The Harrington Family Foundation

Sure, NFL players may look like superheroes, but after undergoing surgery for supraventricular tachycardia - "it means your heart is beating too fast" - during his rookie season with the Detroit Lions in 2002, Joey Harrington, now 26, knows he's as vincible as the rest of us. The former University of Oregon quarterback's Harrington Family Foundation recently donated a cryoblation machine - which uses an electrode catheter inserted into the heart to correct the disorder - to the Children's Hospital of Michigan. It's clearly a cause close to Harrington's heart.

The entire foundation is focused on children, because, says Harrington, "Kids are very impressionable, and if you show then that they're loved and cared for, then they will pass that on."

It's a lesson Harrington credits his parents with instilling in him, and one he could finally act on when he started earning Hulk-sized paychecks. Harrington comes home each summer - he's a Central Catholic alumnus - to help quarterback a benefit concert at the Rose Garden for Portland Shriners Hospital for Children. This June's show featured Donavon Frankenreiter and Blues Traveler front-man John Popper, with Harrington himself tickling the ivories.

But Harrington doesn't come home just to do charity benefits. "The first thing I do when I get to town is go see my mom and dad," he says. He still hangs out with his old high school crew and haunts his favorite restaurants, including Caffe Mingo, Chez Jose, and Nick's Coney Island.

"The thing I miss most about Portland is that everything is based around downtown," he says. "Detroit is very spread out; you live in your suburb. In Portland, you may live in Irvington or Beaverton or Sellwood, but everything centers around downtown. I love that feeling of community."

When he retires from football, Harrington plans to head to the Rose City. Any chance hell end up coaching his own kids at Central someday?

"Very far down the road, 20 years away, yeah, that would be nice."

An apt touchdown for the local boy whose heart beats too fast.