Name	Drew Brees
Height	6' 0"
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	January 15, 1979
Place of Birth	Austin, Texas, USA
Famous for

Drew Christopher Brees was born on January 15, 1979 in Austin, Texas. (Click here for a complete listing of today's sports birthdays.) The infant had a large birthmark on his right cheek. His parents, Mina and Chip, decided not to have it removed.

Football was an integral part of the Brees family culture. Drew’s grandfather, Ray Akins, was a legendary high school coach in the Lone Star State. His mother’s brother, Marty Akins, was the starting quarterback for the University of Texas during the Earl Campbell era. Both of those jobs sounded pretty good to Drew. So while other children were playing with Hot Wheels, he was dreaming about a career as a football player and coach.

Drew excelled at every sport he tried, but he was particularly good at football, baseball and basketball. Drew enrolled at Westlake High School in 1993. As any fan of the "Friday Night Lights" franchise knows, high school football in Texas is serious business, played by kids with serious talent. A number of players in the Chaps' league went on to star in college and the NFL, including Ladainian Tomlinson. Drew would later play in the same backfield as Tomlinson during an All-Star Game.

Drew won the starting quarterback job for Westlake as a junior in 1995. He was not your prototypical Texas quarterback. Drew stood six feet tall with his helmet on and was so skinny that fans feared he would break in half if tackled too hard. But, oh, that arm. When Drew unleashed a pass, it flew straight and true and hard.

Drew had something else going for him. He was football smart. Not only did he know his opponents inside out, he could make fine adjustments during games when the inevitable unexpected arose. It was hard to fool him once, and impossible to do twice. And God help the team that tipped its defense at the line. Drew was all over that.

The fact that Drew lined up at quarterback for Westlake—and not receiver—may have come as somewhat of a surprise to his parents. They named him after Drew Pearson, the star wideout for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Drew's junior campaign was slowed by a knee injury suffered toward the end of the year. It was slow to heal and kept him from attending summer football camps. This was a setback to his future aspirations. In Texas, these camps are crucial, not just to accelerate a player’s skills, but to give college recruiters a closer look at what will be available that fall.

As a senior in 1996, Drew had one of those high school seasons they still talk about in Texas. In his second year as a starter, he led Westlake to a perfect 16–0 record and the state championship. The title game was played in Texas Stadium. Drew paced the Chaps to a 55–15 win over Cooper High and its star, Dominic Rhodes. His final numbers for the season were 3,528 passing yards and 31 touchdowns. In two years with Drew calling signals, the team went 28–0–1.

Drew believed he could continue his success and be a top college quarterback. The top programs, however, did not come calling. Only two—Kentucky and Purdue—offered him an actual scholarship. Picking between the two was easy. The Wildcats had Heisman Trophy candidate Tim Couch. So Purdue it was.

The Boilermakers had fallen on hard time in the 1980s, and their misery continued into the 1990s. In fact, they had just completed their 11th losing season (3-8 in 1996) in 12 tries. Drew would take the helm of a dispirited squad with a culture of losing—not exactly a dream job for a drop-back quarterback.

There was one other problem. Dew had no idea where Purdue was. Initially he thought it was an Ivy League school. He was delighted to find it was part of the Big Ten.

Drew arrived in West Lafayette in 1997. Head coach Joe Tiller introduced him as the school’s hot new quarterback. Fans immediately suspected they were being punked. Drew was so small, so skinny—could this really be the kid with the John Elway arm?

It was hard to tell from his freshman season. Tiller spotted Drew in seven games, but overall he played little, attempting just 43 passes. Purdue, however, had a nice rebound year with Billy Dicken at quarterback. The Boilermakers went 9–3, including a win over Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.

Not that the year went to waste for Drew. Unlike some football-crazed universities, education comes first at Purdue. The campus teams with engineering students, and the libraries are often as crowded as the dining halls. This atmosphere suited Drew just fine. His idea of a wild night was barricading himself in the film room and memorizing every wrinkle of an opponent’s defensive playbook. He was no slouch in the classroom, either.