Mason sets example for new players

[ThomasTomasz]

Gather around, NFL draft picks. Grab your shoulder pads and new playbooks and please find a seat. There's a couple of people you need to meet.

Our first speaker today is Sarah Blackwell. She is 81 years old and has lived in the same home in Turners Station for more than six decades. Her husband, Reggie, worked at the Sparrows Point shipyard and later Bethlehem Steel. They bought their house at the southern end of Dundalk -- the oldest black neighborhood in the area -- when they married, and together they raised two children there. After 59 years of marriage, Reggie died three years ago.

"So many things around here needed to done," Blackwell said, with a checklist that includes everything from the floors to the windows to the yard. "But I'm not able to get it done, not financially, not physically."

Right now, NFL draft picks, you're probably wondering what an 81-year-old woman in a distant corner of Baltimore County has to do with you and your budding football career. You probably have other things to worry about -- a big-screen television, your new ride, what number you'll wear on your back next fall. But just sit still a bit longer and let's meet our next speaker.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/f...6859421.column