A PART OF Y’ALL

Back in the early 1970s, about five years before homegrown NFL star Shaun Alexander was born, this town was in a pickle over its water tower.

As part of a deal to build a shopping complex along Interstate 75, developers donated a quarter-acre to the city, which was allowed to construct a million-gallon water tower on the plot with just one stipulation: The tower had to be adorned with “Florence Mall” in giant block letters.

But when the mall wasn’t up by 1974, the Kentucky Bureau of Highways threatened to fine the city for advertising something that didn’t exist. There were two expensive options: re-paint the red-and-white-striped tower, or cover it with an enormous tarp.

The city came up with a cheaper solution. It paid $500 to have the “M” painted into a “Y” with an added apostrophe. Thus was born the “Florence Y’all” tower, among the most recognizable -- and least understood -- landmarks in Northern Kentucky, a cheery non sequitur that spawned the annual Florence Y’all Festival and essentially put the place on the map.

But now, three decades later, it’s another town pillar that has the locals atwitter. Alexander, the Seattle Seahawk running back and NFL most valuable player, is headed to the Super Bowl, and the heartbeat of his hometown is thumping like a bass drum.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” said Rick Sullivan, Alexander’s since-retired physical education teacher at Florence Elementary. “I went to school here. I can’t remember anything as big as this. I can’t describe what this means to the city, the county and the area.”

Sullivan, who now drives a school bus, has spearheaded an Alexander-palooza at the elementary school, making hundreds of “Go Shaun!” buttons bearing the player’s smiling face, and taking orders for hundreds of self-styled T-shirts the school is selling for $5 each.

“Most of the families in Florence don’t have a whole lot of money,” Sullivan said. “But the kids sure have money for Shaun T-shirts.”

Each school day starts with a Shaun Alexander trivia contest, and the individual classes are staging poster and decorate-your-door contests. To practice writing persuasive letters, the fourth-graders are writing to Alexander, asking him to come back for a visit.

They needn’t worry. He comes back every off-season to the place where his mother, Carol, and older brother, Durran, call home. In fact, after the city built a new YMCA, Alexander bought the old one and plans to turn it into a community center. Durran is overseeing the multimillion-dollar renovation, which includes the construction of a field house featuring three indoor basketball courts.

Every fall Friday night before a football game, the Boone County High coaches get a just-checking-in call from Alexander, who led the NFL this season with 1,880 yards rushing and set a league record with 28 touchdowns. A street that runs alongside the school is called Shaun Alexander Way.

“Yes, the kids are in awe of him when he comes back,” said Rick Thompson, Boone County High’s football coach. “But by the same token, he’s made them feel a part of it all.”

Alexander said his goal is to make everyone he encounters on those visits feel loved and included.

“Just so every day somebody’s like, ‘Man, I’m tied with this person and we’re in this together,’ ” he said. “I think that’s the best way to do it, just love as many people as you can and let them feel a part of something great.

“Any time I get to do something with my city or my schools, I’m all for it. Because you never know who’s going to be the next person who does something great for their community or their town.”

The high school has sold hundreds of T-shirts with a cartoon drawing of Alexander on the front, and, on the back “Go Shaun Go! Rootin’ for our man at the big game!”

Florence, population 23,551, is about 14 miles south of Cincinnati, next to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Many of the residents work at the airport or the nearby Toyota parts factory. Although some of the surrounding tobacco and dairy farms are slowly dying, the town is home to a thoroughbred racetrack and a minor-league ballpark, both of which appear to be faring well.

“It’s a great place to raise a family,” said Durran, 29, who is a year older than Shaun and whose wife gave birth to a daughter, Maleah, four months ago. “The schools are good, and the people are good-hearted. You know the people, and they know you.”

That’s often the case, but not always. Over breakfast recently at a restaurant here, Durran, who has the same high cheekbones and 10,000-watt smile as his younger brother, caused his waitress to do a double-take.

“You look like somebody I’ve seen before,” she said. “Has anyone ever told you you look like Shaun Alexander?”

“Yes,” he said, flashing a friendly grin. “People have told me that from time to time.”

The Alexander boys are both successful in their own right. While Shaun was scoring touchdowns for Alabama, Durran was attending Notre Dame on an academic scholarship. He played the tenor drums in the marching band and performed in many of college football’s most storied stadiums. He now helps out with the local high school band.

“Shaun was built to take on linebackers,” said Durran, who’s 35 pounds lighter than his 5-foot-11, 225-pound brother. “I was built to play the fight song.”

Actually, both were standouts in baseball and basketball at Boone County High, although just Shaun played football. Their parents separated when Durran was in third grade, and their father, Curtis, lives in Cincinnati and is still a part of their lives. For the most part, however, the brothers were raised by their mother in a two-bedroom, government-subsidized apartment.

Although he hadn’t been back to the housing complex in years -- his mother now lives in a modest house a few miles away -- Durran last week toured a visitor around his old home. He knocked on the door of No. 6, the Alexanders’ former apartment, but no one answered. A young man answered at the next-door unit, though, and was startled to learn that the NFL’s MVP once lived a door down.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of Shaun Alexander,” he said, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “I had no idea.... “

There’s no mistaking that Alexander once walked the halls of the public schools here. His high school and elementary school are staging pep rallies Friday and invited Durran to represent the family. He apologetically declined because he made the four-hour drive to Detroit on Wednesday to attend the Super Bowl with his mother and cousin, Ben Brown, who works with disadvantaged youth in a neighboring town.

When her sons left home for college, Carol Alexander quit her position in public relations for Procter & Gamble and got a job in the truancy department of the Boone County School District. She was lovingly strict in raising her boys, demanding they be respectful and unfailingly polite at every turn. Her house. Her rules.

“I tried to give my children all they needed and most of what they wanted,” said Carol, a devoutly religious woman. “You have to love, but you have to love with limits.”

She’s meticulous about keeping her home neat -- guests remove their shoes at the door -- and the only hint in the living room that her son plays football is a container on the coffee table with a tiny blue 37, his jersey number, painted on the top. In the basement, she keeps a blown-up version of a recent Sports Illustrated cover featuring Shaun.

“I’m very proud,” she said. “God has given me two of the best sons.”

As much as anything, Shaun and Durran are sons of their hometown. After the Seahawks beat Carolina in the NFC championship game, Florence Mayor Diane Whalen issued a proclamation deeming Feb. 5 “Shaun Alexander Super Bowl Sunday.” The only other Boone County athlete who reached the top of his sport is retired jockey Steve Cauthen, the youngest Triple Crown winner, who now has a horse farm outside of town.

Florence could have the highest density of Seahawk fans east of the Cascades. By last count, Seattle fans at Carol’s offices outnumber Pittsburgh fans, 55-3. (And one of those is obligated to root for the Steelers; she’s the aunt of Pittsburgh running back Duce Staley.)

Even people pulling for Pittsburgh are torn. Bus driver Cheri Reed recently stopped by Alexander’s elementary and high school wearing a Steeler T-shirt -- a double faux pas, considering this is Cincinnati Bengal country -- and left having ordered five Alexander shirts.

“The kids get on the bus and tell me I’m a traitor,” said Reed, bundling her jacket to hide her Steeler shirt. “I say, ‘I’m just doing it to aggravate you guys.’ ”

In the recreation center at their Baptist church, the Alexanders are playing host to a Super Bowl party for their family and friends -- even though neither the boys nor their mother will attend -- and the guest list was at 340 10 days before kickoff.

“We’re going to have big-screen TVs on the basketball court,” Durran said. “We’re willing to go up to 700 [people].”

There will be another Super Bowl party at Shakey’s -- not the national pizza chain, but a Florence “grub and pub” named for the owner, who shakes when he gets excited. Sullivan, the former PE teacher, might watch the game at his brother’s house. That’s where he was for Seattle’s divisional playoff game against Washington, when Alexander was sidelined because of a concussion in the first quarter.

“We had a big pot of chili,” Sullivan said. “Soon as that [concussion] happened, I kind of lost my appetite.”

In Florence, the appetite for all things Alexander seems insatiable. The townsfolk are honoring him any way they know how.

Well, just about any way.

“If the Seahawks win,” Mayor Whalen said, “we’ll think up something special.”

Perhaps involving a water tower and a few thousand gallons of paint?

“We’ll see,” she said. “We’ll see.”

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About Florence, Ky.

* Population: 23,551 (2000).

* Square miles: 9.9.

* Median annual household income (2000): $42,567.

* Median home value (2000): $102,000.

* Nearest big city: Cincinnati, 13.8 miles northwest.

* Best known for: The “Florence Y’all” water tower, a landmark that spawned a festival that has been annual since 1980.

* Fun fact: Mayor Diane Whalen’s father, C.M. “Hop” Ewing, was town mayor when the 135-foot water tower was built.

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Alexander the great

After scoring only two touchdowns in his first NFL season in 2000, Seattle’s Shaun Alexander has scored 98 in the last five years. Most touchdowns by running backs from 2001 to ‘05:

*--* PLAYER RUSHING RECEIVING TOTAL Shaun Alexander 87 11 98 Priest Holmes 76 7 83 LaDainian Tomlinson 72 8 80 Clinton Portis 45 4 49 Ahman Green 38 10 48 Corey Dillon 43 5 48 Marshall Faulk 33 14 47 Tiki Barber 39 5 44 Jerome Bettis 42 0 42 Ricky Williams 37 3 40

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Source: pro-football-reference.com

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THE SERIES

For glitz, glamour and overkill, perhaps no sporting event in the world can match the Super Bowl. But many of the game’s participants are products of humble, small-town environments far from the bright lights. Today is the third of four profiles.

* Part 1: Josh Brown, Seattle, kicker from Foyil, Okla.

* Part 2: Willie Parker, Pittsburgh, running back from Clinton, N.C.

* Part 3: Today, Shaun Alexander, Seattle, running back from Florence, Ky.

* Part 4: Heath Miller, Pittsburgh, tight end from Swords Creek, Va.