• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Feb 9, 2010 - Page: 1A

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PORT ALLEN — Before the confetti rained down on Saints fans after Sunday night’s Super Bowl victory, tears were flowing in the stands at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium.

The tears were for Port Allen native and Saints cornerback Tracy Porter, the young man raised in the Village Street Apartments. He came back to those apartments in December wearing a Santa hat to hand out dozens of bikes he’d bought for the neighborhood kids.

The tears were coming from his mom, Virginia Porter, family members said.

Virginia Porter saw her youngest son intercept Peyton Manning’s pass with a little more than three minutes to go in the game, but she didn’t see what happened next.

“She saw the interception and then she just kind of fell into my arms crying,” said Earnest Porter, Tracy Porter’s older brother. “I had to hold her up. She didn’t know that Tracy scored until they showed the replay. She was crying, Tracy’s girlfriend was crying, it was just a good sight to see.”

Porter’s interception and 74-yard return for a touchdown sealed the 31-17 win. At the time, the Indianapolis Colts were driving late in the game with a chance to tie the score at 24.

Sunday’s big play follows the interception Porter made two weeks ago against the Minnesota Vikings, when the second-year player intercepted a Brett Favre pass to keep the Vikings out of Super Bowl XLIV.

Driving back to Louisiana from Miami on Monday, Earnest Porter spoke with a voice still scratchy from a long night of celebrating.

The nervousness Earnest Porter said he had while watching his younger brother play on the biggest of stages had subsided and morphed into the pride an older brother feels for a younger brother’s success.

“I’m just glad I got to see it in person,” Earnest Porter said. “Tracy’s just an all-around good guy. After the game, I just told him how proud we all are.”

Before the game, Tracy Porter’s longtime YMCA coach and mentor, Grover Harrison III, sent the young player a text message.

The message was for Porter to forget that he was about to play in the biggest game of his life.

“I just told him don’t think of it as the Super Bowl. Think of it as your payday. The day when all of your hard work pays off,” Harrison said.