Remember driving through small-town Saskatchewan when you’d see a sign every few miles declaring the next community to be “The Home Of” an NHL Hockey Player?

Saskatchewan still has the claim to fame of producing more NHL players per capita than anywhere else in the nation.

It’s a bit like that when it comes to football in parts of Georgia.

In Tifton, Ga., pop 16,333, at all four entrances to town, they put up a sign for a local football player.

“Welcome to

TIFTON

Hometown of

NFL Linebacker

LARRY DEAN”

Tifton is located an hour and a half drive south of Macon, two hours north of Tallahassee and about three hours west of Jacksonville. It is also only 45 minutes north of Valdosta State where Dean ended up going to college.

It’s a Div. II school with a stadium that seats 11,249.

All-American Jessie Tuggle, who played with the NFL Atlanta Falcons from 1987 to 2000, is their most noted alumni. And former Edmonton Eskimo quarterback Kerwin Bell coached the team to a Div. II national championship last season.

While Larry Dean played four seasons in the NFL, the town is still proud of the hometown product now playing for Edmonton in the Canadian Football League. And part of that pride is the now 30-year-old player is still the home of Larry Dean, and he’s an honoured citizen not just for the name he made but for the work he does with the Larry Dean Foundation.

“It’s a one high school town,” said Dean of home.

“Growing up, I ran track, played basketball and football, of course. I was the region defensive player of the year as a defensive back. I didn’t play linebacker until my first year of college.”

In college, Dean led Valdosta to the 2007 NCAA Div. II national championship as a freshman. He won All-American honours there during his career and was named Gulf South Conference defensive player of the year. He ended up as the school’s all-time leader in tackles, passing the Tuggle mentioned above during his senior season.

Larry Dean’s graduation ceremonies, for some reason, were scheduled for July. While he wasn’t drafted, the Minnesota Vikings decided at the last minute to invite him to training camp. The college organized a hurry-up one-man graduation ceremony for him.

“I got the call from Minnesota. Then the Dean’s office and the president had a special ceremony right there for me with my family. I got the call. Graduated. Then headed to the airport. All in the same day.”

Larry Dean became the only undrafted player to make the opening day roster.

It’s a journey. Some get told when it’s over. Others make the call themselves. In the same set of football cleats, many a player would call it a career after 61 games in the NFL spread between the Vikings, Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as Larry Dean. Dean managed to record 37 tackles in those 61 games, but he wasn’t ready for his career to be over when he felt it should be just starting.

“I love the game of football. I didn’t feel like I was done playing. I felt I had a lot of tread left on my tires.”

While many a guy who has collected NFL pay cheques come north and expect to be overnight stars, all Dean wanted was all he ever asked for — an opportunity.

It didn’t happen for him in Hamilton overnight, but last year he became the CFL’s all-star middle linebacker and was nominated for East Division Defensive Player of the Year and made the decision to come to Edmonton with teammate Don Unamba in free agency to play under former Auburn career coach Phillip Lolley, who they briefly had the opportunity to play for with the Tiger-Cats.

A bachelor with four brothers and four sisters, Dean says the move to the CFL and now across the country to play in Edmonton hasn’t affected his status in town.

“They know I’m still a professional athlete and that I have a college degree. I do a lot of things. I have a foundation. We basically just target the youth. We do ‘Back To School Rallies’ to give them school supplies. We give the little boys haircuts. We sponsor a travelling U-14 basketball team so we can take the boys out of the city and show them different things. Some kids never get to leave the city. For Thanksgiving, we give out 151 turkeys in my neighbourhood where I grew up.

“I don’t do it to get publicized, but there are people are encouraging me to publicize it so sponsors will reach out. I would never try to get publicity in my own city. I love my city. That’s where I come from.”

I don’t know. But wouldn’t it be cool to see a U-14 travelling basketball team from Tifton, Ga. Dressed in new green and gold uniforms with ‘Eskimos’ stitched across the front? Or ‘Eskimos’ brand notebooks for the ‘Back To School Rally’? It might be interesting for Edmonton to embrace the Larry Dean Foundation and have some fun with it.