Many would say that former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Reno Mahe lived his finest moments when he played in a football game just five days after having undergone emergency appendectomy surgery.
That night, Nov. 17, 2001, Mahe caught five passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, helping Brigham Young University beat their nemeses University of Utah for the Mountain WestConference championship.
By the end of the game, his stitches came undone, blood stained his jersey, and his gutsy performance grew into a colorful chapter of BYU’s sports lore.
Loyola mass communication freshman and Grace King High School graduate Kevin Zansler, however, says Mahe’s finest moments came in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, when Mahe let the Zanslers ride out the flood’s aftermath at his off-season home without ever having met them.
The storm displaced Zansler, his mother and his sister to his aunt and uncle’s house, about an hour north of Houston. There, he came to terms with the uncertain reality facing him: going to a new school where he knew no one, coming home every evening to a crowded house that was not home.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Mahe couldn’t believe the cable news coverage he saw of the storm’s chaos, especially at the Superdome, where he played his first NFL game.
“I’ll never forget that stadium because when I was in the tunnel before the game, (coach) Andy Reid leaned over and asked me if I was scared,” Mahe said.
He wanted to help, but he had no obvious opportunity.
One night after practice, his wife Sunny sat him down and said distant relatives of theirs were housing Katrina refugees. Giving the refugees a place to kick up their feet and figure out their next move would benefit both families.
“It was my opportunity to help, and I was glad to have it,” Mahe said. In Texas, Zansler processed the information: his cousin Eddie’s wife’s uncle’s friend, who was married to a pro football player, was okay with them living in her spacious house. They could stay there until Grace King re-opened a month later.
When Zansler stumbled across the hot tub, his good fortune hit him: while his good friend slept in the back seat of his car in a crowded parking lot, Zansler could soak in a former NFC champion’s jacuzzi.
“I’ve seen him on T.V. I’ve seen him play. But he doesn’t know who I am, and he did so much for me,” Zansler said. “Without question, he said, ‘Come live under my roof.'”
Mahe said he just applied a principle he learned at a Mormon seminary. “None of my possessions can be truly mine until I give them away freely. When my dad fixed people’s cars, he paid for the parts for them. He lost money doing it. That’s what I believe in. I was just glad to share (the home).”
