MikeBigg
Well-Known Member
Props to the Jags on this one! If you're going to the game this weekend, please remember to bring a food item to help this worthy effort!
Joe Schiefelbein
SU giving back to community
Southern University football coach Pete Richardson has established a winning legacy. None of his nine teams at the school, including this year's, have had losing overall records.
Four times, the Jaguars have won the Southwestern Athletic Conference. And three times, they've won black-college national titles.
Yet, Richardson may be building a more important legacy.
On Tuesday, the Southern football team will hand out food to the underprivileged for the ninth straight season as part of its annual Thanksgiving food drive.
"It means a great deal to have an opportunity to help some of the disadvantaged," Richardson said. "It's the time of year you have to feel good to have that opportunity you can help out some individuals.
"It's an opportunity for us to give back to the community."
In 1993, the team handed out food to about 10 families. Last year, Southern helped around 100. This year, with your help, the team may be able to feed perhaps double last year's total.
Southern Administrative Assistant Fernandez Griffin, who is the point man on the whole operation, said the team has 130 names and another 60 on the waiting list.
Griffin is still accepting donations of nonperishable food items at his office, Room A-102 of the F.G. Clark Activity Center. For more information, you can call Griffin at 225-771-3175.
Donation barrels will also be on each side of A.W. Mumford Stadium for Southern's game with Prairie View at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Among many others in the community, Greg Handy - a booster club member, a father of a freshman linebacker and a fixture at practices - will help solicit donations from tailgaters come Saturday.
You don't have to stop Saturday.
"Tuesday night, if you're free, if you've got a vehicle, if you want to help deliver food, if you want to pass it out, we invite you to come to the F.G. Clark Activity Center at 6 o'clock and give us a hand," Griffin said.
The team will hand out food at the Clark Center and, for those without transportation, Southern will deliver the food.
What began as a small, modest program nine years ago has turned into a full-scale, much-needed operation.
"When I was growing up, there were 10 of us in my family, and a lot of people helped us," Griffin said. "I just think, from our standpoint, one of the things you can do is make sure everybody has some food for Thanksgiving.
"There are a lot of people without. We take this a lot more serious when it's time to help somebody."
Robert Chapman, a senior linebacker, is in his fifth year in the process. As team captain and already with a penchant for philanthropy, he's made sure players know the importance of giving.
"This means a lot to me," said Chapman, named a co-scholar athlete of the year in black-college football. "I always want to use my talent to help other people. That's one thing I came to Southern to do is try to help other people."
Just one more reason Griffin said Chapman is the team's captain in more ways than one.
To Chapman, giving lasts longer, means more, than being the team's leader in sacks with six or making that big hit at Florida A&M or having seven tackles behind Texas Southern's line.
The only disheartening part to the food drive is to see families back year after year. But no problem, there. The relationships are forged. The team is always happy to give.
"They've been consistent, so that means they're still having the same problem," Griffin said. "There are people right within three miles of the school. A lot of them don't get to come to the games. This has become a mainstay and a fixture for them.
"Our job is to provide. ... I just thank God we've been given the opportunity and the strength to go out and do this project every year."
It turns out, once again, the adage is true. You get what you put in.
"The (players) learn the art of sharing," Griffin said.
"When you see somebody come, you have to load the food up or put it in your car or carry it for the older folks, you get a sense of awareness about yourself. You're put on this Earth to do a lot of things, and helping is one."
Some traditions in college football mean more than brown jugs and rags and carved statues of Indians. Some legacies endure well after time has expired on a scoreboard.
This one isn't just a team's legacy. It's a community's.
Joe Schiefelbein
SU giving back to community
Southern University football coach Pete Richardson has established a winning legacy. None of his nine teams at the school, including this year's, have had losing overall records.
Four times, the Jaguars have won the Southwestern Athletic Conference. And three times, they've won black-college national titles.
Yet, Richardson may be building a more important legacy.
On Tuesday, the Southern football team will hand out food to the underprivileged for the ninth straight season as part of its annual Thanksgiving food drive.
"It means a great deal to have an opportunity to help some of the disadvantaged," Richardson said. "It's the time of year you have to feel good to have that opportunity you can help out some individuals.
"It's an opportunity for us to give back to the community."
In 1993, the team handed out food to about 10 families. Last year, Southern helped around 100. This year, with your help, the team may be able to feed perhaps double last year's total.
Southern Administrative Assistant Fernandez Griffin, who is the point man on the whole operation, said the team has 130 names and another 60 on the waiting list.
Griffin is still accepting donations of nonperishable food items at his office, Room A-102 of the F.G. Clark Activity Center. For more information, you can call Griffin at 225-771-3175.
Donation barrels will also be on each side of A.W. Mumford Stadium for Southern's game with Prairie View at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Among many others in the community, Greg Handy - a booster club member, a father of a freshman linebacker and a fixture at practices - will help solicit donations from tailgaters come Saturday.
You don't have to stop Saturday.
"Tuesday night, if you're free, if you've got a vehicle, if you want to help deliver food, if you want to pass it out, we invite you to come to the F.G. Clark Activity Center at 6 o'clock and give us a hand," Griffin said.
The team will hand out food at the Clark Center and, for those without transportation, Southern will deliver the food.
What began as a small, modest program nine years ago has turned into a full-scale, much-needed operation.
"When I was growing up, there were 10 of us in my family, and a lot of people helped us," Griffin said. "I just think, from our standpoint, one of the things you can do is make sure everybody has some food for Thanksgiving.
"There are a lot of people without. We take this a lot more serious when it's time to help somebody."
Robert Chapman, a senior linebacker, is in his fifth year in the process. As team captain and already with a penchant for philanthropy, he's made sure players know the importance of giving.
"This means a lot to me," said Chapman, named a co-scholar athlete of the year in black-college football. "I always want to use my talent to help other people. That's one thing I came to Southern to do is try to help other people."
Just one more reason Griffin said Chapman is the team's captain in more ways than one.
To Chapman, giving lasts longer, means more, than being the team's leader in sacks with six or making that big hit at Florida A&M or having seven tackles behind Texas Southern's line.
The only disheartening part to the food drive is to see families back year after year. But no problem, there. The relationships are forged. The team is always happy to give.
"They've been consistent, so that means they're still having the same problem," Griffin said. "There are people right within three miles of the school. A lot of them don't get to come to the games. This has become a mainstay and a fixture for them.
"Our job is to provide. ... I just thank God we've been given the opportunity and the strength to go out and do this project every year."
It turns out, once again, the adage is true. You get what you put in.
"The (players) learn the art of sharing," Griffin said.
"When you see somebody come, you have to load the food up or put it in your car or carry it for the older folks, you get a sense of awareness about yourself. You're put on this Earth to do a lot of things, and helping is one."
Some traditions in college football mean more than brown jugs and rags and carved statues of Indians. Some legacies endure well after time has expired on a scoreboard.
This one isn't just a team's legacy. It's a community's.