Giants donate to Albany High
Team gives $10,000 to football program for which RB Lewis played
Christmas officially came 10 days early for members of the Albany High football program, and one huge present evolved into an even more substantial gift that will have a lasting impact for the Falcons.
The New York Giants, the National Football League franchise that called the University at Albany its summer home for 16 years until ending its stay in the Capital Region in 2012, was looking for a way to give back to Albany. The team’s community relations department offered up Albany native Dion Lewis, who is in his first season with the team. Lewis held a Zoom meeting with Albany High’s players on Dec. 15.
“They wanted to provide our football players this opportunity to hear Dion and his story,” said Ashley Chapple, Albany’s director of health, physical education and athletics.
Chapple and the team were thrilled to experience a questionand-answer session with the NFL running back who played at both Albany and Albany Academy before moving to complete his scholastic football career at Blair Academy. Lewis, who won a Super Bowl ring as a member of the New En
gland Patriots, played his college football at the University of Pittsburgh. The meeting, however, was not the only thing the Giants provided. Far from it, in fact, as the organization donated to the Falcons’ program $10,000 to put toward new equipment.
“The grant money was a bonus. We didn’t even know about it,” Chapple said.
Lewis, who began his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, completed his 100th career contest Sunday in a 20-6 loss against Cleveland. Albany High, like the rest of Section II, was unable to play during the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Falcons’ getting the opportunity to hear and learn from Lewis proved to be a monumental win for the members of the program.
“It was huge for us. Dion still comes through Albany. He still has family and friends here,” Chapple said. “Unfortunately, some things have not changed: the pressure for a teenager is still the same. The pressures from the community are still the same as well as the pressure from their friends. Getting the chance to listen to him and have him talk about and explain the importance of nutrition, to have a good ethic and the importance of an education along with making sacrifices was a big part of the conversation. That is exactly what our kids need to hear in these tough times.”