captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> kroft: if it hadn't been for bernie madoff, the most famous white-collar criminal in america right now would probably be marc dreier. he also ran a ponzi scheme and wound up in prison, but unlike madoff, he agreed to talk about it. >> i thought if somebody would interview me in a program such as yours, it would be for something good i've done, not something humiliating i've done. >> kroft: this isn't the way you wanted to be on "60 minutes." >> no. >> stahl: you don't often hear an american president, past or present, talking about his mistakes and shortcomings in office.

but that's what you'll hear tonight from jimmy carter. can i look? >> yeah, you're welcome to look. >> stahl: it turns out the 39th president kept a diary while in the white house, which he has now turned into a book. when american citizens get this book, what do you think is going to surprise them the most? >> i think the absolute unadulterated frankness of what i had to say. >> stahl: and that includes calling ted kennedy irresponsible and abusive. >> pelley: in american samoa, it's the pre-game show. this is a high school football team warming up with the haka war dance, something passed down for ages to teach agility to warriors of size and strength. it's estimated that a boy born to samoan parents is 56 times more likely to get into the nfl than any other kid in america.

>> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm byron pitts. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." my nasal allergies are ruining our camping trip. i know who works differently than many other allergy medications. hoo? omnaris. [ men ] omnaris -- to the nose! [ man ] did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed, and sore throat. [ inhales deeply ] i told my allergy symptoms to take a hike. omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for $11 at omnaris.com. ♪ battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. [ female announcer ] hurry in and load up on food and great savings during the petsmart treat your pet sale. right now, you'll find hundreds of ways

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million ponzi scheme was blown off the front pages by madoff's arrest just a few days later. but the case is no less fascinating. the highly respected attorney, who ran a big park avenue law firm, was initially arrested in toronto for impersonating an officer in a pension fund in what has been described as perhaps the most bizarre arrest in the history of white collar crime. but unlike bernie madoff, marc dreier agreed to talk to "60 minutes" last fall in his only television interview. >> marc dreier: i thought, if somebody would ever interview me on a program such as yours, it would be for something good i've done, not something humiliating i've done. >> kroft: this isn't the way you wanted to be on "60 minutes." >> dreier: no. >> kroft: nor was this the way that marc dreier wanted to make his final appearance in federal court-- as a defendant in his own fraud case. when we first interviewed him last year, he was a prisoner in his own penthouse, with a g.p.s. monitoring device on his ankle,

detained by private jailers whose $70,000 monthly fee was being paid for by dreier's 88- year-old mother. with his assets frozen or confiscated by the court, all that remained of dreier's $40 million art collection were the hooks on the wall. how did you end up becoming a crook? >> dreier: i can't remember the moment in which i decided to do something that i knew was wrong. i had an ambition that i needed to feed. i think i fell into the trap of wanting to be more successful than i was. >> kroft: but you were successful? >> dreier: i was, but i really wanted to distinguish myself. i wanted to... i wanted to be as important as i thought i was... deserved to be. >> kroft: with degrees from yale and harvard law, and the ego of a successful trial lawyer, dreier told friends he was going to become a billionaire. he started his own law firm that he said would revolutionize the business of law. he was going to hire the best attorneys, pay them top dollar,

and keep all the profits for himself as the firm's only partner. >> dreier: the idea for the law firm was very viable. but it needed much more money to get off the ground than i anticipated, much more. so that wasn't very well thought out. i had a good idea, but a very bad business plan. >> kroft: and the plan was about to get much worse. with his law firm a money pit and dreier tapped out, he began approaching hedge funds with a cockamamie scheme he thought might save his dream. dreier told the hedge funds that he was representing a billionaire real estate developer who was looking to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to embark on some new projects. the developer, dreier said, would issue short-term promissory notes, guaranteeing interest rates of between 7% and 12%, well above market rates. and it seemed like a very good deal. the only problem was, that real estate mogul who was supposed to be borrowing all this money, sheldon solow, didn't know anything about it.

nor did he know that dreier, his former lawyer, was fabricating financial information about his company and keeping the loan proceeds for himself. so you convinced hedge funds to lend money, ostensibly to mr. solow, your former client, and in fact the money was going to you? >> dreier: yes. >> kroft: so you came up with phony financial statements, phony audits, forged documents for mr. solow's company? >> dreier: yes. >> kroft: how did you do all that? how did you get that stuff? >> dreier: well, i invented it. >> kroft: what was your biggest deal? >> dreier: $100 million. >> kroft: and somebody just gave you $100 million and never bothered to check with your supposed, alleged client to make sure that this was on the up- and-up? >> dreier: right. but i don't know. i guess i heard a long time ago, too, that the more money you look for, the fewer questions people ask, sometimes. >> kroft: the obvious flaw in dreier's scheme was that he would eventually have to pay off all the promissory notes, plus interest, if he wanted to stay out of jail. and in the end, the only way he could do it was by selling more

notes to new investors. so you were digging yourself into a hole? >> dreier: yeah, very much so. you start with something that you think is manageable and small. you know it's wrong, but you think you can fix it, and you... and you can't get out of it. it became quicksand. i had to keep meeting obligations that grew bigger and bigger. clearly, all along the way, if there was a way for me to have gotten out of it, i... i would've done it. >> kroft: dreier says he used most of the $400 million he stole to expand his law firm, and to finance a lifestyle designed to create the illusion that he already was a billionaire. there was the $11 million ocean- front compound in the hamptons, an art collection that included a picasso, three matisses, and 12 warhols. and then there was the 120-foot yacht "seascape," with a full- time crew of ten, all mortgaged to the hilt. how much did you pay for the yacht? >> dreier: $18 million. >> kroft: and for this apartment? >> dreier: $10.5 million. >> kroft: you enjoyed the good life. >> dreier: i did.

it was clear to me that the more you showed people that you didn't need money, the easier it was to attract money. so having the trappings of success was a very important part of the plan. >> kroft: to raise his profile, dreier co-hosted annual charity events with former new york giants star michael strahan that attracted top name performers like diana ross, jon bon jovi and alicia keys. and then there were the extravagant office parties where dreier himself sometimes performed. >> dreier: in this town, you have to really be something. you know, you don't succeed quietly in this town, perhaps. and i... i think i succumbed to that. >> kroft: by 2007, dreier l.l.p. occupied ten floors of a park avenue building, employed more than 250 lawyers around the country, with high-profile clients like bill cosby, andy pettitte, maria sharapova, and justin timberlake. what no one but marc dreier knew was that the rents, the salaries and the expenses were all being subsidized by fraud.

>> dreier: i recognized in the last couple of years that what i saw as a $20 million mistake had grown into a mistake of a few hundred million dollars. and then i did some increasingly irrational things, because i wasn't thinking clearly. >> kroft: crazy things. >> dreier: yeah. >> kroft: desperate. >> dreier: yeah. >> kroft: as the financial crisis set in, dreier was holding hundreds of millions of dollars in loans that were about to come due, and everyone wanted their money back. when dreier was a month late on a $100 million loan payment, the hedge fund that was owed the money demanded a face-to-face meeting with executives at sheldon solow's real estate operations, here at his office building in new york. with reality closing in, dreier enlisted the services of a former client, kosta kovachev, to impersonate the president of solow's operation, and then he commandeered a conference room in solow's office for a meeting with the hedge fund, in hopes of getting a loan extension. and you conduct this whole

charade right there in the middle of... of solow's business. >> dreier: yeah. >> kroft: did you think you were going to get away with that? >> dreier: yeah. >> kroft: you did, actually, didn't you? >> dreier: yeah. >> kroft: were you nervous? >> dreier: i should've been nervous, but i don't know, i... i wasn't very nervous. >> kroft: i don't get the sense that you're a very emotional person. >> dreier: i think i am. i didn't plan anything i was going to say in this interview, other than not to lose my emotions. but it is not going to do me any good to literally cry over it. >> kroft: when i ask you about the... the emotion, i mean, here you are, walking into a former client's office, perpetuating this scheme right in his office... >> dreier: that's called chutzpa, that's not emotion. you know, i mean, do i have chutzpa? yes. can i... am... can i be very tough under pressure? yes. so, was i able to go into mr. solow's office and pull off that

charade without falling apart? yes. did i think i could do that? yes. because i had done things that required nerves of steel before. but it doesn't mean that i'm not emotional about what i did. i clearly remember when i left that office thinking i had done something really crazy and foolish. >> gerald shargel: it was bizarre. i mean, he was impervious to the idea of being caught. >> kroft: attorney gerald shargel, who would represent dreier during his legal proceedings and plea negotiations with the u.s. government, said the facts of the case were beyond the reach of a sound bite. >> shargel: he was a solid lawyer, and there are a number of judges told me that marc dreier was probably the best lawyer that has ever appeared in front of them. and all of a sudden, out of the blue, it's like something went off the tracks. >> kroft: in december of 2008, both investors and investigators had grown suspicious of dreier, and his luck would eventually run out in toronto, where he pretended to be a lawyer for a teacher's pension fund in order to swindle a hedge fund out of $33 million.

>> dreier: that was the first act i'd done where i knew i was going to get caught and just couldn't help myself. i just wasn't thinking clearly. >> kroft: dreier had collected a business card from the lawyer he was claiming to be, but the man he was supposed to meet with sensed that there was something wrong. what made him suspicious, do you think? >> dreier: you know, he had acted diligently, and he made some phone calls, which i think led him to be suspicious. i knew as soon as he walked in that he was suspicious, but i still did it. >> kroft: the police in toronto were called, and dreier was arrested for impersonation. when he returned to new york five days later, he was apprehended by the fbi on charges of fraud and money laundering, to the complete and utter astonishment of the new york legal community and to the employees of his own law firm. >> joanne rapuano: when we heard the news, we thought it was a joke, at first. >> tori lalonde: there were ten floors of attorneys and boxes. but a lot of people started to resign immediately. they just walked out the door. >> okay, next up, these are the

black poltrona frau leather bucket-style chairs... >> kroft: ten days after dreier's arrest, the law firm bearing his name had declared bankruptcy and 600 people were looking for work. the day we met attorney joanne rapuano and long-time office manager tori lalonde, the firm's furniture and office equipment were being sold off by the court to pay off the creditors, mostly hedge funds and their investors, who are not likely to see much of the missing $400 million. >> okay, now, we have the paper shredder. if this paper shredder could talk! how much for the paper shredder? $25 bid. open it up now... >> kroft: what's it like being here? >> rapuano: truly tragic. you know, you watch something get built, you think you're part of something on its way up. and all of a sudden, you see it being carted out the front door. >> $1,000 opens it up. $1,000 bid to open it up... >> lalonde: it's just disgraceful. we are victims. i have no job, i have no medical after today. i'm done. so, now, what do i do, start my career all over? >> kroft: i don't want to

compare you with madoff, but one of the questions that people ask about madoff, constantly, is: how could he do this? how could he walk around living this life, spending all this money, never showing a crack in the facade? and there are some similarities. how did you deal with that? >> dreier: i was doing a lot of things at the same time. i was engaged in a fraud, which took a lot of energy to sustain. but i was also running a law firm-- a legitimate law firm-- other than, obviously, the obvious fact that it was funded illegitimately. i was a practicing lawyer; i was handling my own cases in court, which took a lot of energy. i almost didn't have enough time to dwell on the elephant in the room, which was the very... you know, the... the crime i was engaging with to keep... keep all this up. >> kroft: he has plenty of time to dwell on it now. after entering his guilty plea, marc dreier has begun serving his 20-year prison sentence. he wanted everyone he hurt to know that he was profoundly sorry. and for someone so obsessed with his own image and what people thought about him, his punishment is just beginning.

>> dreier: i've lost everything i own. i've lost my business, i've obviously lost my reputation. i've caused my family, obviously, enormous unhappiness. and i have nothing. >> kroft: do you have any friends? >> dreier: now? >> kroft: uh-huh. >> dreier: doesn't seem so. >> good evening, the blown out b.p. oil well in the gulf was declared officially dead following a successful test today. toyota settled a lawsuit with relatives of family killed when their lexus sped out of control and crashed last year. and in the box office, ben affleck's "the town" was number one. i'm russ mitchell, cbs news. get my hands dirty...

>> stahl: you don't often hear a u.s. president, past or present, talking about his mistakes and shortcomings in office. but you will hear it tonight from the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter. it turns out that, during his four-year term, president carter kept a diary that he is now publishing, along with an often- harsh critique of his own performance in the white house. his tenure, which i covered as the cbs news white house correspondent, was tumultuous. the problems he confronted kept mounting, and people wondered if he was cursed-- by a dismal economy, poor relations with congress, and a nightmarish standoff over 52 americans held hostage by iran. after just one term, he was trounced by ronald reagan. well, now, mr. carter takes a look back at those years in excerpts from the diary he dictated into a tape recorder

seven or eight times virtually every day he was president. in his office at the carter library in atlanta... can i look? >> president jimmy carter: yeah, you're welcome to look. >> stahl: ... the former president-- now 85 and still flashing his famous smile-- showed me some of the 5,000 pages that make up his diary. when american citizens get this book, what do you think is going to surprise them the most? >> carter: i think the absolute unadulterated frankness of what i had to say. i'll just give you one example-- ted kennedy. >> stahl: if there's anyone mr. carter fumes over in his diary, it's ted kennedy, his nemesis. here's what he wrote when they clashed on health care: "kennedy continuing his irresponsible and abusive attitude, immediately condemned our health plan. he couldn't get five votes for his plan." he drove you up the wall. >> carter: i don't know if i ever got up the wall.

>> stahl: but his comments on kennedy are harsh, even now, after his death. >> carter: the fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for ted kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that i proposed in 1978 or '79. >> stahl: you blamed teddy for the failure. >> carter: exactly. >> stahl: health care-- his issue. >> carter: exactly. it was his fault. ted kennedy killed the bill. >> stahl: just to spite you? is that the... what you're... that's the implication. >> carter: that's the implication. he did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of american life. >> stahl: it still smarts that kennedy ran against him in 1980. back then, he poured his resentments into his diary in frustrated, snarky outbursts-- the hard-working, born again peanut farmer up against privileged kennedy royalty. you write, angrily, "he's my age, but unsuccessful. he was kicked out of college." you know, you could've left that out of the book. >> carter: i didn't try to

conceal anything. i tried to put down exactly how i felt. >> stahl: well, you went at each other. >> carter: but, you know, i felt like he went after me. i was the incumbent president; i didn't go after him. but he decided that he was going to replace me as a democratic president. >> stahl: when he turns to focus on himself, he admits his critics had a valid point when they accused him of "micro- managing" and that he went too far with his no-frills, anti- imperial approach, as when he carried his own bags and wore cardigan sweaters in the white house. you may have de-pomped a little too much. >> carter: one of the most unpleasant things that surprised me was when i quit having "hail to the chief" played every time that i entered a room, but there was an outcry of condemnation. >> stahl: so he had to reverse himself. ♪ >> carter: this is our master bedroom. >> stahl: this is the apartment at the carter center he stays in when he's in atlanta. by the looks of it, he's a no-

frills ex-president, too. >> carter: a murphy bed, and this is it here. >> stahl: no? the former president of the united states... >> carter: and the first lady. >> stahl: and the first lady sleep on a murphy bed? >> carter: absolutely. >> stahl: oh, my god. the president and mrs. carter spend time here with their children, 12 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. >> amy carter: you are going to the shanghai world's fair? >> carter: absolutely. >> amy carter: oh, so cool. >> stahl: yes, that's amy, who was nine when she moved into the white house, now 42 and pregnant with her second child. i asked her and her brothers chip and jeff about life at the white house. >> chip carter: the worst thing was a little bit of intrusion by the press. but we had amy to take all the scrutiny... >> stahl: i know, i was just thinking... >> chip carter: ... you know. so, amy got that, we didn't. >> stahl: you got a lot of it, amy. >> amy carter: not... i did... you know, i really... it's hard for me to remember that. >> stahl: now, breaking her silence after 30 years, amy says about her time in the white house: >> amy carter: there was a house full of people.

all the people who worked there were so wonderful. i was young. it was fun. >> stahl: it was fun? who didn't think "poor little amy" was unhappy back then? she seemed bored, reading books at state dinners, and was hounded by the press her first day at public school in washington. the little girl looked woebegone. >> amy carter: i look so morose, but i think that's just an accident. i was more worried about the first day of school in a new place. >> stahl: oh, yeah? >> amy carter: i don't think i even noticed the press being there. that's, overall, a very happy time for me. >> stahl: but not so happy for her father, who now admits he alienated too many members of congress, whom he described as "a bunch of juvenile delinquents." he tells about some democrats who approached him with a quid pro quo-- we'll vote for your bill if you'll appoint our choice for u.s. attorney. and here's what you write: you said, "i told them, in a nice way, to go to hell." >> carter: ( laughs ) >> stahl: look at you-- almost

deliberately antagonizing them. >> carter: there were times when a congress member would try to blackmail me, or when a congress member would make a demand that i thought was inappropriate and... >> stahl: and they would say it's the normal give-and-take of getting legislation done. but you considered it blackmail. >> carter: in a few occasions, yes. >> stahl: congress thought he was sanctimonious, and he writes that he made things worse by proposing too many unpopular bills, like the treaty to give back the panama canal and lifting price controls on gasoline. even mrs. carter told him he was doing too much. >> rosalynn carter: and he would always say to me, "suppose i don't have a second term." and he was right. because he got an awful lot done for the country. he's not a failed president. >> stahl: that image of "a failed president" haunts the carters. how do you think you got into this big mess?

>> carter: the public will have to judge how big a mess it is. >> stahl: the country was in a big mess, with gasoline lines and double-digit inflation, and he seemed powerless to deal with it. he writes that his own loyalists asked, "can you govern the country?" and he tells about a brutal meeting with his cabinet. they told you that you had an image of weakness. you write that they told you this... >> carter: sure, they did. >> stahl: ...a lack of esteem in the public eye, and they just beat up on you. >> carter: i think they were telling me that the public image of me was that i was not a strong leader, that i should not only arouse support from affection, but also from fear. >> stahl: so, did you change? did you start to operate from fear? >> carter: maybe a little bit more than i would have earlier. >> stahl: he tried inspiring the country with his so-called "malaise speech," but it came off as lecturing americans about

their wasteful ways. >> carter: too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. >> stahl: then, talk about everything that can go bad going bad. >> carter: the actions of iran have shocked the civilized world. >> stahl: iran captured 52 americans and held them hostage for the entire last quarter of carter's presidency. there was an attempt to rescue the hostages, but it had to be aborted, and people began calling on carter to bomb tehran. he refused. >> carter: we went through four years. we never fired a bullet, we never dropped a bomb, we never launched a missile. >> stahl: because of your religious views? >> carter: that's part of it. because i... because i felt that our country should be, as a super power, the champion of peace. >> stahl: and some people will criticize that... have criticized that attitude as saying that, in jimmy carter's time, we didn't look as strong. we didn't look like a super power.

>> carter: there's no doubt that, usually, a president's public image is enhanced by going to war. that never did appeal to me. >> stahl: carter argues that, despite the image of failure, he actually had a long list of successes, starting with bringing all the hostages home alive. he normalized relations with china, brokered a peace treaty between israel and egypt, deregulated railroads, trucking, airlines and telephones, and his energy conservation programs resulted in a 50% cut in imported oil, down to just 4.3 million barrels a day. >> carter: unfortunately, now, we're probably importing 12 million barrels a day, since part of my energy policies were abandoned. >> stahl: well, and you built solar panels on the roof of the white house. >> carter: that's right, which were ostentatiously removed as soon as ronald reagan became president. ( laughter ) he wanted to show that america

was a great nation, so great that we didn't have to limit the enjoyment of life. >> stahl: and the public seemed to like that better than they liked your message, which was "we have to be limiting." >> carter: that's right. america responded to that quite well. >> stahl: but when all is said and done-- and many will be surprised to hear this-- jimmy carter got more of his programs passed than reagan, and nixon, ford, bush one, clinton, or bush two. >> carter: i had the best batting average in the congress in recent history of any president except lyndon johnson. >> stahl: and yet, as i say, there's the sense that you were a failed president. >> carter: i think i was identified as a failed president because i wasn't re-elected. >> stahl: the lesson-- getting a lot of legislation passed, even when it's significant, is not enough. a lot of critics of yours when you were president say that you've been a fantastic ex- president. you hear that all the time. >> carter: i don't mind that.

>> stahl: you like that? >> carter: i don't mind. yes. >> stahl: the president and mrs. carter devote their lives to fighting disease in poor countries and resolving conflict, as when he recently obtained the release of an american held in north korea. it's been a life of good works and good reviews. so this is the nobel... in 2002, he won the nobel peace prize for his efforts at global diplomacy. but he was called "undiplomatic" when he broke the code that ex- presidents don't criticize their successors. about reagan, you said, "if i had been president for four more years, we wouldn't have had a resurgence of racism and selfishness." now, that's pretty pointed. that's an ouch. >> carter: yeah. i don't remember when i said that, but i can't deny that i felt that way. >> stahl: are you suggesting that he stoked racism? >> carter: no, i'm not. >> stahl: but that's what that kind of suggests. >> carter: there may have been times when i was too outspoken in criticizing an incumbent president.

i can't deny that. >> stahl: and that's probably why he's had frosty relations with other ex-presidents. he chided bill clinton over monica lewinsky, and called george w. bush "the worst president in history." and when george bush, sr., was in office, carter wrote a secret letter to the u.n. calling on the security council to vote against the resolution to go to war against saddam hussein. to write and ask u.n. security members to vote against the united states... >> carter: i also sent a copy of the same letter to president bush. >> stahl: well, i'm sure he loved reading that. did you go too far? >> carter: i felt very deeply about the fact that the war was not necessary. >> stahl: so you don't regret that? >> carter: no. >> rosalynn carter: this is where we live. >> stahl: it's been 30 years since the carters moved back to their old house in plains, georgia. he has said they left washington "in despair." did either of you ever miss washington? >> carter: i didn't.

>> rosalynn carter: i did. >> stahl: oh, you did, really? when they're here in plains, they both work on their books and on keeping in shape, though he's no longer the physical fitness fanatic he was as president when he jogged up to 40 miles a week. still running? >> carter: i had to quit running when i was 80 years old, because my left knee began to swell up, as a result of an injury that i suffered when i was 70 years old on the ski slopes. >> stahl: now, if you happen to be in plains, georgia, you just might catch a glimpse of the former president and first lady swerving along the back roads in their latest form of exercise. yeah, but it's a tricycle, mr. president. you're on a tricycle. >> carter: yeah, it's called a tryke. >> stahl: it's been a good life. and if the carters were in despair 30 years ago, they are now very clearly at peace with their lives and their legacy. with everything that president obama's going through, almost the worst insult that people say

is that, "my god, he could be worse than jimmy carter." >> carter: i can't control what people say about comparing me with obama. but i hope that obama will have as successful a term as i had in dealing with our nation's domestic and international affairs. and if he does, i'll be very proud of him, as i happen to be proud of myself, having had a successful administration when i was in office. >> stahl: president carter wanted us to know that, after he left the white house, he and teddy kennedy patched things up, and that the senator worked closely with mrs. carter on mental health issues. kinds of exercise,nt but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof). i had a bum knee that needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before.

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>> pelley: there's a small community that produces more players for the nfl than anyplace else in america. it isn't in texas, florida or oklahoma. in fact, it's as far from the foundations of football as you can get. call it "football island"-- american samoa, a rock in the distant south pacific. how's this for a football stat? from an island of just 65,000 people, there are more than 30 players of samoan descent in the nfl, and over 200 in division one college ball. that's like 30 current nfl players coming out of sparks, nevada, or gastonia, north carolina. as we first told you last winter, american samoa was a place we had to see, so we traveled 8,000 miles to find a people and traditions so perfectly suited to america's

game, it's as if they'd been waiting centuries for football to come ashore. in american samoa, it's the pregame show. this is a high school team warming up with the haka war dance, something that's been passed down for ages to teach agility to warriors of size and strength. what coach doesn't wish he'd thought of this first? it turns out, the south pacific was raising football talent before there was football. when we were there, the island was getting set for its super bowl, the high school championship. after a winning season, 16-year- old quarterback tavita neemia would lead the samoana high school sharks. his coach, pepine lauvoa, has a roster that mainland schools dream of.

>> pepine lauvao: they're soft spoken, they're gentle. but when they put on their equipment, they just become monsters. and they just want to go out and hit and hit and hit. >> pelley: 16? how tall are you? >> 6'5" >> pelley: 6'5." how old are you? >> 17. >> pelley: 17. you must be about 6'5," too. >> yeah, 6'4" and a half. >> pelley: it looks like you've been hitting cars with this thing. in the last five years alone, the island's six high schools have produced ten nfl linemen. it's estimated that a boy born to samoan parents is 56 times more likely to get into the nfl than any other kid in america. >> pelley: well, not to be indelicate about it-- your people are big. >> togiola tulafono: and big is beautiful. >> pelley: togiola tulafono is the governor of american samoa, and he will tell you it's more than size. his people come from a farming culture that prizes hard work, reverence and discipline. and he thinks that's why scouts

and coaches are pulling out their atlases. i'm afraid most americans back on the mainland would be hard pressed to pick this place out on a map. >> tulafono: yeah, its not very visible. >> pelley: it is a small dot on a big ocean. >> tulafono: it is, it is, but nowadays, google helps a lot. >> pelley: american samoa is a paradise-- clear seas and 80 degrees most of the time, a land that roared out of the pacific in a volcanic eruption. it's nearly 5,000 miles from california, way past hawaii, the only inhabited american possession south of the equator. of the seven islands in the chain, the largest is just over miles end to end. it was back in 1899 that the u.s. navy sailed into this harbor and figured that it was perfect for refueling ships. the islands have been american ever since. but the people aren't exactly american citizens. they can't vote for president,

but on the other hand, they don't pay income taxes either. the capital, pago pago, has an american feel. flag day is the most important holiday, and there's a tradition of sending kids into the u.s. military. but for all its beauty, american samoa is not blessed with wealth. for the most part, they make a living canning tuna. two-thirds of the people are below the poverty level. tavita neemia, the quarterback for the sharks, has a typical family. his mom works at the cannery. and he'll need a scholarship to go to college. neemia and coach lauvoa make the most of what they have. coach, this is the practice field... >> lauvao: yeah, this is our field. we call it "the field of champions." >> pelley: so, the field of champions is short, rocky and unlined. >> lauvao: yep. >> pelley: and yet, how many nfl players have you turned out at this school? >> lauvao: three. >> pelley: three. you have a locker room? >> lauvao: nope, we don't have a locker room. >> pelley: you have a weight room? >> lauvao: we don't have a weight room. >> pelley: how are you turning out nfl football players?

>> lauvao: determination. >> pelley: voc-tech high school has one player in the nfl. but coach ethan lake has no practice field at all, no locker room. well, show me inside. and this rusted shipping container is the storeroom for his varsity team's busted, antiquated equipment. and there it is. >> ethan lake: everything that's in here, that we have gotten here in american samoa, is actually donated. it's secondhand equipment. and its actually equipment that would never be allowed to be used in the states. if we did that here, we wouldn't have football. >> pelley: coach, if you used some of this gear back in the states, you'd get sued. >> lake: definitely, definitely. >> pelley: for all their success, here is another amazing fact-- they never had youth football until this year. the nfl and u.s.a. football are helping to start the program. but all of the players that came before started playing in high school. at first, you think they do well, despite the adversity. >> lake: we don't need equipment to teach you guys how to start tackling properly.

>> pelley: but then it strikes you-- getting cut up on lava rock, playing in sneakers without equipment are keys to success. samoans are born big, but the island makes them tough. this is a place where kids use machetes to do their chores. come to think of it, it's a place where kids do chores. 17-year-old aiulua fanene does a day's work before school under the direction of his father, david. he's cooking in this house. he's cleaning in this house. that is something that kids back on the mainland would not believe if they didn't see it. >> david fanene: that's how he's been brought up. discipline, obedience should be involved in this house, and i am expecting my children to obey us. >> pelley: aiulua is 6',5", 280. arizona and oregon state offered scholarships. one day, he hopes to follow in the cleats of his brother,

jonathan fanene, the defensive lineman for the cincinnati bengals. >> jonathan fanene, a talented guy with the cincinnati bengals... >> pelley: when you sent him to cincinnati, did you give him any advice on how to live and how to play football? >> fanene: well, i told him, "once you put on your football equipment, automatically, you turn into a lion, turn into a lion that's chasing a deer to eat," you know what i mean? >> pelley: play like a lion, but be a humble man. >> fanene: be a humble man. >> pelley: while humble, the fanenes know the rewards of nfl success. so jonathan built this place for you. >> fanene: yes, sir. >> pelley: looks like football's been very, very good to the family. >> fanene: yes. >> aiulua fanene: yes, sir, that's right. >> pelley: from an island where the average income is a little over $4,000 a year, jonathan fanene is making more than $1 million in cincinnati.

and think of this-- paul brown stadium would seat everyone back in american samoa-- everyone-- with 1,000 seats to spare. >> david fanene: with the talent that we have, we have to take pride of it, you know, especially when you have the opportunity to come to the mainland, you got to take advantage of it. >> pelley: fanene is a defensive end who had a breakout season last year with six sacks. he's one of two samoan-born players on the team, along with domata peko. >> domata peko: the combination of size and ability and speed, you know, that's kind of hard to find-- big dudes that can have nimble feet, you know, and are able to run and go sideline to sideline. >> pelley: the nfl's "sunday samoans" are hard to miss with their vowel-laden names and trademark hair. the most famous is pittsburgh steelers all-pro safety troy polamalu. born in california to samoan parents, his name is on two super bowl trophies. >> troy polamalu: what if there were 120 million samoans, you know? how many samoans would there... then there be in the nfl?

>> pelley: if there were 120 million samoans, it might be the national samoan football league. >> polamalu: ( laughs ) that would be interesting, yeah. >> pelley: polamalu may well be the most versatile defensive player in the league-- smart, fast, and a hell of a hitter. what does football mean to a kid growing up on samoa? >> polamalu: its our meal ticket, you know. just like any marginalized ethnic group, you know, if you don't make it to the nfl, what do you have to go back to? >> pelley: a lot of these kids would never go to college if it wasn't for a scholarship with football. >> polamalu: that's the beautiful thing about football-- it's allowed us to get an education. football is something that naturally comes to us. >> pelley: fair to say football has never been more important to the island than right now, because this season, there's been more than the usual trouble in paradise. the island may lose its tuna industry. one cannery, chicken of the sea, has left, and because the u.s.

congress wanted to help samoa by imposing american minimum wage, governor tulafono worries that the last cannery, starkist, could look to other shores. how much of your economy is wrapped up in the tuna canneries? >> tulafono: i think some economists have estimated that to be 80%. >> pelley: 80%? >> tulafono: 80% of everything that goes on around here is dependent on the presence of the canneries. >> pelley: and you just lost one of them. >> tulafono: we just lost one of them september 30. >> pelley: what has that meant to you? >> tulafono: devastation. >> pelley: and in the fall, there was natural devastation, too. the day before that cannery closed, the island was struck by an earthquake, which led to something much worse. when the shaking stopped, people travelling on this road could see the ocean moving backward out to sea, and a few of them knew what was coming next. it was a tsunami, which was

recorded by a security camera until the power went out. the wave pushed inland for a mile. 34 people were killed, and entire villages were washed away. >> lauvao: when i heard the village that got hit, the first thing that came through my mind was my football players, and then i found out 13 of my kids either lose their home or home damaged by the tsunami. >> pelley: one of his kids who was hit by the disaster was quarterback tavita neemia. this is his house after the earthquake. with about eight weeks before the championship, some thought they should cancel the season, but governor tulafono decided that football would cheer everybody up. nameeia's sharks prepared to play the championship favorite tafuna high school, featuring aiulua fanene. but in another blow in a cruel season, nameeia's father died suddenly, just weeks after the tsunami.

>> ...and especially with tavita and his family in this time of need and sorrow. and all god's people say amen. and all god's people say amen. >> pelley: they decided the game would go on. but it was postponed to later in that day so that neemia could bury his dad. >> lauvao: this kid is the leader on the team. and this kid has heart. >> pelley: hours after the funeral, the samoana sharks and tafuna high met for the last game of the season. tavita neemia connected early and jumped out to a surprise 7-0 lead. the rest was a contest of all- samoan defensive lines. the sharks won the championship 7-6... >> yes, yes, oh, hallelujah... ( cheers and applause ) >> pelley: ...their first championship in 11 years. >> lavuao: when the clock strikes zero, then i looked for my quarterback and i told him, "this is for you. your father is looking down on you and he's very proud of you." and i gave him a hug. >> i love you, coach.

>> pelley: it wasn't until that moment we really understood how a community of 65,000 has so many players in the nfl. turns out, it's not the size; it's the heart. ( cheers and applause ) >> hello, everyone. welcome to the cbs sports update. i'm james brown in new york. the bengals improve to 1-1678 defeating division rival baltimore. the pack, the bears and texas are all 2-0, while the vikings and cowboys drop to 0-2. the jets won their a.f.c. east battle over new england, and the jets are 2-0 for the first time since 2005. for more news and sports, log on to cbs sports.com. ,,,,,,,,

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