Fan Club Will Help Homeless -- Cardinals' Swann Knows What Its Like

TEMPE, Ariz. - Eric Swann remembers the day he knocked on the door of a Lynn, Mass., YMCA and asked if he could take a bath.

There also were the nights he delivered ice to a restaurant so he could eat.

That's how you live when you are 20 and homeless.

Four years later, Swann, the Arizona Cardinals' starting left defensive tackle, lives in a big house and earns $550,000.

But he hasn't forgotten what it was like the 10 days in 1990 when he was on the streets. In fact, he's starting a fan club and intends to use most of the proceeds to help the homeless at the Central Arizona Sheltering Service (CASS).

"We seem to overlook the homeless," Swann said.

Swann visited a downtown shelter before the team's minicamp.

"When he went through the shelter, he really impressed people," said Dennis Burke, director of development for CASS. "He turned a lot of heads. He made a lot of people smile.

"He's very down to earth and into it for the best reason because he cares for people. He's very sensitive to the issue."

Swann's wife, Roselyn, also has volunteered to work at a shelter.

"This community has given so much to me," said Swann, the first Arizona Cardinals player to have a fan club. "I want to give something back to them. Each and every player ought to do something for the community.

"It was an eye-opening experience going through that shelter. Some people there were once wealthy and lost everything. Others were single mothers. Most of the people were really hurting. I just want to help get them back on their feet, whether it's helping them use the dining hall, find sleeping quarters or get toothpaste, soap or shampoo."

Swann became homeless in 1990 when he and several players on the Bay State (Mass.) Titans, a defunct semipro team, were evicted from the hotel in which they were living because the owner had an unpaid $4,000 water bill.

He bathed at the YMCA and stocked the ice chest at a restaurant.

"I hadn't eaten anything," Swann said. "They gave me sandwiches for my work."

He never told his parents in North Carolina of his plight.

"Back home, my parents had a nice house," Swann said. "I could have just quit and gone home and lived nicely. But when I called home, I told them everything was fine. It wasn't. I was out money."

Swann lived at a friend's house for a while, and eventually, Bay State General Manager Dick Bell got him an apartment.

"An awful lot of (homeless) people never go through the shelter situation," Burke said. "But they are totally dependent on the help of friends and family, or they sleep in the car. Eric can relate to them, and I think it's terrific what he's doing. It gives us a new avenue to talk about the issue."

Swann was having a brilliant season a year ago until he suffered a knee injury in the ninth game on a controversial chop block by Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Antone Davis. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the season.

He said the knee is fine, and he had no problem with mobility at the minicamp. His biggest problem was staying out of fights with rookie offensive linemen.

"Another rookie tangled with me," Swann said. "I don't know what it is with these guys - beat Eric Swann and you make the team."

He is expected to flourish in first-year coach Buddy Ryan's attacking style of defense, and Ryan already has compared him to All-Pro end Reggie White.

Swann, who is 6-foot-5 and weighs 298, also should benefit from the addition of Pro Bowl end Clyde Simmons, a free-agent acquisition who should take some of the pass-rushing pressure off him.

His teammates are expecting a big year from Swann, who already has impressed them with his plan to help the homeless.

"That says a lot about him," cornerback Aeneas Williams said. "No one has to do anything, but it's a blessing when an athlete like him wants to help somebody. It shows how much he cares."