Katie Meade of Des Moines first met Tom Brady in 2003 during a fundraising event for the Best Buddies program. Meade, who has Down syndrome, was paired up with Brady during a challenge and the two became quick friends. File video
Editor's note: This story originally ran in the Feb. 3, 2017, Des Moines Register, before Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The Patriots came back from 25 points down to win 34-28.
Super Bowl Sunday will be a tough day for Buddy, the Shih Tzu Bichon dog owned by Katie Meade of Des Moines.
Meade will be cheering for the New England Patriots, particularly her longtime friend, Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady.
Whenever Brady makes a big play or throws a touchdown pass, Meade tends to holler at the TV, prompting Buddy to run into the room and nervously bark at the TV screen.
"I never miss one of Tom's games," Meade said recently over drinks at Java Joe's.
Meade is the other model in Tom Brady's life. The first, of course, is his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
Meade, however, is a model in her own right. She is the face of Fearless Hair Rescue Treatment — merchandise this bald paragraph-stacker won't pretend to understand.
She has been widely cited by national publications as the first spokesmodel with Down syndrome to promote a national beauty product.
It's the latest in a series of achievements for the 33-year-old Hoover High School alumna who works as an office generalist at the Polk County Treasurer's Office.
When she was in high school, Meade joined Best Buddies, which matches people with friends and jobs, regardless of their abilities.
"Everybody deserves a friend and a job," she said.
Meade became deeply involved in Best Buddies and eventually became a global ambassador for the nonprofit organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, the son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics.
She met Brady in 2003 at the Best Buddies Challenge: Hyannis Port, an annual bicycling, running and walking event to raise money for the group.
Meade was paired with Brady during the bike ride. Brady had won the first of his four Super Bowls for New England the year before. In Boston, he was already a sporting legend and was becoming a national superstar.
But to Meade, Brady was just her buddy.
"He's a really nice guy," Meade said. "He's also very tall."
Most everyone is tall compared with Meade, who stands just 4-foot-7, but Brady has a big heart, too.
In October, Meade was out working on a fundraiser for Best Buddies and got hit by a car. The impact flipped her onto the hood of the vehicle.
She broke two bones in her lower leg and missed three months of work while recovering.
Word made it to Brady, who was in the midst of the NFL season, that she had suffered an injury. An email arrived in Meade's inbox with a video from Brady wishing her a speedy recovery.
"He's just like that," said Becky Meade, Katie's mother. "He really wants to be a part of Best Buddies, and the friendship is real. It isn't one of those things that famous people do just to look good."
Katie Meade is as a big a star at Best Buddies events as Brady, her parents report.
They went with her on one trip, and celebrities hovered around her. Other people in Best Buddies asked her for her autograph.
Dan Koppen, the Patriots' center, was at the event, and Katie Meade spotted him.
"She shouted 'Dan! Dan!' and she waved him over," said Tom Meade, Katie's father. "He comes over, and she says, 'I want you to meet my parents.'"
Scores of mighty NFL defensive lineman have tried to move the 6-foot-2, 300-pound Koppen. Katie Meade can get him to move with a wave of her hand.
It's the kind of moment that makes Best Buddies special, her father said. No one condescends to Katie Meade or treats her differently because of Down syndrome.
She isn't special because of her chromosomal disorder. She's special because she's Katie Meade.
Meade attended mainstream classes throughout school. Once, when she played softball, another kid called her a retard.
Meade retorted, "Yeah, so are you!"
Other than that, though, Meade doesn't recall being made to feel different because she has Down syndrome.
"I'm just a little slow sometimes," she said. "I have to think about things before I say them. I like to prepare."
She does a lot of preparing. She speaks at Best Buddies events all over the country.
She writes all her own speeches. She talks to groups and leads fundraisers. She works a full-time job.
And she's a spokesmodel on the side.
Meade doesn't talk much with Brady during the season, especially leading up to the Super Bowl.
But she'll be rooting as hard as ever come Sunday.
Poor Buddy the dog.
Daniel P. Finney, The Register's Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at 515-284-8144 or dafinney@dmreg.com. Twitter: @newsmanone.