FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Surely Pierre Garcon of Palm Beach County comes from Florida Gold Coast old money. He must live in a mansion on the water in Boca Raton, wear Versace ties and own an exquisite restaurant that serves les escargots. Hardly. 'The first day I showed up for football practice (at Mount Union College), they were shocked. They thought I was a white guy from France,' Garcon said Thursday. Garcon's parents were Haitian immigrants. He was 6 when his father died. His three older sisters returned to Haiti, and his mother, Mary, worked in sugar cane fields to support Garcon. He was a lousy high school student. But Garcon had football. When none of the prestigious Florida schools, or any major football program, recruited the skinny 6-foot wide receiver from Green-acres, Fla., he drifted to Norwich (Vermont) University, played for a year, then transferred to Division III power Mount Union, where he played on two national championship teams, had more than 3,000 receiving yards and 45 touchdowns and became an honors graduate. The Indianapolis Colts drafted Garcon in the sixth round of the 2008 draft, and he managed just four catches for 23 yards while appearing sparingly as a rookie. He lost the duel to become the Colts' third receiver in training camp in 2009. But when starter Anthony Gonzalez was injured and out for the season, Garcon was chosen to step in. He caught 47 passes for 765 yards and four touchdowns during the regular season. He finished with five receptions in the Colts' first playoff game, but was notable for chasing down Baltimore's Ed Reed, who had intercepted a Peyton Manning pass, and causing a fumble the Colts recovered. Then, two weeks ago, Garcon set an NFL conference championship record with 11 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown. Afterward, the 23-year-old Garcon waved the national flag of Haiti. He is playing the Super Bowl for Indianapolis and for Haiti, the Caribbean island country where an estimated 200,000 died in a devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. 'The most effective image out of Haiti was seeing the kids' dead bodies on the ground,' Garcon told me Thursday morning. 'I'll never forget that.' Two of Garcon's many relatives in Haiti still are unaccounted for. The rest are scattered. An aunt and an uncle were saved because they were attending a funeral when the disaster struck. 'We're trying to get some of them out and to the United States, but the visas are so difficult with the embassy,' Garcon said. Meanwhile, Garcon plays on. 'It's made me play harder and a lot tougher, and appreciate where I am, what I'm doing and the opportunities I've gotten in life,' he said. On the eve of the Super Bowl, Garcon's Helping Hands Foundation will hold a fundraiser in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., for the victims in Haiti. Months ago, Garcon scheduled an April trip to Port-au-Prince to take tons of food to the children. With assistance from other players, he will increase the donations, 'but I don't know when they will let me in. All I can do now is bring awareness to the troubles in Haiti and bring hope to the people of Haiti. I want them to be proud of me on Sunday.' Playing the game has helped Garcon 'get what's happened off my mind. But when I'm not practicing or studying, I'm thinking about what's going on in Haiti and talking to my mother and my sister about what we can do.' Until a few months ago, nobody knew Garcon was in the league. Until a few weeks ago, 'I don't think most people knew I was Haitian. Now, everybody knows I'm Haitian and that I speak Creole (the island's native language).' When the season opened, he never expected to be where he is - a starter in the Super Bowl. 'You don't want people to be like 'Oh, man, he doesn't deserve to be in the NFL.' I wanted to prove I could be a professional,' he said. He has been helped by one Peyton Manning, who, truthfully, could turn snails swimming in butter into quality receivers. 'You listen to him, and you learn,' Garcon said. The most difficult aspect of playing wide receiver with Manning at quarterback is 'understanding what he's saying, because if you don't know what's going on, you'll be lost, and you mess up the whole play. I don't want to be the player who messes up.' He hasn't so far. The Super Bowl will feature two players of Haitian ancestry - Garcon and the Saints' Jonathan Vilma - and, for the first time, two players named Pierre. The other is New Orleans running back Pierre Thomas. The conversation with Garcon is mixed with sadness and gladness, but he handles both emotions with grace. He handles questions with thought. He handles passes with style. He handles football as a profession. Greenacres is only 42 miles up the highway from Fort Lauderdale, but Pierre Garcon has come a long way to get here. 