By VINCE D'ADAMO
NVP Services

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez's message to members of New Horizons group homes of Angwin was succinct -- "You have an opportunity."

In addition, the message was that despite their troubled times, somebody still cared about them.

Gonzalez, whose coach is Calistoga native Dick Vermeil, shared some of his life's experiences as well as playing a little football with the group home members Friday at Pacific Union College. The youngsters are from 20 counties throughout the North Bay and have been in the group home from six to 12 months.

Friday's event marked the third consecutive year Gonzalez has come up to Angwin. Last year, Warren Moon, who is the NFL's all-time passing yardage leader, joined Gonzalez. Fellow Chiefs teammate Tony Richardson was initially going to join him but had other obligations.

Gonzalez's cousin, Dennis Allen, is the New Horizons president.

"When I first come out here, at the beginning before we even do anything, I try to give them a message," Gonzalez said. "I try to talk about something different every year. This year it was about opportunities. I'm sure they've got great reasons why they are here. A lot of these kids come from broken homes.

"They come from neighborhoods where it's kind of hard. They are at a disadvantage from the beginning. Maybe, they have made some mistakes. I just try to let them know that you have to believe in yourself first of all and don't accept the conditions that have been given to you. Life is not fair. That's how it goes."

Gonzalez has other off-the-field interests that are somewhat similar to his Angwin experiences. Gonzalez does a lot of work for Boys & Girls Clubs.

He has also started his own foundation called "Shadow Buddies."

One method Gonzalez employed with the kids Friday was relating stories from some of his various teammates within the Chiefs locker room.

"There are sad stories," Gonzalez said. "If you go through the locker room, you'd be crying by the time you get through half the team. There's a guy on my team that has 10 brothers and sisters in a ghetto-type neighborhood. His older brother is a drug dealer and one of his other brothers died. You hear these sad stories but it's an opportunity for you to overcome and go on to be successful in life. There's no reason why they can't go out there and be successful."

One trend that continued on Friday was that Allen told Gonzalez beforehand that the kids had several questions for him.

Once Gonzalez opened the forum for questions after his speech, the kids stayed quiet before peppering him with questions.

"They've got a bunch of things they want to ask you," Gonzalez said. "Then, when they get here they kind of freeze up but as the day goes along, they start to warm up and have a good time. They realize that while I'm a professional football player, I'm just another guy and they start having a good time."

Allen said he appreciated Harvest Inn taking care of Gonzalez's accommodations during his stay.