The athlete
In the well-appointed home of Washington Redskins cornerback Shawn Springs, one wall near the stairs is adorned with a black-and-white photograph of a woman and a boy sitting on a park bench. The boy, wearing knee socks, is so small his feet do not reach the ground.
This is Springs at 2 and his mother, Teresa Thomas. About 30 years later, the photograph hangs in both of their homes ? Springs' in McLean, Va., and his mother's in Ashburn, Va. ? a portrait of ordinary life, before there was any flash of professional sports.
"It's a reminder of where we started," Thomas said.
In recent years, life has been different. After a standout career at The Ohio State University, Springs was the third overall pick in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft. He played for the Seattle Seahawks until 2003 and then signed with the Redskins.
His sports life has been documented by his mother, with photos and news clippings pasted into scrapbooks. "I'm the type, I like to reflect back on things," she said. "I like to remind Shawn, if you feel the need to complain about anything, look how far you have come."
A retired Army master sergeant, Thomas, 51, said her son's beginnings in football were not the way she imagined: "I put him in for discipline, but he ended up just loving the game."
A major influence was Springs' father, Ron Springs, who also played in the National Football League, mostly with the Dallas Cowboys. In October, the elder Springs fell into a coma amid complications from surgery; he had undergone a kidney transplant months earlier.
Thomas said she has tried to support her son through the emotionally difficult time. His father remains in the hospital. "It has been sad," she said. "Last season was difficult. First his father and then [the slaying of Redskins safety] Sean Taylor."
A feeling of unease sets in every year in August, with the preseason. "I see what the fans don't see ? the pain. The physical standpoint of football." She added: "You know your child is grown, but ... you just want to still hold them. You feel their pain."
The worst, she said, was a Philadelphia game in which Springs was knocked unconscious. "It was one of the scariest parts of my life," she said. "To this day, I could not tell you how I got from the suite down to the field."
Lately, Thomas finds solace in an NFL mothers group called the Professional Football Players Mothers' Association.
A couple of years ago, one mother from each NFL team lent her name and told her son's story for a recipe book called "Moms Know Best," put out by Campbell Soup.
On Page 36, near a recipe for chicken scampi, Teresa Thomas was the featured mother for the Redskins.
"I tried to instill in him what works for me," she said. "First thing, be spiritual. Have the Lord in your life to guide you; good morals and values are the basis for everything. Without them, I don't know how you can have a happy and successful life."
The recipe book might not be widely known, but every once in a while someone who has one asks Thomas for an autograph.
"Are you sure?" she recalled asking, surprised a player's mother could be considered a celebrity, too
