Tenor Curtis Rayam to sing for brother Thomas' charityUniversity of Alabama football fans may never forget a 1989 Penn State field goal attempt that was blocked by Thomas Rayam, preserving a 17 16 Alabama victory.Five years earlier, Rayam older brother Curtis, an chi hair straighteners operatic tenor, provided some heroics of his own when he replaced an ailing Luciano Pavarotti in Mozart at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. when Curtis performs a recital at Samford University Brock Recital Hall. He will sing arias, songs and lieder by Handel, Schubert, Puccini and others. His accompanist will be pianist Anthony Pattin.The event will benefit Thomas Shelby County charity, Team Rayam Outreach, a nonprofit Christian organization that helps youths and young adults through athletic training, service, education, leadership and mentoring programs.After his UA game saver, Thomas went on to play for the Washingon Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals before an injury sidelined him. He later played for the Birmingham Barracudas during the Canadian Football League attempt to expand to the United States, then with CFL franchises in Edmonton and Calgary. Later moving to Alabaster, Thomas established a football camp with a name he disliked.didn want it to be called the Thomas Rayam Football Camp, but it was Thomas Rayam who blocked the field goal, he said. something people know me by, so I put it in the forefront. He has recorded with Joan Sutherland, Kathleen Battle, Denyce Graves and Samuel Ramey. With the Alabama Symphony, he has soloed in Beethoven Symphony No. 9, and a concert version of and Bess. Rayam family was raised on a farm in north Florida and in Orlando. Two other brothers distinguished themselves. Hardy played football for Notre Dame. Lee Norris was an Orlando Urban League leader, who was tragically murdered in 1994 while on vacation in Jamaica. Lee Norris widow, Lisa Rayam, is a gospel singer and anchor for Fox 5 Atlanta.Thomas RayamCurtis said their close knit family unit fostered excellence.parents always made us play with each other, he said. are your brothers and chi flat iron website sisters, they said. your playmates, OK? We grew up together, but independently. My father could sing and play baseball. He could plow the fields and recite from the Bible from memory. None of us have all those talents like he still does at 85. would explain why football and opera may not be so far apart.brother Thomas can sing, too, said Curtis. has a nice voice, though he not going to say that. His wife, Elaine, has a beautiful voice, too. has also played football, but only the touch variety.wanted to do opera, he said. one is going to hit me in the throat, OK? No sir.played Achilles in Gluck in Aulis, he recalled. is usually a Greek god, but I played him as a football player. hopes Curtis recital will raise awareness, as well as funds, for Team Rayam Outreach, located at the Warrior chi flat iron Wrestling Complex in Saginaw.a small group, but we do everything we can to keep a place for us to work out, said Thomas. kids can afford the YMCA. Half are from single parent homes or living with their grandma. We help them buy chi hair dryer shoes and clothes. I make sure they have food in their belly before I drop them off. more important, Thomas would like them to be well rounded individuals, not just athletes.starting to tutor some kids, and to talk to them about reading more, he said. are lots of professional athletes, but not professional people. Let concentrate on that.Gus Malzahn on Texas job talk: 'I'm a good fit for Auburn Tigers'Gus Malzahn knows anything you can do at Texas you can do at Auburn (Kevin Scarbinsky)Nick Saban will make 72 times more money than governor, 157 times more than average teacher (Connecting Alabama).