 I have a circle on my calendar in my room on the bulletin board that this is when spring ball starts. And so I knew what time practice started and school would end and I'd get on my bike and ride over to from old part middle school to the Grunge High School and I'd be the only kid this little skinny peanut head kid sitting in the bleachers and I knew who all the players were. I knew where the position battles were and who needed to be replaced and I'd have my little pad and I'd be writing stuff down and take my own notes on players and I didn't know what I was doing but I just know I like the game and I like watching it and I was just a junkie. As a general manager, as a scout, my favorite thing to do is go in my office and close the door and put my headphones on and just watch tape. I can do it for 12, 14, 16 hours like it's nothing. I just escape and just watch film and evaluate players and it takes me right back to when I was 11 years old, little skinny kid in the bleachers watching those players by myself. My love and my passion for football, I think it comes directly from my father. He was a really good running back in high school and when I hear stories about him they talk about he wasn't the most talented guy, he wasn't the biggest or fastest or strongest but he just had this crazy work ethic. Terry wanted to do everything that he could for them to bond and for them to hang out and so when his dad would get weight in his garage, Terry would go outside and lift weights with his dad so they could spend some time together. I remember him showing me how to throw football. I remember a lot of nights in the backyard lifting weights with him because I wanted to be the best player I could be. So he just grew into him that this is what I want to do. I told myself at a young age that I was going to get a full paid scholarship. I told my parents to showing up to the grunge at 14 years old. Again, I was a late bloomer so I was still this little skinny kid and probably barely made the freshman team and coach called out a couple guys and said okay we want you to practice with Varsity. Obviously my name didn't get called but I just stayed back. The first Varsity game was against Jennings in Jennings, Louisiana, the Jennings Bulldogs and so we're about to go play that game and so we're all together in the auditorium and we're about to load the buses but coach has to do roll call to make sure everybody has a seat on the bus and so he does roll call, he calls everyone and then he said raise your hand if I didn't call your name. Obviously he didn't call my name because I just snuck in. I wasn't supposed to be on Varsity so I raised my hand. I said coach you didn't you didn't say my name. He said who are you and I said I'm Terry Fanno and so he let me get on the bus and I got to travel with Varsity and I kept practicing with Varsity even though I wasn't good enough to do it. There were a lot of lonely moments. I always tell my kids that hey leadership can be lonely sometimes and that's okay sometimes you're gonna be by yourself and I think of a lot of moments from my freshman year to my senior year when I'm by myself in the weight room, by myself on the field, by myself in the film room a lot of lonely moments but then my senior year whenever we had the signing day and I was the only person that from that football team that signed a scholarship that meant a lot to me. I didn't just want to play football and get the benefits of football. I really wanted to be challenged academically and really be a student athlete and get everything from it and Tulane afforded me the opportunity to do that. My senior year it was probably the it was really tough. My fourth game of the season we're playing East Carolina and I'm making a tackle got rolled up on and I broke my leg and I see my senior year going well in my mind. I want to have a great year be productive and who knows what happens after that playing a bowl game and just have a great experience my senior year and to break my leg at that time it was hard. I don't really think that we talked much about what his plan was because whatever it was just kind of ended you know that was it. And to have that abrupt ending in the game that I love so much and I've been playing really all my life and it was hard for it to end like that. Heather Ryan was she worked in academic services and she grabbed me and said hey Terry there could be an opportunity. She said because you didn't get another year you're not going to be playing there's an internship with the New Orleans Saints so let's get your resume together and apply for it. Now I got a phone call and I answered it was Janella Newsom who was the assistant director of community affairs for the Saints and she said Mr. Fontenot we got your resume and we'd like to interview to be an intern in marketing and community affairs and I said okay well can you tell me a little bit about the job description and so I said Miss Newsom I appreciate the call but I'm going to respectfully decline have a good day and I hung up and I get my keys and I'm about to go to work and so I walk out the door and I open the door and the phone rings again so I go back and answer the phone and Janella said Terry do you realize what people do to get their foot in the door in the National Football League? This is a big deal I really think you should consider interviewing. I did that I went and interviewed it worked out I got the job and a few years ago Janella she doesn't work for the Saints anymore but she just happened to be at the facility and and she said you remember when I called you back I think you did the right thing by accepting that call. You're at this very low point because you've played football your whole life and now it's done like what's next and this opportunity came so I mean we always think of it as like it's this blessing that just kind of happened. I had a plan for myself I knew what my plan wasn't what I wanted to do but obviously God had other plans and so for that to happen for me to break my leg and for things to work out for me to get that opportunity with the Saints it was meant to be. I bought a disposable camera and I said take a picture of him for my first day of work and I took a picture and man and I look back at that picture sometimes and look at that the kid and I'm like he has no clue. He was working in marketing and they were doing these caravans where I think they're head coach in GM and a few players they drive around to these little cities and do these appearances at the mall and he was setting up the merchandise table and I mean he knew that's really not what he wanted to do but he struck up a relationship with their GM Mickey Loomis and their relationship just formed over those caravans. I would do my job and then after I was done with my responsibilities in marketing and community affairs and I would just go ask question but they just took the time to this eager hungry marketing intern to just spend some time with me and just help me out a little bit and that meant a lot. I mean the person that Terry is he's he really was able to form relationships and absorb as much as he could from everybody that was around him just to kind of find out how the building ran how different parts of the NFL worked that that he had no idea. In every promotion that I got within the Saints organization I called Tanya and tell her about it and I'm excited this happened and then I'd hang up and she might not see me that night because I might stay at work all night because I want to make sure I do the very best that I can. So my head was always down and you don't think about a lot of celebrating or a lot of taking time to really appreciate it because you're just worried about doing the very best you can with that next opportunity. If your names mentioned as a possible general manager that means a lot because there's only 32. All he wanted to do was work and make the team better and do what he could do to make the Saints better. I mean there would be reports and rumors and talks and stuff but I mean it was never really a conversation that we had. The team I was on had won a lot of football games and we're doing well and we're winning championships and that's what that's what matters and so I felt like I never felt that it was something specifically about me. It was about the organization I was a part of and what I meant to the organization. It means a lot to you and you just put your head down and keep working. During the time of his interviews what is a crazy story is that our house flooded in New Orleans so we had to move out of our house all six of us so the Saints played the Christmas day game then two days later he calls me and says he tested positive for COVID. I had a quarantine so I was quarantining in an apartment for I guess a two week period and that was exactly the time where my interview started. Good morning Terry how are you sir? Good morning Mr. Blank how's everybody doing? We're doing great it's so good to see you and thank you for spending time with us today. For you guys to spend some time with me and give me an opportunity to talk to you guys I'm really excited about this opportunity. Thank you Terry I appreciate that. Once I really did a lot of digging into the organization and and into Atlanta that this was the job I wanted. And new today the Atlanta Falcons announce its new general manager here he is right here 40 year old Terry Fontenot comes to Atlanta after spending 16 seasons with the vision rival New Orleans. Deciding to come to our rival you know without that's kind of tough so we sat down we prayed about it a lot we had a lot of conversations with the kids you know in our hearts we knew this is where it was. 18 years ago Mickey Loomis pulled in a 20 year old kid. In my press conference I got emotional but what really happened in that moment is I had never I had never took time to appreciate it. And he really gave me the opportunity of a lifetime in not just my professional growth but my personal growth he's done so much for my family and not just Mickey the entire Saints organization starting with the late Mr. Benson. I really did feel like when I went from being an intern to being a pro scout to being the director of pro scouting to being a vice president and assistant GM you never really appreciate the moments you just keep your head down and you worry about the next thing and what you need to do to be successful in that next area. So I had never really appreciated it and so just in that moment though in the press conference my wife Tanya and the girls are right next to me and they get all their falcons gear on they're on the couch on the side of me I can see them to the right and then right in front of me is my son Caden and he's got all the falcons gear on and he's looking up at me and I can see that proud look he's really proud of his dad in that moment and so I see this and then you really think about the little peanut hay kid that snuck on the varsity team and then got a scholarship to Tulane you think about all those moments and all those people throughout your path that helped you so much throughout that and it kind of when you say things out loud it's not just Mickey but so many people that helped me I kind of got a little emotional thinking about that. I remember my first conversation with author Smith and when we talked about the type of team we wanted to build and the type of what we wanted to bring to this organization and we were speaking the same language we talked about smart tough highly competitive players that that are great teammates and and we want to bring in great character players. It's nice because it's not just he hasn't just had one job he only knows one way you know he's got an understanding he's been in a different part of the building he worked his way up I knew he was the guy that I you know I look at it was a guy you want to want to be a teammate with and that's certainly the case with Terry. And he's such a good person and and having that partnership with him and we went through some challenges and went through those challenges together. He's the right guy I like that both of us think we don't have these frail egos we'll listen and we don't understand we're paid to make decisions and we're going to make it in the best interest of the Falcons and as long as you've got that as your as your objective and your focus we can do some special things. So going through that draft process a lot of people work really hard to get to those moments and it's a very inclusive process but being able to pull those cards off and make those phone calls and just hear that raw emotion of those players it was it was a priceless experience and one that I'll never forget. Hello. Outfits. This is Terry in Atlanta how you doing man? I'm good how you doing? Want to be a Southman? Yes sir. All right man we're gonna try to party right here. Appreciate the opportunity. I'm ready. We've the fourth pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The Atlanta Falcons select Kyle Pitts. Titan Florida. And I'll always remember what this team did this year and because I believe we're setting a foundation and so this year is always going to be meaningful and I have faith in this and in this opportunity and what we're going to do here and we're going we're going to outwork everyone and so I'm excited and when I think back to this year I think about the challenges and what they're going to mean for us moving forward.