A female staffer working for the city of Tampa’s Parks and Recreation department, aware that the city had closed down public parks, ejected a 42-year-old man who was working out.
The man was Tom Brady, who recently left the New England Patriots, with whom he won six Super Bowls before he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Monday, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, speaking on a Facebook live chat with St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, said, “I got to tell you this story, too. I always tell people, ‘Now I’m not one to gossip so you didn’t hear this from me.’ But you know our parks are closed down and so a lot of our parks staff, they patrol around just to make sure people aren’t doing contact sports and things and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks. And she went over to tell him that it was closed and it was Tom Brady … he has been sighted,” as the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Mayor @JaneCastor on a @TomBrady sighting in Tampa:
"Our parks are closed down so a lot of our park staff patrol around…and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks. She went over to tell him it was closed. And it was Tom Brady." https://t.co/fASoW4tCpu pic.twitter.com/u2Sbaczdwz
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) April 20, 2020
The city of Tampa later tweeted: “Sorry @TomBrady! Our @tampaparksrec team can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles — until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve.”
Sorry @TomBrady! Our @tampaparksrec team can’t wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles — until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve. https://t.co/qRhReqqdK0
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) April 21, 2020
The city also clarified that Brady had not been “cited” but rather “sighted,” tweeting, “To clear up any confusion, @Buccaneers QB @TomBrady was SIGHTED in one of our 194 beautiful parks. He was not cited as some media outlets have reported. We are excited to welcome Tom & everyone back to all of our parks once we have punted COVID-19 downfield!”
👀 SIGHTED! 👀
To clear up any confusion, @Buccaneers QB @TomBrady was SIGHTED in one of our 194 beautiful parks. He was not cited as some media outlets have reported.We are excited to welcome Tom & everyone back to all of our parks once we have punted COVID-19 downfield! 🏈 pic.twitter.com/EH13MmlAgx
— City of Tampa (@CityofTampa) April 21, 2020
Brady has been ramping up his identification with the city of Tampa already; earlier this month ESPN reported that he hoped to trademark “Tompa Bay” and “Tampa Brady” for use in merchandise. ESPN stated, “The requests for the new phrases were filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 6. “TB x TB” was filed March 20.”
The Glazer family, which owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recently donated enough money to buy five million meals for Feeding Tampa Bay. In addition, they pledged $100,000 to the One Tampa: Relief Now, Rise Together Fund, which aids residents and business owners, as well as $100,000 to St. Petersburg’s Fighting Chance Fund, as The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Bucs co-owner Darcie Glazer-Kassewitz said, “We are facing an unprecedented situation that has affected so many throughout the world and in our community. My family discussed different ways to help, but ultimately we all knew that food insecurity was a critical area that needed immediate assistance. My family’s main priority was to find the most efficient way to provide this essential food to those that are struggling the most at this time. Feeding Tampa Bay is doing tremendous work ensuring that those in need of food assistance are getting it every day.”
She added, “We knew that Feeding Tampa Bay was having a challenging time meeting the tremendous increase in the needs of our community. Our family wanted to provide the type of resources that would ensure their ability to keep meeting the needs of our community without disruption. We have the highest admiration and gratitude for the work they are doing throughout the Tampa Bay area.”
Thomas Mantz, the CEO for Feeding Tampa Bay, acknowledged:
Food is fundamental to all of us, and we want to make sure it’s available. You have to pay your rent bill. You have to pay your car payment and things of that nature. But food is something that we can help provide and lessen the pressure on a family’s budget. We’re trying to make sure that we’re out in the community responding to the 10 counties we serve, and we’re making sure there’s food to our charity partners or directly distributed by us wherever we can move that. So five million meals is an incredible contribution to that effort. It’s the largest we’ve had here in Tampa Bay, and it couldn’t come at a better time and it couldn’t come at a more important time.
He concluded, “It establishes leadership. It says, ‘Hey this cause is important. We’re giving to it, and you know their reputation in their community and their position in the community, so it really helps us tell the story of those we’re trying to help.”