[CBFF] [Fwd: Katrina always in mind's eye for Bears' Matt Forte]

[Tom Shannon]

http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/sports/~3/281871553/cs-080501-matt-forte-chicago-bears,0,1209848.story 
<http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/%7Er/chicagotribune/sports/%7E3/281871553/cs-080501-matt-forte-chicago-bears,0,1209848.story>

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080501-matt-forte-chicago-bears,0,1209848.story


  chicagotribune.com


    Katrina always in mind's eye for Bears' Matt Forte


      Bears draft pick and Louisiana native will never outrun memories
      from devastating hurricane

By Vaughn McClure

Tribune reporter

11:25 PM CDT, May 1, 2008

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The images will remain embedded in Matt Forte's memory forever.

As the bus rolled into New Orleans that fall day in 2005, he glanced to 
one side to see a boat drifting down the road as if on a body of water. 
He glanced to the other side and saw car upon car overturned off the 
highway, as if the city had been transformed into a massive junkyard.

The picture was one of total destruction, devoid of human existence.

Hurricane Katrina.

"It was like a ghost town," Forte recalled. "It was unbelievable, unreal."

Forte, a running back, is the Bears' second-round draft pick from 
Tulane, a school located in the heart of New Orleans. He still has 
trouble expressing what the storm did to the city.

"When I first saw the pictures on television, I was thinking there 
couldn't be that much water there, that people couldn't be on rooftops 
like that," he said. "But to see the town for the first time after the 
storm, it was really emotional."

Although he is almost three years removed from Katrina, Forte recounted 
the impact the disaster had on his life. He is from Slidell, a town 45 
minutes outside of New Orleans that was also heavily damaged. Bulls 
guard Chris Duhon is also a Slidell native and has been extensively 
involved in relief efforts.

Forte and his Tulane teammates evacuated on Aug. 28, 2005, the night 
before the storm hit. They resided at several locations during his 
sophomore season.

As he begins the first step of his pro career with Friday's rookie 
mini-camp, Forte can't forget the strides he made while coping with the 
tragedy.

"It made me mature a lot," he said. "I was 19 going on 20. To have 
something like that happen to you, you have to grow up quickly."


    No calm before storm

August is hurricane season along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, and Katrina 
had the earmarks of a major storm. The wind whipped with more force. The 
sky darkened.

On the Tulane campus, Forte and his teammates gathered for an impromptu 
trip. The group climbed aboard buses and traveled 185 miles north to 
Jackson, Miss., to take shelter before the hurricane roared through New 
Orleans.

"It took us forever to get to Jackson because there was so much traffic 
on the interstate," Forte said. "It felt like it was eight hours."

The team arrived at Jackson State University, Walter Payton's alma 
mater, and took shelter in the school's gymnasium. Some of the players 
slept in the bleachers, some on the floor.

"They were giving out these tiny twin mattresses, and first choice went 
to the upperclassmen," Forte said. "Some way, I managed to sneak myself 
one."

How or where he slept mattered little to Forte. He and his teammates 
were more concerned about their families back in the New Orleans area. 
Forte's cell phone was dead. Not until the next day did he confirm his 
parents and brother made a successful three-hour escape to Lake Charles, 
La., where they stayed with his grandfather. They were safe.

Forte's home in Slidell was damaged but not demolished. Whereas some New 
Orleans residents were inundated with 10 feet of water, the level rose 
just 6 inches where the Fortes lived. But his family couldn't come back 
to assess the damage until several weeks later, when power was restored.

"There was still a lot of damage because the water just remained in the 
house," Forte said. "We had to take up all the carpet, and we had new 
furniture that was ruined.

"But material things are nothing. You have to worry about family."


    Bonding experience

Football was an afterthought. Katrina had devastated Tulane, and New 
Orleans as a whole.

But the 2005 season had to go on for Forte and his teammates—under 
trying circumstances.

After two days and two nights in Jackson, Tulane went to Dallas for 13 
days, practicing at Dallas Jesuit High School and bunking in a 
Doubletree hotel. The team then moved to the campus of Louisiana Tech in 
Ruston, where it would spend the first semester of the school year and 
the football season.

Forte figured it was hard enough adjusting to classes there, but the 
living arrangements were an even tougher challenge. The team lived at 
Caruthers Hall, a dorm the school was preparing to condemn. The 
eight-story building had no elevator, and the Tulane players shared the 
place with other Katrina evacuees.

"It was rough," Forte said. "Every day after practice I'm walking up 
eight flights of stairs to go to sleep and get ready for the next day."

Then-coach Chris Scelfo, who wrote a book about the Katrina experience, 
estimated that his players lost an average of almost 25 pounds per man 
during the trying time.

"Matt was one of the leaders of our team," Scelfo said. "At that stage, 
he was mature beyond his years. The situation took a toll on all of us, 
but Matt was one of the guys who kept things together."

Tulane played all 11 games on the road that season. Forte was the 
leading rusher with 655 yards while splitting time with Jovan Jackson. 
The Green Wave finished with a 2-9 record.

The season, however, was far from a loss.

Game 3 was played Oct. 1 in Baton Rouge, at LSU's Tiger Stadium. Tulane 
edged Southeastern Louisiana 28-21 in front of more than 16,000 spirited 
fans. On the trip from Ruston, the team passed through New Orleans for 
the first time since Katrina hit.

That was the moment Forte absorbed those images, the ones that will 
remain with him forever.

"I had to be strong through Katrina, for my family and for my 
teammates," Forte said. "Things happen for a reason, and we all had to 
get through it together. And that's exactly what we did."

vxmcclure at tribune.com <mailto:vxmcclure at tribune.com>

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