Former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford returns to Detroit to celebrate new rec center

Former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly Stafford, were back in Detroit on Monday to cut the ribbon on a new, $4 million addition to a recreation center on the city's east side run by author and philanthropist Mitch Albom's nonprofit, SAY Detroit.

Albom said the Staffords agreed to contribute about half the costs of getting construction off the ground, even as they were on their way to Los Angeles. The No. 1 pick in the 2009 NFL draft, Stafford had been traded to the LA Rams after 12 seasons in Detroit. The Staffords contributed more than that $1 million in all.

Albom, a Free Press columnist, said he was "stunned" that the couple would put money "into a city they are leaving."

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The Staffords also financed the $1 million NFL-class football field at the SAY Detroit Play Center at Lipke Park. Construction of the annex, named the Kelly and Matthew Stafford and Friends Education Center, was completed recently and Monday's ribbon-cutting was nearly two years since the groundbreaking.

While eating breakfast at a nearby restaurant Monday, a diner asked the Staffords whether they still had a house in Detroit.

"I guess this is the house we have here," Stafford recounted for the crowd attending the ceremony. "This is what brings me back."

Kelly Stafford said she and her husband were "kids when we came here" and that Michigan "gave us so much" and "raised us to be the people we are."

SAY Detroit took over the former Lipke Recreation Center from the city of Detroit in 2014. It had been shuttered and derelict, the HVAC system ripped from the roof, and the pool full of mold. SAY began operations the following year. The center now has buses that collect Detroit children at their schools and bring them to the center for tutoring, mentoring, various other activities, and of course, sports. The students also get a ride home on the center's buses. The Stafford annex will allow the center to serve as many as 200 children a day, up from about 150 a day, and expand its programming to include seniors and adults.

The ribbon-cutting at the 15,000-square-foot annex was a festive affair, with Mayor Mike Duggan among the speakers at the center on Detroit's northeast side, and Stafford signing autographs. Popcorn and scoops from the Detroit Water Ice Factory, another Albom venture, were served.

Duggan said Detroit never left Matthew and Kelly Stafford's hearts when they left for Los Angeles and their contributions to the center have helped the entire neighborhood.

Jeremiyah Jackson called himself a product of the center. He was there when it opened, living in poverty around the corner with his mother. The center, he said, "is where my life started" at age 7." He's now 16 and attends Cass Tech.

Allison Woodard has been coming to the center since sixth grade. She's now a senior at Cass Tech, and wants to attend Wayne State and become a psychiatrist. While Monday was April Fools' Day, she said, "It's no joke how special today is."

Contact Jennifer Dixon: jbdixon@freepress.com