LaGRANGE — LaGrange native and two-time Superbowl champion Tyrone Poole is coming back to his hometown and bringing his annual Father-Daughter Dance to LaGrange.

Poole, a LaGrange High School graduate and retired cornerback in the National Football League, said he created his foundation, Tyrone Poole 38 Foundation, in 2010 as an effort to support the humanitarian, educational and physical needs of students who are at risk and underprivileged.

The foundation has hosted its father-daughter dances for the past four years, but it will host its first dance in LaGrange on Oct. 17.

“The Purpose of the father-daughter dance is to bond and make stronger the relationship between daughter and father,” he said.

Poole stressed the importance of a male figure in shaping a young girl’s future relationships and said grandfathers, uncles or any man who serves as that father figure are welcomed to come to the dance.

“The reason we are what we are is probably something dealing with our past, and my purpose is to instill and paint that picture so the daughter can carry that image through the rest of her relationships as she gets older,” he said.

Poole’s relationship with his own daughter served as the inspiration behind the father-daughter dance he said.

“Before I had my daughter, I used to hear guys say that once you have a daughter it would change your mentality and myself, being a football player, before I had my daughter I was like tough, rugged, let’s go through a brick wall type of attitude,” Poole said. “But once my daughter came, I softened up.”

With the dance, Poole said he hopes to emphasize the value of family.

“The value of family is being minimized, and if we can get back the maximization of family, we can see that a lot of problems would dissipate,” he said.

This dance is also a chance for Poole to come back to his roots and give back to LaGrange, he said. Poole, who currently resides in Marietta, said retirement has allowed him the opportunity to invest more of his time and foundation in LaGrange.

“Now that I’m retired, I can spend more time trying to help and build the relationships and the community in my hometown,” he said. “We’re definitely looking to do more and more things in LaGrange and this is just the first of many things to come for the city of LaGrange.”

Poole said he designed the night to be a first-class experience complete with a red carpet, photographer, dinner and giveaways. Poole said he hopes the night will give girls a standard on how to be treated in their future relationships.

The Father-Daughter Dance will be 5:30–8 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Mike Daniel Recreation Center, 1220 Lafayette Parkway. Doors open at 5 p.m. for red carpet pictures. The cost is $25 per father-daughter couple and $5 for each additional daughter.

Poole said all the funds raised will go back towards the dance and to future projects of the Tyrone Poole 38 Foundation.