By Dylan Butler
Tutan Reyes had two dreams growing up in Queens. One was to play in the National Football League. That became a reality for the former August Martin High School standout when he was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.
“My second dream is being able to give back and help kids who deserve it,” Reyes said.
The veteran offensive lineman is doing just that with his Beyond the Boroughs national scholarship fund. Founded in 2007, it has already raised $100,000, awarding five college scholarships last year to a variety of underprivileged kids.
“It’s about thinking beyond your confines, beyond your obstacles,” Reyes said. “As a student at that age you think you know everything, but there’s so much more to life than you can see. I’m trying to get the kids to dream beyond what they see on the street corners or on TV. There are other opportunities out there for them.”
While some of the top college football players in the nation realized their dream at the NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall April 22 to 24, Reyes hosted a star-studded party at 1 Oak on West 17th Street April 22. The invited guests read like a who’s who of the NFL: Kevin Boss and Osi Umenyiora of the Giants, Kris Jenkins of the Jets, Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville and Keith Bulluck of Tennessee among others.
Tickets were $200 per person, which included an open bar and hors d’oeuvres. The goal was to raise money for Beyond the Boroughs so other less fortunate high school kids who want to attend college but can’t have the financial means.
“I knew it was only right that I reached back out and do the same for the students today,” Reyes said. “It’s hard for these kids nowadays, especially in the inner city. If you can find the students who have made it that far and have the ambition, the desire, the grades and they’re good kids and want to go to college, the last obstacle shouldn’t be that they can’t afford it.”
Long before he was a veteran NFL offensive lineman, Reyes was an all-city tight end at August Martin HS. In his senior year he had 18 receptions for 413 yards and five touchdowns, including one remarkable grab against Lincoln in a PSAL playoff game.
“We played Lincoln in the playoffs, triple overtime and he laid out in the back of the end zone horizontal for a pass that he caught for a touchdown,” former August Martin Assistant Coach Al Tongue said. “That was the catch that got him into college.”
Tongue calls Reyes “definitely the best tight end we’ve ever had at August Martin,” and he earned a college scholarship to Ole Miss where he was converted, albeit reluctantly initially, to a left tackle. He started there as a junior and senior, earning second-team All-SEC honors his final year.
“Being a kid from New York, the first thing I said was if this doesn’t work out, I’m coming back after you,” Reyes joked. “But it worked out, man.”
In a big way.
Reyes enjoyed a 10-year NFL career, playing for New Orleans, Carolina, Buffalo, Jacksonville, the Giants and Houston. All the while, Reyes found time to return to New York and speak to players at August Martin and John F. Kennedy, where Tongue most recently served as an assistant. He’s also donated money to the football programs at Martin and the Rosedale Jets, a Pop Warner team in Queens.
“Since Tutan got drafted, he has come back continually,” Tongue said. “That’s big for the kids, for them to be able to look up to a guy like that.”
Reyes is currently an unrestricted free agent and while he is mulling his NFL future, he said he’s dedicating his full attention to Beyond the Boroughs. The 32-year-old has a message to those high school kids who are less fortunate.
“Don’t give up hope,” Reyes said. “The obstacles are against you, everybody has them. It’s no different than 15 years ago when I was in high school. If I can make it from the same place they’re from with the same obstacles in my way then, they can make it, too. They know they have somebody who’s got their back.”
For more information about Beyond the Boroughs or to donate, visit beyondtheboroughs.org.
