Normally a Bradie James sack is mean and vicious, but on this day it brought joy to some underprivileged children. Be sure to join us tonight at nine to see how The Cowboys Defensive Captain made Christmas a lot merrier for those less fortunate.

Bradie James is famous on the field for delivering big hits. He's coming off a career season where he led the Cowboys in tackles, plus he led all NFL middle linebackers in sacks...

But its the hits he's taken off the field that's shaped his life...

"Well I actually lost my dad first," Bradie says. "My dad had a liver disease and then three months later, my mom passed."

Bradie lost his mother Etta to breast cancer during his freshman year of college.

"It just motivated me to become who I am today. Thats a part of life. Things happen, but its those who overcome that pretty much go on and be successful. I had a couple of choices. I could either cry about it, be sad, be depressed about it; which I was for a little bit; but I decided to be something for my family that I didn't have yet but just move forward with my life and thats what I did," says Bradie.

When Bradie made it to the Pros he decided to pay tribute to his mother by establishing Foundation 56.

Bradie says, "It's about not giving back but living your purpose and that's pretty much my mission. I don't care about making any banners about what I'm doing as long as I make an impact on someone's life; that's what we all should strive to do."


And the way Bradie's making a difference is through the foundation that bares his number.

"Going out there giving people pamphlets; getting a mammogram; making sure that they have rides once they've been diagnosed with cancer... I wanted to make an immediate impact; and thats what Foundation 56 does. We go out there on the street, and we try to help those people and not fall in between the cracks and that's what we've been able to do."

Thursday, The Cowboys had their first practice in pads with neither the offense or defense claiming the spotlight... But Friday their was no doubt who gained bragging rights.

Bum Phillips, who attended today's practice, had to be proud of his son Wade, because the head coach/ defensive coordinator had his defense ready. The Dallas "D" came up with 3 big interceptions today... So while the defense is off to an early start, they know it's just a matter of time before their offense catches up.

Cowboys Linebacker, Bradie James said "The Defense had a good day. We know in the morning, the offense will bounce back so when you're on that roller coaster, you got to be ready for that dip because the offense will be ready, tomorrow morning."

Tight End Jason Witten said, "We didn't have as a good of a day as we did yesterday. The Defense probably got a little more today but that's what competition is all about."

The Cowboys will have another two-a-day session Saturday beginning at 8:50 AM.

When the 12 Cowboys draft picks arrived at Valley Ranch for their first workout of rookie camp, they felt a little overwhelmed to be in the big show, but they were only competing against fellow rookies.

Then the veterans arrived for the OTA's and Mini Camp and their taste of the NFL got a little saltier.  Now that they've put on the pads for the first two-a-day workout of training camp, Bradie James had to chuckle a bit about what those rooks are going through.

"Oh some of the rookies, they're learning." James said.   "It's not a game that you play in shorts and jerseys.  This was the first day with pads, the guys were getting a little roughed up, but I think the rookies look decent. You have to be consistent.  You can't celebrate one play and have a down play; you can't take a play off, you have to be right every play."

Just a few of the lessons Bradie is trying to teach some of the youngsters who have five more
practices before the new week arrives.  DeMarcus Ware still vividly remembers his rookie season in 2005 coming to the Cowboys from Troy State.  He's now doing his best to mentor another player from a small school, Jason Williams from Western Illinois.

"The thing is right now he's listening, he's listening and he's learning as much as he can" Ware said about the first player the Cowboys drafted this year with the 69th overall pick. "  He's an athlete just in general and he had a great first day today in half pads on.  A lot of the guys who are rookies, they were learning and just moving forward."

You're looking for leaders on the Cowboys?  Looks like you just found two of them in James and Ware.

Much more from Day 2 of Cowboys Training Camp coverage including Desmond Purnell's report on Tony Romo's first chat with the media...tonight on The 33 News at 9:00pm