May 19, 2009
By Lester Munson, ESPN.com

In the shadow of a bleak public housing project in Newport News, Va., where his life began, a young man of wealth, fame and flair for football is working each day to bring hope where there has been only blight and despair.

With enthusiastic support from city officials and impressive financing, Aaron Brooks, a former NFL quarterback, is putting together a 15-acre urban oasis that he hopes will feature affordable housing, retail stores and even a police station. It's a project that promises to be of enormous benefit both to the city and to Brooks.

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When Michael Smith arrived at Leavenworth for the meeting, he says Vick told him, "I should have listened to you. I listened to the wrong people."

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And as Brooks turns his dream into a new reality, another young man whose life began in the same Ridley Circle project -- and who scaled even greater heights as an NFL quarterback -- returns to the area this week, his wealth and fame replaced with bankruptcy and disgrace.

Michael Vick's homecoming will be a bittersweet return to an old reality that led to one of the most dramatic downfalls in the history of sports. As he arrives back in Newport News after a year and a half in prison, Vick might want to ask himself some questions. Why, for example, did he refuse an offer to join Brooks in the real estate investments?

How did he wind up in so many bad business deals?

How did he allow his love of dogs to metastasize into something so unacceptable to society and to the law? "Michael is gullible, and he can be stupid," says Michael Smith, a highly respected financial planner who worked with Vick for nearly two years and is helping Brooks with his real estate ventures.

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Featured in Black Enterprise October 2003 edition.