Football Superstar Comes Home

Known for his lightning-quick reflexes and prodigious strength, Tyler Booker, the freshman All-American offensive lineman for the vaunted University of Alabama Crimson Tide, is about as close as you can get to a sure thing for NFL stardom. 

But these days the New Haven native, who was indulging in a blueberry muffin on a recent afternoon at Whalley Avenue’s Westville Diner with his father William, seems just as interested in making a difference in his hometown as leveraging would-be tacklers out of the way.

Booker was spending part of his spring break promoting his second annual one-day Tyler Booker Football Camp at Hopkins School in May. Registration opened this past Monday. It’s free for anyone from fifth to eighth grade, girls included.

“Everybody is welcome: parents, spectators, everybody,” said the soft-spoken 18-year-old amid the bustle of the diner. ​“There’s going to be great food, a deejay. We want to make this a community event.”

There was that same sense of community back in November, when Booker showed up at Pizza House on Howe Street on the team’s bye week, partnering with the Eat Up Foundation to help the state champ New Haven Steelers Cheer and Dance Team raise funds to get to the national championships in Orlando, Florida.

“This is about giving back to a group of girls that are already making our community proud and have the chance to make an even bigger impact,” he said, while enjoying pizza with the squad and their families.

William Booker, who grew up in Newhallville, recalled taking his son to the annual Walter Camp Football Foundation dinners at Woolsey Hall, a star-studded event that features both college All-Americans and legends of the gridiron.

“He’d be in line and he’d be excited to meet certain players, and by the time he got to the beginning of the line, they’d be getting up to take a break, and sometimes they wouldn’t even come back,” he said.

“That was heartbreaking for me so I said, ​‘Son, if you ever get in that position, I want you to be approachable because you can really have an impact on that kid’s life.’”

By then, Angelo Fox was coaching Tyler as a Mighty Mite in Pop Warner football. 

“The athletic ability was there, you could see right away he had that bloodline in football,” he said, referring to Tyler’s uncle, Ulish Booker, an offensive lineman who played football at Michigan State before going on to win a championship ring with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006.

“Even as a little kid, Tyler worked at football, he loved it, he had a true love for the game, and he shared that energy with his teammates, he encouraged them, he motivated them,” said Fox, who’s been coaching Pop Warner for over 25 years, or longer. He’s lost count.

“What I love about coaching kids in that age group, 9, 10, 11, is the chance you have to mentor them, to encourage them, to be inspirational to them,” he said. ​“I think Tyler is recognizing that.” 

Frank Quido, owner of Breakout Athlete in North Branford and a nationally recognized performance coach known for his techniques to improve speed and ability, recalled meeting Booker when he was nine. 

“His dad would call and say: When can we get Tyler in to train? And I would say the only time we have available is 7 a.m. on Saturday, and he would be here at 7 a.m. on Saturday,” he said. ​“That’s a different kind of commitment.”

Ernest Anderson was Booker’s offensive coordinator at St. Luke’s School in New Canaan starting in the sixth grade. 

“He was just one of our standout kids right away,” said Anderson, currently head football coach at St. Thomas More in Oakdale. ​“Twelve years old, he was the first person to practice, the last one to leave. When the best player is your leader, does everything by example, it really makes it easy.” 

The success that Booker is enjoying is no accident, Anderson said. 

“He’s always been a phenomenal student, which a lot of people don’t know. He was always taking AP classes, high honors classes,” he said of Booker, who’s deciding between a major in history and English at Alabama.

“But also it’s really how he was raised by his mom and dad, he has one of the most solid foundations you’ll ever see in a young man,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people in New Haven that Tyler grew up with who weren’t as fortunate as he was, so he knows that if they had that solid foundation, they would be able to persevere.”

That’s why, he said, ​“Tyler’s having this camp so he can show the kids who are playing for the New Haven Steelers, or really anyone, that I’m from here and I’ve made it to the highest level. He’s making them see what they can be.”

Booker said his parents instilled in him, as well as his sister Jailen, 23, and brother Mason, 11, the importance of giving back to the community from a young age. ​“Feeding the homeless, or going on walks to help fight ALS, or other kinds of causes, that was kind of ingrained in me, that when you’re able to help, you do.” 

That took a different shape during the protests and racial unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020. 

“Just being a Black male in America, I’ve always had a sense of how hard it is,” he said. ​“Seeing the lynching of George Floyd showed me where we are today, and how far we have to go.”

By then, he was at IMG Academy, a boarding school in Bradenton, Florida that draws top athletes from around the country and the world. 

“Just being around those high-level athletes, in class, the cafeteria, the training room, you have no choice but to elevate with them or you’re going to be left behind,” he said. ​“So that was kind of a positive form of peer pressure.”

Being in that environment also, it seems, had him seeing the potential of what he could be, not just on the football field.

“Football is not my purpose, it’s my platform,” he told Sports Illustrated in July 2021 when announcing he would attend the University of Alabama. 

“I have a huge responsibility because I really think about kids my little brother’s age,” he said, having polished off his muffin at the diner. ​“I think about them looking up to me and I want to make sure that I’m showing them the best vision of what they can be.”