‘Jack Legend Jeremiah Trotter Honored in Hometown of Hooks
6/14/2025 5:39:00 PM | Football
East Texas community unveils “Trotter Way”, “Brown Boulevard” in recognition of former student-athletes’ career achievements
HOOKS, Texas - In an athletic career filled with a plethora of accolades, honors and well-deserved recognition, Stephen F. Austin gridiron legend Jeremiah Trotter was recognized on Saturday, June 14, back where his football journey began, in his hometown of Hooks, Texas. Trotter, along with Hornet football teammate Wilbert Brown, were honored at the southwest corner of the school's football stadium, where Avenue East and 5th Street intersect, with each player's family, members of the Hooks community, the city's development committee and graduates of HHS Class of 1995 in attendance.
The celebration's focal point was the street intersection as the Hornet legends posed for pictures and participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the street sign dedication as Avenue East and 5th Street officially became "Trotter Way" and "Brown Boulevard", respectively.
"My hope and my prayer is that, among other things, every student-athlete that walks from that school to that field house sees these signs and understands that this is not just something that can happen in Hooks, Texas, but this is something that does happen," remarked Hooks community member and proud athletic supporter David Briggs, a high school classmate of Trotter and Brown.
Briggs added, "I've known these guys for 43 years…this is a great day for us."
A four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro selection with first-team honors in 2000, Trotter played 11 NFL seasons totaling 147 games; a career highlighted by eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles who drafted the Texan in the third round, 72nd overall, of the 1998 NFL Draft.
Between his standout days as a Hornet in east Texas and an NFL career that resulted in him being honored as a Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame inductee in 2016, Trotter roamed the Piney Woods and capped an outstanding career as an SFA Lumberjack by garnering consensus All-America honors in 1997.
Trotter referenced his "why" in addressing those in attendance. "When I first started playing football, I played because I just loved to hit people, right? When I got to college, and I saw an opportunity that maybe I can go play in the NFL, they [his family] became my "why". Every time you saw me hit somebody, it was for them," noted the former 'Jack. "Man, just sacrificing your body and laying it all on the line just so they could have a better life than you."
After thanking his family, friends, classmates and school counselor, Miss Shannon, Trotter concluded,"You know all these streets here, we used to work up and down these streets, chopping trees and cutting wood, man you would never think that you would have your name on the corner. So that's all glory to God, man."
