The Giants may have won the Super Bowl, but Vernon Davis beat them to the president.
The 49ers tight end, who grew up 20 or so blocks from the White House, found himself on a podium at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco on Thursday, introducing President Barack Obama, who was in town raising campaign funds.
"Never, ever," Davis said when asked Friday if, as a child growing up in a rough section of Washington, D.C., he ever thought he'd meet the president. "I thought the closest I'd get to the president was a dollar bill."
Davis said he began his speech by talking about his grandmother, Adaline, who raised Davis, younger brother Vontae (a cornerback for the Dolphins) and four other siblings. Davis said his grandmother taught him that anything is possible through hard work and that he and Vontae are proof of that.
Davis, who crafted the speech with tips from the Obama campaign, told the crowd that the president had a similar message.
"If you love your country, you can change it," Davis said. "But you have to fight for that change."
Davis said he and Obama took a photograph together after the president spoke and chatted for about two minutes. Before his own speech began, Obama noted Davis' playoffs heroics and quipped that he should play for the Bears, a comment that drew good-natured boos from the crowd.
Obama is not the only politician Davis chatted with this month. Last week, Davis drove to Sacramento and met with Mayor Kevin Johnson and Gov. Jerry Brown in an effort to raise funds for his Davis Family Foundation. And he's not finished rubbing elbows with poltical figures.
Obama on Thursday invited Davis to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 28, and Davis said he plans to bring Adaline as his date.
Meanwhile, the Giants' trip to the White House has not been scheduled.
– Matthew Barrows
Sign of the times
"A Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries autographed baseball the Twins put up for charity auction had a bid of $1,500 on Tuesday afternoon," pointed out Charley Walters of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, "while a Jim Perry 1970 Cy Young Award signed baseball had a bid of $60."
– Seattle Times
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