Witten headlines D1 Foundation dinner
By Donnie Conley, staff writer
dconley@williamsonherald.com
Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten was on hand at D1 Sports Training in Cool Springs Monday night to help launch the D1 Sports Foundation.
A native of Elizabethton, Tenn., Witten played football at the University of Tennessee from 2000-02, where he was a teammate of D1 President and CEO Will Bartholomew.
Witten has been selected to five consecutive Pro Bowls and has led the Cowboys in receptions each of the last two seasons.
He is also very active in the community, and was selected as the Cowboys’ recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2007.
He embraces being a role model for kids, in part because he remembers looking up to athletes when he was a kid.
“I think a lot of it has to do with your upbringing and the legacy you want to leave,” Witten said. “I think we (were all kids) with big dreams and big aspirations. Football’s a great game that put me in this situation but life’s a lot bigger than that.”
Witten was on hand to help D1 present a $6,500 check to Whites Creek High School for a new weight room.
Helping inner city schools is a main focus of the foundation, which plans to give a similar grant out each year.
“The goal and the vision of the foundation is to give back to kids and help them in training, help high schools with weight rooms and really support the community,” Bartholomew said. “We really wanted to help out a school and Whites Creek needed some new equipment and we are giving them a great grant to help get that weight room and hopefully they’ll love it.”
Of course, Witten couldn’t quite avoid questions about his alma mater; specifically those pertaining to new head coach Lane Kiffin.
“I’m excited for him,” Witten said. “He’s obviously got a great staff and I think that those kids are really going to learn how to work and develop because of the environment he’s creating. I think he’ll have a lot of success.”
Bartholomew said that last night was the culmination of something seven years in the making.
“Ever since I started D1 (in 2002), I’ve wanted to impact lives,” Bartholomew said. “We wanted to take kids and bring them out here and teach them not only how to get faster and stronger but how to get more mentally confident and how to earn a scholarship to college. We’re going to be able to do that through this foundation.”
Posted on: 7/23/2009
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