By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Even if no one believed he's humble, Shaun Alexander would show them. Which brings us to the dichotomy of his having a TV show but doing comic bits in which no one recognizes him.

The Florence native and Seattle Seahawks running back, star of a weekly, half-hour show last fall on Fox Sports Northwest, posed as an IHOP employee in one episode. He waited on customers seated at tables with placards picturing him in his Seahawks uniform, and only a couple of customers caught on.

In another skit - this one staged - Alexander and Seahawks long snapper Jean-Philippe Darche went to a mall and had shoppers mob Darche for autographs. Then Alexander offered his signature as well but was rudely turned down.

Keep in mind, these were Alexander's ideas.

"They gave me all the creative control," he said.

Which says a bit about his ego: Alexander the Great, he ain't.

"He's always been respectful and humble," said Owen Hauck, his former coach at Boone County. "He's just a class individual."

Alexander, who has become one of the NFL's top rushers in his first three seasons, was in Northern Kentucky the past two days to stage a fund-raising banquet in the name of the Shaun Alexander Family Foundation.

In addition to that organization, which raises funds to benefit at-risk youth and families who face serious challenges, he frequently speaks to church groups to bear witness to his faith. He was the lead-in speaker at the Billy Graham Crusade last summer in Cincinnati.

Though he speaks with confidence about his football abilities - heck, he was named a Pro Bowl alternate the past two seasons - Alexander does so in a gracious vein.

"I don't think it's possible to keep a level head without having a strong faith," he said. "You have to realize the good Lord has blessed you with the kind of talent to get to this level."

Alexander was a touted draft pick in 2000, holding the Alabama career rushing mark of 3,565 yards and setting 15 school records and three Southeastern Conference marks. Yet he spent his first two years in Seattle playing behind Ricky Watters.

He'd done that before. Alexander didn't make the Boone varsity until his sophomore year, then played behind upperclassman Jason Colemire. Alabama redshirted him a year and didn't give him the starting spot until he was a junior.

"He's always just felt, 'My time's going to come,' and he's just persevered," Hauck said.

How's this for persevering? In 2001, he led the NFL with 14 rushing touchdowns, running for 1,318 yards and catching 44 passes for 343 yards. Last fall, he set Seattle's single-season TD record with 18 - leading the NFC with 16 rushing TDs - while rushing for 1,175 yards and catching 59 passes for 460 yards.

He had the fourth-best rushing game in NFL history with 266 yards against Oakland in 2001 and set an NFL record with five first-half touchdowns last fall against Minnesota. Though Alexander was the fourth of five running backs taken in the first round of the 2000 draft, his stats through three seasons are the best of that bunch.

Alexander parlayed his growing fame into Shaun Alexander Live, his Monday variety-show segment of the nightly Northwest Sports Report, in which he did interviews with such wide-ranging guests as Washington governor Gary Locke, rapper Nelly, comedian Will Ferrell and actor Tom Arnold. He's negotiating on a second season.

Alexander has had a big year personally, too. He was married last May 18. He and wife Valerie are expecting their first child, a girl, Sept. 15.

What else is on his calendar? "Oct. 26," he said.

That's when the Seahawks come to Paul Brown Stadium to play the Bengals, Alexander's first "homecoming" since high school.

"It'll be a great story: the hometown kid coming back to play," he said. "I still cheer for the Bengals. Just not that day."

E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com