his contract expired in 2010. Blackburn’s contract was not renewed with the Giants and he began looking into becoming a substitute math teacher while he continued his football workouts on his own. Fortunately, the Giants re-signed him in late November, just in time for Week 13 against the Green Bay Packers. He played impressively for the remainder of the season, which ended with his fourth quarter interception during the Super Bowl in the game’s only turnover.
Prior to his visit to Saint Peter’s, Blackburn participated in a press conference in McGinley Square, hosted by Corvus Capital Partners, LLC, the development firm which is managing the revitalization project in McGinley Square. At the press conference, Gary Flocco, managing director at Corvus, announced that a private street within the development will be named “Blackburn Boulevard.” Following this announcement, Blackburn was presented with a key to Jersey City by Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.
A number of students then followed Blackburn to Saint Peter’s College where he signed autographs and took pictures with them. During his address to the intimate group, Blackburn touched on a number of the ideals that are instilled in Saint Peter’s students everyday. “I want to tell all of the kids out there to make sure that you continue to persevere and take pride in everything that you do because when you take pride in yourself you will live a happier and more gratifying life. You will also be able to make a difference in your community and someone else’s life, ultimately building a stronger and better community,” said Blackburn.
“Originally coming out of college I didn’t get drafted and I didn’t get picked up in free agency right away,” said Blackburn. “I was very aware of adversity while starting my professional career and I overcame it then and after I finally felt like I had done something with my career after six years, I had come to find out that I really hadn’t done as much as I thought and I was back on the street again. However I continued to work hard and believe in myself and believe in God.”
Many of the students were overcome with excitement and greatly impressed with Blackburn’s speech and the opportunity they were given to meet him.
“I have been the world’s biggest Giants fan for 19 years and I have always dreamed about meeting one of the players, so to finally meet one that had such a big part in the recent Super Bowl win is truly a dream come true,” said Matt Feeney, a freshman at Saint Peter’s College. “As a full-time student with two jobs and a million things to do, it gets really tough and listening to Chase talk about everything he went through is so inspiring because he is such a role model to me. It felt like he was talking directly to me, telling me not to give up and always keep working for my goals.”
To view additional photos from the event please click here.