Russell Wilson Seahawks’ nominee NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year. The many reasons why
Russell Wilson is the Seahawks’ nominee for the 2020 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
The kids and families he’s visited and changed each week at Seattle Children’s hospital, the countless people who have eaten the 1 million meals the quarterback and his wife Ciara have donated to Seattle’s Food Lifeline during the pandemic, the untold numbers of folks—Black and white and of all races—he’s awakened with his outspokenness this year demanding racial equality, they all knew he was their man of the year way before this.
This is the second time in his nine years in the league, all with Seattle, the winningest quarterback in NFL history to begin a career has been the Seahawks’ Man of the Year nominee. The other time was in 2014, during his third season leading the team.
The league states the Walter Payton Man of the Year, considered the NFL’s most prestigious honor, represents “the best of the NFL’s commitment to philanthropy and community impact.” It “recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.”
The league first gave the award in 1970. It was renamed in 1999 after Payton, the late Hall of Fame running back for the Chicago Bears.
“This year has presented significant challenges for us all, from the ongoing global pandemic to the continued social injustices witnessed this year,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a league statement on the nominees. “The 32 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominees remind us that even in the face of adversity, players continue to raise awareness and use their voice and platform to positively impact their communities. The nominees will leave lasting legacies across the country in a time when we need leadership and strength the most.”
The national winner of the 2020 Man of the Year award will be announced during the NFL Honors primetime awards show that airs on national television the week of Super Bowl 55, in February.
Wilson and each of the other 32 team nominees will receive a $40,000 donation in their name to their charity of choice. The league’s winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of their choice.
In March, just as COVID-19 was shutting down the country and world, Wilson and Ciara donated 1 million meals to Seattle’s Food Lifeline food bank during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Obviously, this worldwide pandemic, this coronavirus, is changing the world, second by second, minute by minute,” Wilson said in his self-shot video Ciara posted on her social-media page. “People are losing loved ones, the elderly and the young, and everybody in between.”
In June, Wilson was as forceful and outspoken as he’d ever been discussing the profound effects the death in Minneapolis of Black man George Floyd had on him. He demanded our nation wake up to the fact Blacks are not treated equally or justly in America.
“To be honest with you, I don’t even want to talk to you about football right now. None of that matters,” Wilson said on an online Zoom call in June that was supposed to be about the Seahawks.
“The reality is black people are being murdered in the street. They are getting shot down. The reality is, it’s not like that for any other race.
“It’s staggering to see.
“I see my kids. I see a man get murdered on the street. And it’s pretty heavy, you know. It’s pretty heavy to watch somebody get murdered like that... Ultimately, it brings a lot of pain. There is a lot pain in the history of America. There is a lot of, in my opinion, hate in America. There’s a lot of division. It’s something that I pray we can be better as people. I pray that decisions are made to justify this situation, and many others that happened in the past. ...
“Police brutality is staggering. ...Even in Seattle, my home, watching some of the things that are happening there (during protests), it’s pretty heavy.
“I don’t have all the answers. But the answers I do know is, my being African American, me being black, is a real thing in America. It’s a real thing in the sense of the history, and the pain. Even my own family, personally, my great, great grandparents were slaves, and everything else. So there is a lot of history there.
“What I am praying for is, we learn how to love. We learn how to communicate. ...
“I am hopeful that we can make a change. I am hopeful that we are going to vote. I am hopeful that we are going to pick the right leaders.”
To that end, Wilson and the Seahawks canceled practice in training camp in August to ensure each member of the team was registered to vote in November’s general election.
Wilson has spoken up if not always out numerous times over the years from his platform as one of America’s most recognizable athletes. He’s talked often on the need for more love, more faith, more equality, in our country. But Wilson, who signed the richest contract in NFL history last year, is often somewhat famously guarded on what he says and the image he projects.
He wasn’t guarded this year.
Four years after Colin Kaepernick knelt during national anthems to protest racial inequality and police brutality in our nation, does Wilson feel whites have made any progress at all in understanding blacks?
“At all? I hope so,” Wilson said. “That’s such a big question, talking about white America.
“I would say, I don’t think everybody understands, because you don’t have to go through it everyday, Gregg, to be honest with you. You get pulled over, it’s a lot different: ‘Where were you going? What’s happening?’ versus the other way around. You know, sometimes the reality is we have to fear what may happen. And there’s a big difference in that.
“Think about drugs. When a person gets arrested for the same, exact drug, the reality is the kid may be an 18-year-old, 17-year-old kid or a 19-year-old kid and he’s white, versus black, the reality is in our America right now—which is a shame—the reality is the 19-year-old white kid versus the 19-year-old black kid is going to be looked at differently. The 19-year-old black kid is probably going to be thrown in jail longer, have the longer process, and everything else. And that’s a terrifying reality.
“And that needs to change. We need to change. We need to make a difference. We need to actually make sure we are voting for the right people. And we need to make sure we are doing the right things that allow change...across the board, of our systems and our systematic flow of how we do things has to change, as well. ...
“I am hopeful that we can make a change. I am hopeful that we are going to vote. I am hopeful that we are going to pick the right leaders.”
Wilson was asked, what has changed for him to speak so forcefully now?
“I don’t think anything’s changed,” he said. “I think racism is heavier than ever.”
