Hometown knew Jets QB Tebow was bound to be great

Jacksonville, Fla. — Tebowmania might feel like a recent craze everywhere else, but not here.

Not where it was invented.

This sprawling city on the edge of the Atlantic — at 875 square miles, it’s the largest in the contiguous United States — has been in the thrall of arguably its most famous son for almost a decade now, practically since the first time Tim Tebow threw a pass in Nease High School’s 2002 spring game.

Tebow went on to win the Heisman Trophy, two national titles at the nearby University of Florida then the imagination of the entire country during his magical ride with the Broncos last season, but that incredible run hardly surprises those in Jacksonville who knew him “back when.”

ZUMAPRESS.com

STAR IS BORN: The phenomenon known as Tebow-mania began in northeast Florida, where new Jets backup Tim Tebow sprinted to local fame (above) as the quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, and athletic director Ted Barbato fondly recalls the state title won by No. 5 and teammates (below) in 2005.

Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

3/23/12 - 3/23/12 - Photo of Tim Tebow (left) from the 2005 Championship season at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

“Nothing Tim does surprises me,” former high school teammate Ryan Lewis said this week. “It’s very hard to be on the same team as him or even be around him and not buy into the whole Tim Tebow phenomenon. It’s more powerful than you know.”

So the local disappointment was palpable this week when Peyton Manning’s arrival in Denver suddenly made Tebow available, but the sport’s most popular figure and most polarizing player wound up with the Jets instead of a homegrown Jacksonville Jaguars player.

While exactly how that happened remains in dispute (Tebow claimed he wasn’t given a choice as to his trade destination; Broncos VP John Elway strongly disagrees), the fact the homecoming so many here had dreamed of and pleaded for wasn’t happening cast a pall.

Tebow was born in the Philippines to missionary parents, but he grew up in Jacksonville, still lives here, still belongs to the powerful First Baptist Church here, and always will be associated with this unlikeliest of locations for an NFL franchise even if he never plays for it.

For many in this former paper-mill town not far from the Georgia border, that’s hard to swallow.

“They’re crestfallen,” said Frank Frangie, a longtime Jacksonville radio talk-show host. “People here see him on the ‘People’s Choice Awards,’ see that he turned down ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ see that he was in People magazine.

“He’s become a national brand, and people who aren’t necessarily diehard football fans know who he is and would have started coming to the games if he was traded to the Jaguars. So from that standpoint, there’s a real disappointment on the part of a lot of people.”

It isn’t just Tebow’s heightened celebrity since leading the Broncos to the playoffs in often uncanny fashion last season that has Jacksonville so bummed he’s bound for Broadway instead of home.

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Tim Tebow, Nease High School, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, University of Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach, Broncos, contiguous United States, Nothing Tim

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