A work of heart: much of Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent's hometown of Trenton, N.J., is in disrepair. But his plentiful, passionate and personal work to rebuild and revitalize the community is beginning to show results and makes him No. 1 on TSN's annual list of Good Guys in pro sports. (The Good Guys).(Philadelphia Eagles)

Troy Vincent is walking through the Wilbur section of Trenton, N.J. He grew up in Wilbur when survival was a daily 10-round fight. It's worse now. Residents scratch out a living amid blocks of abandoned, boarded up, burned-out row houses and vacant warehouses. Kids who should be in school are standing on the corner, smoking, talking, doing nothing. Drug dealers stalk these streets; after dark, it becomes what Vincent calls "a war zone." It is ugly, sad.

While much of Trenton has been touched by the glimmer of revitalization, Wilbur remains a bystander. The people of Wilbur say all they ever get are unfulfilled promises.

Vincent stops at a sign of the gross neglect, an uninhabited brick building with boards for windows and weeds for landscaping. "This" he says, "is a resource center, a computer center."

He gazes at the structure. "You take a building like this, demo it and build something that will help this community. Doesn't have to be big to be effective. It doesn't take a lot of morn to educate. A place where people can come and learn and upgrade their lives."

He points down the street, sweeping his band over the decay of Wilbur. "All this has to go," he says. "We have to make Wilbur a place where people are proud to live. But we have to give them the tools to make it. Just building new homes for them without educating them in life won't solve anything."

Around the corner from the warehouse is Faircrest Avenue. There are 31 tiny row homes in this cul-de-sac; most are well-kempt, with small front lawns and flowerpots. This is where Vincent lived as a youngster, in No. 9 and then No. 15. He now owns 9 and 15 and 1 I. He plans to buy them all, to shelter this enclave of respectability from the monster of poverty and neglect that has torn apart the neighborhood just a few steps in the distance.

Deeper into Wilbur is another deserted building, last used as a recycling center. It is across the street from an elementary school. Vincent wants to level the structure, clear off the land around it and construct the centerpiece of a community development plan that he hopes will become a national model for sane urban improvement.