Opening the way for the disadvantaged to succeed

Sporting News, The, Dec 25, 1995 by Jackie Slater

I went to Jackson State, which is a predominantly black college in Jackson, Miss. It was only a five-minute walk from home. Still, the experience was unique. I wasn't treated like a number, because the student enrollment wasn't that large.

The people who were teaching us wanted to see us be successful. They wanted the university to work, they wanted the graduation rate to be high because they knew that most of the kids coming there were from rural parts of the southern belt of the country, who needed an education desperately to enhance their economic situation. Education was a way out of extreme poverty in a lot of cases.

My mom had five boys, and I was the first to go off to college. It was a priority of the generation before me to get their kids a chance to go to college. I would have never been able to afford to go to college if I hadn't gone on a football scholarship. I just wouldn't have been able to go.

It's hard to say what I would have done had I not gone to college. My exposures were limited.

I found out about the United Negro College Fund project through the players' union. They told us about how the NFL was celebrating the 50th anniversary of modern integration in professional football and that this was also the 50th anniversary of the College Fund/UNCF. Making a donation was an easy decision for me. I felt it was a great idea. I felt it was going to benefit some people who needed it So it was really no skin off my teeth to get involved. Now that I've done it, and I've gotten more information about what's going on and who the money is going to and how it's going to benefit them, I'm excited about having done i% and probably will do it again.

Ten thousand dollars is quite a sum, but it gives a kid who really wants to get an education an opportunity if his parents or relatives can't afford to help him. I much rather be responsible for helping that kid stay in school for a year or two, as opposed to having him drop out and never realize his dream. Who knows what that kid could be? He might be the guy who invents the serum that cures cancer.

Being involved in professional sports provides a great opportunity to do something in the community around you, to affect the lives of people. The United Negro College Fund is just one avenue.

I've worked with the Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Foundation in Long Beach, Calif., where there are young people desperately trying to hold onto their lives. I'm active in the South Sunrise Little League in Orange, Calif. You help financially, but they need your time, too.

Athletes are viewed as guys who make quite a bit of money and who in a lot of instances are selfish and only concerned about themselves. There are cases of athletes who couldn't care less about the community they live in. But I think that is rare. I've had almost 800 different teammates in the 20 years I've played, and most of the people I've worked with are genuinely concerned about others.

If you went into the locker room, you'd find there are a lot of very generous, very giving people -- of their time as well as their money. They realize they've been blessed by God with an abundance of talent and riches, and they genuinely look for places to give back.. It might not be much. It might be more time than money. It might be more money than time.

But generally, guys are very, very generous; they don't mind helping. A lot more of this goes on at this level than you would think. In a lot of cases, you would never get to know this, because players don't want to talk about it. But most guys realize they're very, very fortunate to have the opportunity they have. And they have it for a limited amount of time. In addition to maximizing the economic effect and effect they can have on the field as a professional athlete -- even if only for a short period of time -- most guys don't want to look back and say, "I had a chance to help that guy and didn't I had a chance to help that cause and didn't."

So I think they do something about it while they can.

Jackie Slater played in his 259th career game November 12 -- most in the NFL by an offensive lineman. He was returned to the injured reserve list after the game, with an elbow injury that likely will end his career after 20 professional seasons, all with the Rams. Slater is among the NFL Golden Circle of 50players who have donated $10,000 each to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the United Negro College Fund and the 50th Anniversary of post-world War II integration of professional football.