Nestled in the hills of Danville, California is Blackhawk, probably the wealthiest enclave in Northern California and home to the Blackhawk Museum, one of the world’s premier automotive museums. The Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Accustomed to housing one of the most valuable collection of cars in the world, on Sunday night, February 22, 2004, it also hosted a banquet to honor the 2003 De La Salle High School football team and its’ most celebrated alumnus, Amani Toomer.

Amani flew in from New York to visit family and friends and to see his high school jersey, # 18, retired. This was only the third time in De La Salle’s long history that a jersey has been retired, once for a deceased player and once previously for an active player.

De La Salle High School, arguably the best high school football team in the nation, finished the 2003 season with its 12th consecutive CIF North Coast Section title and a national record 151-game winning streak. The last game that De La Salle lost was also Amani’s last game at De La Salle.

Asked if he still thinks about that long ago loss, Amani laughed and replied, “Just all the time. All the time.”

As the audience funneled into the banquet hall, the young players paused to gaze wistfully at the vintage cars, wondering if someday they too would achieve Amani’s recognition and perhaps be able to afford a priceless automobile.

Following dinner and speeches by De La Salle Head Coach Bob Ladouceur and former Head Coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Bill Walsh, Amani’s #18 jersey was unveiled. As Amani ascended to the podium the audience rose to its feet, cheering and applauding the return home of their native son.

Amani stood, somewhat uncomfortably, as a highlight film of his De La Salle career was shown. The sound track screeched, the film was grainy, but one image emerged in distinct focus: # 18 was destined for the NFL.

Amani thanked his coach and the assembled audience adding, “My teammates and I we’re part of “Game Zero” the last game that De La Salle ever lost. My hat’s off to you guys!

I just wanted to say to the players that are playing right now that this is a special time in your lives, a time that you’ll always remember.

I’ve played at every single level of football and I’ll never forget my time at De La Salle. That’s because everyone associated with De La Salle’s football program genuinely wanted you to succeed and they pushed you to be the best person you could be. At other levels that may not always be the case. Sometimes you’ll meet people who aren’t on your side and you’ll have to overcome that.

I want to thank the coaches here for pushing me to succeed and I also want to thank my parents, who are here tonight, for giving me the opportunity to go to De La Salle.

I’ve made many friends on other teams but the best friends that I have made in my life are my brothers here from De La Salle. The Giants actually went to the Super Bowl three years ago. If you saw us play this year you wouldn’t believe it. But we did go to the Super Bowl three years ago and I called my De La Salle friends and said, ’C’mon on down’ and I got them all tickets. We all celebrated together. We didn’t win but we all had a good time together.

The last thing I want to say to you is to cherish this time as it’s fleeting.”

Cherish this time.

It is fleeting.