Anthony Kelley is the father of an extended family he could only dream about growing up.

He started as a partial academic qualifier for the Washington football team with a hard-knock background. He became an honored scholar. He was a prep standout who bounced around six high schools in Southern California. He went on to study abroad in South Africa and plans to attend graduate school.

He struggled to avoid gangs growing up in Altadena, Calif. Now he discusses social policy with Archbishop Desmond TuTu.

A Rebel With A Cause

UNLV offensive lineman Tony Terrell is a big man with a big heart. Terrell, the Rebels active leader in career starts, is one of 11 athletes named to the 2002 American Football Coaches Association All Good Works Team. His off-field volunteer work is extensive and varied. As a member of "Rebels for a Cause," the 6-foot-4, 310-pound guard has visited hospitals, worked with the Boys & Girls Club and participated in Rebel Football Plays Santa. He's a member of the school's "Champs" program. He spearheaded a local campaign to boost attendance for the UNLV women's basketball team. In his third year as the football team's representative on the UNLV Student-Athlete Advisory Board, Terrell was the first Rebel chosen to travel for the NCAA Leadership Conference, which was held last summer in Orlando. His teammates voted him the 2001 Bill "Wildcat" Morris Most Inspirational Award winner. He is the first player to wear the Wiesner Jersey, which will be presented annually to the Rebel "who best exemplifies the late Tom Wiesner's enthusiasm, dedication and toughness." Terrell estimates he spends 10-15 hours a week with his volunteer work. When his schedule seems too full, he just remembers where he came from. Raised in a single-parent home, his even attending college is an accomplishment in itself, particularly considering his academic struggles in high school. "My main reason to be involved is because it's a blessing that I'm even here," he said. "A lot of people counted my out in high school because of my learning disability." Terrell will graduate in December with a degree in interdisciplinary social science and a minor in sociology. He wants to be a juvenile counselor. "Tony is one of the most caring individuals I have ever coached," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "He is a leader on this team and at this school and is a shining example of the value of college athletics." It hasn't been an easy season for UNLV, which is 4-7 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain West Conference heading into its game Saturday at Colorado State. It's easy to get down during a disappointing season. It's easy to feel sorry for yourself, or to begin thinking about the NFL. But Terrell said his off-field work keeps him motivated. A visit to a local elementary school reminds him that a few losses don't mean much to a child. "Those kids are so happy to see us," he said. "You forget about your world. They don't know if your team is good or bad. They just like you because you're a football player." Terrell can't be with his mother, who lives in Lawndale, Calif., during Thanksgiving, so he's spending the day with Robinson and his family. Terrell has given a lot to UNLV, but he thinks he's received a lot in return. "I'm just thankful that I made it this far," he said. -- Ted Miller

When he and his wife and children serve homeless folks Thanksgiving dinner this week, Kelley might recall the period he spent homeless, living in a car.

All Kelley used to care about was football and making it to the NFL and the money and glory that entails. Now he's running his own non-profit organization to help young people in South Africa.

Five years ago, Kelley was rudderless, a brash, streetwise tough-guy who liked to clown around. Today, he is a thoughtful man of purpose, an articulate and impassioned advocate for education and global social awareness.

"I've witnessed some things -- I don't actually know how I made it," he said.

Kelley, one of 11 members of the 2002 American Football Coaches Association All Good Works Team, is thankful for a lot of things, but a lot of people are thankful for him, too.

Four days after recording five tackles and a sack in the 2001 Rose Bowl, Kelley headed to South Africa as one of two winners of the Mary Gates Scholarship, the first athlete at Washington to be so honored.

Despite his dramatic academic turnaround, Kelley didn't like who he was when he left the states. He felt that football defined him, even to those closest to him. It gave him privileges and status, but that seemed hollow.

After a childhood he called "hell," he wasn't sure if his renewed relationship with his parents wasn't based mostly on his NFL potential.

"They didn't want to mess up their place in my life if I did go pro," Kelley said. "The idea of me going pro became so real to everybody that they didn't care about how I was acting."

Everything changed during his three months in Cape Town while he studied the history of comparative ideas, focusing on post-Apartheid South Africa.

"I saw people taking pride in who they were when they had basically nothing," he said. "It made me look at my life in a different way."

He spent much of his time in the township of Guguletu, where the typical home is a one-room shack fashioned out of corrugated metal with no running water or electricity. A single outhouse can serve several families.

It was there that Kelley first saw the Ipintombi dancers, girls ages 11 to 13, who learned traditional African dances in an after-school program designed primarily to keep them off the streets and out of harm's way.

"It's amazing what they are able to do at such a young age," Kelley said. "I was so inspired. When you look at the situation they came from, their dance plays a role in their life as far as keeping them off the streets. They almost built their own cocoon to separate themselves from the drugs and violence, this horrible poverty, that surrounds them."

After three months, Kelley returned to Seattle a different person. He married his girlfriend, Tonya, adopted her three children and took them back to South Africa for another three-month trip.

"People thought I was crazy, but I never second-guessed it at all," he said.

Kelley and his wife devised a plan to help these girls. They wanted to bring them back to the states.

After extending their stay in order to help the girls apply for visas and passports, the Kelleys returned to Seattle and began raising money to fund the visit. They also brought back 13-year-old Siya Manyakanyaka to live with them.

Their grassroots effort was boosted by twin donations of $5,000 from UW coach Rick Neuheisel and Bill Gates, Sr., and they raised more than $25,000.

In June, 11 members of the Ipintombi dancers and three teachers arrived in Seattle, where they performed at the Paramount Theater.

Kelley's work continues. He's setting up a web site for his non-profit organization "TNT & Family." He wants to bring more South African children to the states in order to help them with their education (those interested in contributing should contact the Kelleys at ak47sgurl@yahoo.com).

"It's exploded into all this opportunity," Kelley said.

Kelley's work earned him Washington's Carlson Leadership Award last year, and he was selected as the student speaker for an academic convocation honoring TuTu.

Yet none of those honors moved Kelley more than some recent news concerning Siya.

"We got her report card back and she got all As and Bs," Kelley said. "Her teachers are amazed at how far she's come."

Ted Miller covers college football for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.