His remarkable story rolls on: Seahawks’ Shaquem Griffin receives NCAA Inspiration award
The one-of-a-kind story of Shaquem Griffin has added another chapter.
The NCAA honored the Seahawks linebacker and first one-handed player in the NFL with its 2019 Inspiration Award on Wednesday at the NCAA Honors Celebration in Orlando, Florida.
The site of the ceremony had special meaning for Griffin, 23. He attended and starred on the field for the University of Central Florida in Orlando through 2017. The school is about 100 miles east of where Griffin grew up, in St. Petersburg. Plus, UCF is home to Limbitless Solutions, an organization that creates low-cost prosthetic limbs for children using three-dimensional printers.
“It feels good to be honored with this award because it goes to show that everything that I did in college and what I’m doing now is still being seen,” Griffin told the Orlando Sentinel at Wednesday’s NCAA awards event.
One season into his NFL career with Seattle, Griffin remains a consultant to Limitless Solutions. He continues to give feedback to improve the company’s prosthetic devices.
The NCAA annually presents its Inspiration award to a coach or administrator currently associated with intercollegiate athletics, or to a current or former varsity letter winner at an NCAA institution, that has “used perseverance, dedication and determination to overcome a life-altering situation, and most importantly, are role models giving hope and inspiration to others.”
Griffin is all that.
And more.
Last spring he became the first one-handed player drafted into the modern NFL.
In August, following Seattle’s fourth and final preseason game at CenturyLink Field, he hosted different-limbed athletes from across the Pacific Northwest.
The following week the extraordinary linebacker was starting his first game in the league, for the Seahawks, a few yards in front of his twin brother Shaquill. Shaquill is Seattle’s left cornerback. They became the first twins to start as teammates in the NFL since Earl and Myrl Goodwin, on offense with the 1928 Pottsville Maroons.
Shaquem Griffin inspired different-limbed athletes and people from all over the world. When he saw in London immediately after an October game a video of a boy in California overjoyed to tears at getting his jersey as a birthday gift, he hosted the kid and his family at the December home game against San Francisco.
Last month, Griffin was nominated for sports story of the year in the Pacific Northwest by the Seattle Sport Commission for its 84th annual Sports Star of the Year awards.
“It’s been a crazy year,” he told me near the end of it.
He called his rookie season with the Seahawks one of “ups and downs.” He started his first game in September at weakside linebacker but struggled there. He played just four snaps on defense the rest of the season. He became a fixture on special teams instead.
But 2018 was a success for Griffin for more than football reasons. His isn’t just a football story, and Griffin isn’t just a football player.
He’s a phenomenon, an inspiration to so many.
There are kids like Shaquem across the country who couldn’t care less if Griffin does or doesn’t start on Seattle’s defense in 2019. To them, he’s already made it. They’ve wear Shaquem’s No. 49 Seahawks jersey—because they, too, have one hand.
Daniel Carrillo, a grade-schooler and youth football player in Northern California, got a Shaquem Seahawks jersey for his birthday during this past season.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 8:06 AM.
