‘We Needed to Turn It Around’ — Tom Brady Reveals the Secret Ingredient to His Patriots Success originally appeared on Parade.
Tom Brady knows there’s much more to life than being a household name.
While addressing a room of reporters — as well as his parents, Tom Brady Sr. and Galynn Brady — at the opening of the Hall of Excellence at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, the former pro quarterback gave a moving speech about his success and turning around the New England Patriots’ losing franchise when he was drafted.
“I showed up with a great attitude, and I showed up with the same endearing attitude that I had with my [University of] Michigan teammates that made me team captain,” Brady says, adding that things were “very different” when he got to pro sports. “It’s very individual-focused. It’s always about ‘me and my contract, me and my celebrity, me and my fame.’”
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The 47-year-old was drafted 199th overall in the sixth round by the Patriots in 2000. Brady went on to play 20 seasons with the team, including winning six Super Bowls. In 2020, he became a Tampa Bay Buccaneer and played with the team for three seasons, leading them to a Super Bowl victory in 2021 before retiring for good in 2023.
Despite being picked towards the end of his draft class or starting as a backup throughout his high school and collegiate career, Brady kept things positive and focused on showing up as his best self.
“What can I get from this moment?” the father of three says he asked himself when he initially got to New England. “I brought a different attitude, and I put the team first. And, Coach [Bill] Belichick saw that in me, and he was trying to change the culture of what that team was because the Patriots lost a lot. They weren’t a good program, and we needed to turn it around.”
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He continues, “I worked my tail off for the entire first year. I’d show up on Friday mornings when the entire team was practicing at 1 o’clock. I showed up at 6 a.m. to do workouts with the strength coach in the indoor facility every Friday where I could workout because I wasn’t good enough physically to compete at a professional level with the other guys. They were bigger, they were stronger, they were faster.
“You guys saw my freaking draft photo that’s still out there,” Brady adds with a smile and a chuckle. “It was pre digital era. I didn’t realize that I would still be living that thing down, 23 years later, every time I see it come up on the freaking screen, but it’s a great reminder to me that it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. And what I wanted to work toward that day was [do things] just like I did at Michigan. I wanted to bring that great attitude, and I wanted to earn it. I wanted to earn the respect of my coaches through my work ethic and through my commitment to the team and the commitment to what we were trying to accomplish together.”
Now, fans of Brady’s will get to see some of his memorabilia on display at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.
Created in partnership with Brady and his family, along with sportscaster Jim Gray and his wife Fran-Vettor Gray, the exhibit — which opens to the public on June 20 — will show off Brady’s seven Super Bowl rings along with other never-before-seen items from other greats in sports and entertainment like Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth and even Oprah Winfrey.
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“[There have] been a lot of times where we conceived this amazing idea, and we had these great artifacts that a lot of times will sit in people’s closets for nobody to see, and we all collect them and keep them, and they’re meaningful to us, but the reality is, they should be on display,” Brady says.
“They’re for people to come and see and to witness and to look at and say, ‘Man, maybe one day that will be me.’ And I think, to have those artifacts now displayed in such a beautiful venue, this amazing resort that’s filled with so many unique visitors every year, it’s going to be… There’s no greater destination in the world for this Smithsonian of sports artifacts. In fact, I don’t think Smithsonian can handle what we put together.”
Tickets for the Hall of Excellence are between $20-$35 and are available to purchase now.
‘We Needed to Turn It Around’ — Tom Brady Reveals the Secret Ingredient to His Patriots Success first appeared on Parade on Jun 18, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
