In a community that has most recently bled purple-and-gold, green and black were the honorary colors of the day. Those are the team colors of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Canadian Football League team whose roster includes New Iberia’s own Kerry Joseph.

Saturday was proclaimed by both the city and the parish as “Kerry Joseph Day” in honor of this local athlete’s recent accomplishments within the league. Joseph was named as the 2007 CFL Most Valuable Player and shared with his teammates the honor of the winning the 95th CFL Grey Cup, the leagues version of the NFL’s Super Bowl.

The day’s events included a parade that began at Lloyd G. Porter Memorial Stadium, a fitting location because Joseph spent so many Friday nights during his high school football career there leading the Yellow Jackets. The parade ended at Boulingy Plaza, where Mayor Hilda Daigre Curry gave Joseph the keys to the city.

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People lined up and down the parade route to show support for this hometown hero and all that he has achieved last season.

Sandra Ledet of New Iberia, a reading coach at North Street Elementary said she felt Joseph “is living his dreams,” and that he is living proof that “if you don’t give up on your dreams they can come true.” This was a sentiment repeated over and over again throughout the crowd Saturday.

Margarie Small of New Iberia, a retired principal of Hopkins Street Elementary, said, “We need to honor our boys and Joseph is proof that you can’t hold good people down.”

One of Joseph’s elementary school teachers from Park Elementary School, Rita Johnson, remembered Joseph has “been sweet all of his life,” and also said when she met him as a young boy she knew he would be something special because of his “tremendous commitment to his family, the community and the church.”

Barbara Little of Jeanerette, a retired teacher who taught third grade at St. Charles Elementary School, is Joseph’s mother’s first cousin.

“Joseph is a much needed positive role model,” she said. “He has always been self -motivated and that is a good thing for young children in this community to see.”

The Teche Area’s young people were well-represented during the day’s activities.

Seth Stansbury, a junior at Westgate High School and a middle linebacker for the school’s football team that came one win away from playing in the state championship last season, said, “It’s nice to see someone from a small town like this make it big. This is every high school athlete’s dream, as well as mine. It gives me a little more hope that something like this could actually happen to me one day.”

The presentation at Boulingy Plaza included many friends, family members and even a former coach sharing their memories of Joseph as a young man in the community as well as expressing their pride in his recent accomplishments.

Laurel Moore Leblanc, a retired teacher at New Iberia Middle School, and Joseph’s eighth grade teacher said she always knew he was destined for greatness. “I knew he must have parents at home that loved and supported him,” LeBlanc said. “Thank you for making your family, your city and yourself proud.”

Butsy Walet was a defensive coach at NISH during Joseph’s days there. Walet said Joseph made his job easy and that he was so good that he made the coaching staff look good. Walet also said that he showed a tremendous amount of dedication at a young age and went on to say, “If you think he is a good athlete, he is a much better human being.”

The ceremony concluded with words from Joseph. He thanked his family and friends and the community for all of their continued support. He said that he was very humbled when he won the MVP trophy for league, which he brought with him to share with the crowd.

“It wasn’t all about me,” Joseph said. “It was about everybody, my family and this community. I represent a lot of people when I’m out there on the field. Over 34 years you have all helped me become what I am today.”

Joseph, who starred at McNeese State University and played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals before going to the CFL, has an important message to share with the young people and that is the importance of having dreams and goals and that with hard work and determination dreams and goals are attainable.

“You are all my family,” Joseph said. “The city of New Iberia is my family, and if I am a champion, the city of New Iberia is a champion.”