FREEPORT, NY – It’s not everyday when a hometown hero gets a street named after him, but yesterday was that day for Jets offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson.
Surrounded by Freeport mayor Andrew Hardwick, councilwoman Angie Cullin, school superintendent Dr. Kishore Kuncham, Town of Hempstead supervisor Kate Murray family, friends, and members of his foundation, Ferguson watched in honor as South Ocean Avenue became “D’Brickashaw Ferguson Way.”
“I think it’s crazy because growing up, you see a lot of names on streets and don’t know these individuals,” Ferguson said to Newsday. “Eventually, you learn, ‘OK, this guy did such and such.’ But I think it’s great that I can kind of be put up there in those similar lights and say, ‘Hey, this was not only a football player, this guy was a philanthropist [who] gave back to the community with his time.’
“You want to leave something that people can always have name recognition with.”
And it’s probably more for his charity work that caused this ceremony yesterday. Although a good player, he never went to the Pro Bowl and there have been plenty of local products playing professional sports, who haven’t had streets named after them.
Yet, the D’Brickashaw Ferguson Foundation stands out. An organization devoted to offering scholarships to deserving students and the granting of assistance to food banks, clothing ministries and repairs to existing churches, Ferguson started a program called “Eat Right, Move More” to educate children on how to eat right.
He also lends a hand with the Special Olympics, the Lupus Walk, Autism and Muscular Dystrophy.
That doesn’t include all the football camps and personal appearances he does for children on Long Island, especially in the Freeport area.
It’s for that reason South Ocean Avenue bears his name now and it’s an honor well deserved.
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