NFL Report:  The Commissioner's View  --  Summer 1998
OTHER VICTORIES

  Many of the victories in the NFL have nothing to do with the wins and losses that occur on the football field.

Take Roderick Donald (not his real name). Rod was 12 years old when he first arrived at the NFL Youth Education Town in Los Angeles. Rod’s mother was a drug addict, and he did not know his father. His grandparents were raising him.

The teachers at the NFL YET said Rod came to them filled with anger and hate. He was an underachiever in school, failing in all subjects, who hung around with gang members and who constantly was in trouble. Rod’s anger soon erupted into overly aggressive behavior. He was responsible for a broken arm, a broken finger, and several bloody noses among his fellow YET students.

Rod’s grandparents pinned their hopes for Rod on the NFL’s youth center. “If he doesn’t make it here, he will end up in reform school,” they told the YET teachers. The grandparents begged the teachers for help.

A breakthrough occurred when Bonnie Garrett, one of the NFL YET teachers, discovered that Rod had an artistic gift. He could draw very well. Bonnie took the initiative to work with Rod on an individual basis to help him develop his creative talent.

A transformation soon began to take place. Rod started to turn his life around. His grades improved and so did his behavior with other kids. During his YET stay, Rod went from a "D" student to a “C-plus" student, advanced through junior high school, and is currently a productive high school student committed to his art studies.

Rod still attends the YET center, but now he works with other students, inspiring them to discover their own gifts and use them productively as he did with Bonnie Garrett’s help. “Rod is a totally changed person,” Bonnie says. “The YET center brought him back from gangs and drugs. It helped him learn he had a brain and a talent and how to use them. The YET program saved his life!”

Rod recently returned to the NFL YET center with his grandparents and his prom date. Proud of what he had accomplished and what he had become, Rod wanted to share the center with the people in his life. It must have been quite a moment, too, for Rod’s friends and family.

The NFL Youth Education Town in the Compton section of Los Angeles was the first of its kind. The concept was born in 1992 when NFL owners funded an annual $1 million NFL Charities grant toward the establishment of an educational and recreational facility for at-risk youth in each of our Super Bowl host cities. There now are six NFL Youth Education Towns that serve as permanent NFL legacies in the Super Bowl cities of Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, New Orleans, and San Diego.

In each city, we form a partnership with local experts in youth services. NFL teams and players participate in the YETs on an ongoing basis because they believe in the outstanding work performed there. There are young people like Roderick Donald being saved at all our youth centers. You may not read about these NFL accomplishments in the newspaper, but NFL teams and players believe these victories are no less important than the ones on the football field.