Russell Wilson has always said his goal is simple, “To be the best.”
The question for the former two-sport NC State athlete, of course, is “The best at what?”
And his easy answer is, “Everything.”
For the last nine years, as one of the top quarterbacks and players in the NFL, Wilson has made a huge impact on the lives of his fans, especially at the Seattle Children’s Center.
He began making videos with and for the young patients there even before he played his first down with the Seahawks and has continued even though the COVID pandemic has forced those visits to become virtual.
He and his wife, pop singer Ciara, have used their fame, their popularity and their wealth in support of a variety of causes in health, education and community empowerment. For those many efforts, Wilson was named the 2020 NFL Man of the Year on Saturday night in Tampa, Florida, the night before the Super Bowl.
Wilson, who led the Seahawks to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, is the first former Wolfpack player to earn the league’s most prestigious off-the-field award since it was established in 1970.
Along with the award, the nonprofit Why Not You Foundation Wilson established in 2014 will receive $250,000.
It’d be nice to say that Wilson learned his habits of giving back as a student and student-athlete at NC State. That would not be true. Wilson brought those traits with him, instilled by his parents Tammy and Harrison Wilson III.
He did, however, enhance those habits, thanks to several opportunities provided by then-head football coach Tom O’Brien, baseball coach Elliott Avent and other NC State initiatives, such as the Wolfpack Club Caravans.
I remember meeting Wilson for the first time during the spring of 2008, during his freshman year at NC State. It was in the middle of the baseball season as well as spring football practice. On a Monday after perhaps his busiest weekend of his first year at NC State, Wilson had one of his few off days from athletics that entire month.
That Friday, he had hit an RBI-double in a 7-2 baseball victory over Wake Forest. That Saturday, he completed 12 of 18 passes in the football’s team first scrimmage of the spring, trying to make his case to become the starting quarterback. Then he spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday throwing up from a bout with food poisoning.
O’Brien and his wife scheduled a trip for about a dozen football players who wanted to go to Camp LeJeune, the U.S. Marine and Navy base located in Jacksonville, North Carolina, about two-and-a-half hours from Raleigh.
Wilson was one of the first of the dozen players to sign up for the all-day excursion to visit the 60 members of the Wounded Warriors Barracks, a military half-way house for Marines recovering from battle injuries, training accidents and even a cancer diagnosis before they could return to service or to civilian life.
“It puts everything we do into perspective,” he said after spending time talking to dozens of the injured and ill.
Wilson has always been about perspective, whether he was participating in a service trip or helping shop for holiday gifts through thru the U.S. Marines Reserves’ Toys4Tots program, another community service O’Brien offered for his players and Wolfpack fans, through game-day promotions with Wolfpack Sports Properties.
All cash raised through that program was used to buy toys for children in North Carolina who might not receive gifts at that time of the year. Players volunteered to do the shopping, which was done at various stores in Raleigh and Cary.
Nothing made Wilson happier than doing something for kids, a soft spot he carried with him to Seattle in 2012 and across the country with his various quarterback academy camps.
He has stepped those efforts up even more. He and his wife have donated their own money to open a tuition-free charter school in Des Moines, Washington.
“I love kids, sharing my experiences with them, letting them know that there is always something greater,” Wilson said when he did his day long passing camp at NC State’s Dail Practice Facility.
“I want kids to accomplish whatever they want to do, to keep working hard and keep believing in themselves.”
Wilson is on a much bigger stage as one of the NFL’s most accomplished stars. He’s had the opportunity to grow out of his desire to help those less fortunate, to enjoy the fruits of a high-profile life that comes with being a star professional athlete married to an entertainment icon.
The best thing about Wilson is that he has made that desire grow stronger, something the NFL recognized when it gave him its biggest off-the-field award.
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
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