MIAMI, Fla. — Miracles do happen, and it doesn’t take a pilgrimage to Lourdes to determine that two mighty ones have touched and transformed the Saints and a beleaguered city in the last 4 ½ years.
Miracle No. 1: The Louisiana Superdome, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and was the scene of so much suffering as a shelter of last resort, was restored to pristine condition in 12 months, using a fast-track design-and-rebuild strategy.
Miracle No. 2: The Saints — who have rolled snake-eyes so often in their four decades of abysmal trades, bad hires, hideous drafts and rotten luck — hit the daily double, bringing in head coach Sean Payton and free agent quarterback Drew Brees within months of each other in early 2006. Earlier this week, as the players and coaches arrived for Super Bowl XLIV media day, they saw “SAINTS” being spray-painted in the end zone at Sun Life Stadium.
Which was the greater miracle?
To Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the private management company for the Superdome, it’s like trying to choose between bestowing sight to the blind or eradicating terminal cancer. Flip a coin.
“The return to the dome was more of a celebration of solidarity and a celebration of our survival and comeback,” Thornton said. “The Saints making it to the Super Bowl is about the people of New Orleans having something to believe in that’s very positive and celebrating a winner after so many years of suffering. It’s about the city of New Orleans regaining respect on the national scene.”
In the chaotic, slow-motion days following Katrina, the Superdome was surrounded by flooded streets and hounded by the loss of water pressure, knocking out toilets for the evacuees. The battered stadium became an island of human agony, an icon of hidden American poverty suddenly exposed to the world’s eyes.
But in the end, the Superdome — which never was intended to serve as a hurricane shelter — made its most important contribution to the city by undoubtedly saving thousands of lives.
“We were cast into a role where we basically had to operate this building as a shelter under the worst and most trying conditions,” Thornton said. “I’m proud to say some of the decisions we made along with the National Guard did save lives. There were so many moments where it could have gone the other way.
“It was like living a Steven Spielberg movie. At the time, you learn a lot about yourself and your leadership and character. There’s a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction to know we contributed, as many people in New Orleans did, to the well-being of others.”
At the height of the impromptu sheltering operation, 30,000 people who either decided too late to flee the storm or simply did not have the resources to get out of town made the Superdome their refuge of last resort.
Five days after the storm hit, a National Guard chaplain, Father Walter Austin, helped ferry the restless evacuees from the dome into the nearby New Orleans Centre mall, where they inched their way a half-mile to waiting buses on high-and-dry Loyola Avenue.
As the priest walked on the fringe of the crowd, a man approached him and told him his sister had just had a miscarriage while walking among the massive throng.
“Let me go over and see her,” the chaplain told the man.
“Oh no, Father, she doesn’t want to get out of line because she might miss the bus,” the man replied.
“That tells you everything you need to know about the survival instinct,” Father Austin said. “That woman was in survival mode.”
The evacuees left behind a Superdome that was badly damaged. Winds had ripped huge holes in the 9.6-acre roof and let in 3.5 million gallons of rainwater that destroyed virtually everything inside and triggered massive mold incubation.
“In the first three or four weeks after the storm, we didn’t know whether the Superdome could be saved,” Thornton admitted.
Twelve months later, the improbable happened in a fast-paced and ongoing $219 million reconstruction project. Renovations coming this offseason include replacing the dome’s exterior skin to a glittering golden hue, building new suites, reconfiguring the lower bowl seating to add 3,100 new sideline seats and widening concourses.
The Superdome will be the site of the 2013 Super Bowl — tying New Orleans with Miami for hosting the most Super Bowls (10) — as well as the 2012 BCS National Championship and the 2012 Final Four.
“This city is ready to explode, and the Saints are the rocket that’s going to launch it,” Thornton said. “I predict that when the Saints win — and I said when, not if — this will be the launching pad that this city needs to put it back in the national spotlight and be a real milestone moment in the history of New Orleans. We will be celebrating a Saints’ victory and we will be celebrating the recovery of a great American city.”
What makes the revival even more special for Thornton, a lifelong New Orleanian, is that Payton and Brees, two out-of-towners, have led the charge.
“They’ve been here only four years, and believe me, they get it,” Thornton said. “They know what it means to be a New Orleans Saint. There is a sense of solidarity with the people, and they wear that as a badge of honor. They’ve been here for all of us.”