Now, he is supporting his head coach by kick-starting the Joe Tiller Scholarship Endowment through the Tiller Chapter of the National Football Foundation.
Brees is providing pregame sideline passes and game tickets when the New Orleans Saints play at the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 11. Round-trip transportation from West Lafayette, food and snacks also will be provided.
The NFF chapter is making this unique opportunity available via an auction, with the starting point for the bidding at $1,000 per pregame sideline pass/game ticket. Bids should be submitted online by midnight Oct. 28, at which time Brees will help determine the number of winning bids. Updates regarding the top bids will be posted on the Tiller Chapter website.
In May, Brees purchased an authentic John Wooden Purdue basketball jersey in an auction - at a price of $264,000 - that he has loaned to Purdue. Brees and his wife, Brittany, have contributed more than $3 million to Purdue since 2007.
Fourteen years ago, Tiller, Purdue's head football coach at the time, presented a challenge of forming one of the largest chapters in the National Football Foundation here in Northwest Indiana. Since receiving its charter in Tippecanoe County, the Northwest Indiana Chapter (which was renamed in 2007 the Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana) has enlisted more than 700 members, becoming the largest chapter in the state and the second-largest in the nation at one point.
As a group of football-loving enthusiasts with the purpose of advancing amateur football at the local, state and national levels, the Joe Tiller Chapter of the NFF provides grassroots support in a many ways.
As a non-profit organization, this chapter has awarded more than $291,000 in grants, scholarships, honorariums and donations since receiving its charter in 2004. A total of 358 individuals have been recognized for their accomplishments, including 256 scholar-athletes who have been awarded a total of more than $226,000 in scholarships and honorariums for college.