Cincinnati Bengals superstar quarterback Joe Burrow is known on the field for his pocket awareness, anticipation, and accuracy. He has led the previously moribund Cincinnati franchise to the verge of a Super Bowl twice already in his 3-year career. Burrow is also known for his off-the-field accomplishments as well.
Growing up in Athens, Ohio, Burrow knew about poverty, as the rate in his native southeast, Ohio, is twice the national average. His mother was an elementary school principal, and his father was a football coach, but Joe would hear stories his mother would tell him about some of the struggles kids in her school were having, and it had an impact on the young Joe Burrow.
Fast forward, and Burrow, after a hugely successful college career, made note of his upbringing and his desire to give back to his home state. During his Heisman acceptance speech, he said via The Sporting News: “Coming from southeast Ohio, the poverty rate is almost twice the national average. There are so many people there who don’t have a lot, and I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County who go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here, too.”
Burrow’s speech was the inspiration for the creation of a foundation that raised more than $500,000 for the Athens County Food Pantry. When Joe speaks, people listen. His charm, charisma, and sincerity make people want to follow his lead, both on the field and off.
We are excited to announce the launch of the Joe Burrow Foundation to help meet the needs of families who are working to overcome food insecurity & childhood mental health issues. Visit our website to learn more: https://t.co/fGHJeBwWOm pic.twitter.com/mpwDcz4twP
— The Joe Burrow Foundation (@Burrowfdn) October 4, 2022
In 2022, Burrow teamed up with a foundation called “Where I’m From” to create a clothing line where 100% of the proceeds went towards the foundation. The line sold out fast and generated almost $66,000 back to Burrow’s foundation.
Now, in the lead-up to the 2023 season, Burrow and his foundation have agreed to pay for 20 families’ mental health services in the Cincinnati area. They couldn’t narrow it down to one family, so Joe and the foundation settled on 20.
Jimmy Burrow, Joe’s dad and the vice-president of the foundation, said this via CBS Sports: “One mom, one of her comments was it was the best day of her life,” said Burrow’s dad, Jimmy, who serves as the foundation’s vice president. “Those types of things make you really appreciate the fact that we’ve got this opportunity to help.”
Robin Burrow, Joe’s mom, traces back why she thinks her son has such a big heart and desire to give back: “When I started teaching, I would come home and tell little stories, just things that were breaking my heart,” she recalled. “It’s sad when families don’t have the resources and don’t have the means to be able to get the things that they need. So I think that he heard a lot of those stories and took those stories to heart.”
Joe Burrow is driven to bring a Lombardi to Southwest Ohio. He is also driven to help his fellow Ohioans that are suffering from mental health issues and poverty. As long as the Bengals keep him, the bigger impact he will have on and off the field.
Bengal ownership is working hard on extending the young quarterback’s contract to keep him in the Queen City for the duration of his career. Burrow is everything that sports should embody, and in an age of “me first” and greedy, out-of-touch athletes, Cincinnati is proud to call Joe Burrow their guy.
Featured image: AlexanderJonesi, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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