Serra High Grads with Impressive Pro Sports Careers
Last year, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady finished his 23rd (and final) season in the NFL.
Brady grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from Serra High School in San Mateo in 1995. He is not the only Serra High graduate
to play major professional sports for at least 22 seasons. Barry Bonds (Class of 1982) played 22 MLB seasons including 15 seasons with
the San Francisco Giants. Brady and Bonds are two of
three Serra High graduates with impressive professional sports careers: Lynn Swann is the other.
Swann (Class of 1970) was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite playing
only nine seasons (less than half the length of Brady's and Bonds' careers). His Hall of Fame case was certainly helped by the fact that he won four Super Bowls
in those nine seasons. Brady is one of only two men with more Super
Bowl wins than Swann. Unlike Swann, Brady and Bonds are not currently in their sports' respective Hall of Fames.
Brady is not yet in the Pro Football Hall of Fame since he recently retired. Brady was very productive during the first nine years of his career
and would
probably be in the Hall of Fame had he left the NFL after nine seasons (like Swann). The same can probably be said for Bonds, who won three (!!) MVP awards
in his first eight seasons. The big difference between Bonds and Brady is that Brady is now a lock to make it to the Hall of Fame
some day while Bonds isn't. Bonds
allegedly started using PEDs in 1998 (after his twelfth season) and because of that, he failed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers'
Association of
America. He still has a chance to be elected by the Today's Game Committee.
Brady won a record 7 Super Bowls during his 23 NFL seasons and Bonds won a record 7 NL MVP awards in his 22 seasons. So,
Bonds won a MVP award approximately every pi seasons.