Gruden applauds youth football
Julius Boyd Jr., 13, slipped a pair of shiny new black football shoulder pads over his head, pulled the buckles tight across his chest and admired the protective plate draped over his lower back.
“I like them,” Boyd affirmed. “Our last ones were different, but these are way better. The first ones, the buckle kept coming out.”
Boyd plays cornerback and running back for the East Bay Panthers, a youth football and cheer organization for kids ages 5 to 14. On Tuesday evening, players, coaches and parents from the Panthers and the San Leandro Crusaders, another such program, gathered at Burrell Field in San Leandro for a surprise.
Awaiting them on the field was an array of new equipment — helmets, shoulder pads, footballs, water bottles — provided by Dick’s Sporting Goods through its “Sports Matter” youth outreach program. Also waiting was Jon Gruden, head coach of the Raiders.
Gruden has been involved
with “Sports Matter” since 2014, when he worked for ESPN and would hold similar outreach events in cities he visited for “Monday Night Football.” His aim is to make sure that youth sports programs, especially in football, are being funded and populated.
“I’m on a mission to encourage kids to play,” Gruden said at one point Tuesday.
At Burrell Field, Gruden gathered the Panthers and Crusaders for a pep talk that included three directives: Give effort, listen to your coach, have fun. He led players in a few drills. And he presented to each team a check for $50,000 — grant money from the “Sports Matter” program.
“It’s going to help parents, everybody, be able to afford the sports and put kids off the streets into sports,” said Jacob Davis, president of the East Bay Panthers.
“This makes a big impact,” Crusaders vice president Daniel Rivera said. “Most of these teams are nonprofit, so it’s a lot of legwork to go out and try to find money. To be given money like this, it’s a big, big deal.”
Both Davis and Rivera said their programs have about 200 kids playing football. That means a lot of required equipment, and Rivera said the grant will be used in part to refurbish helmets and shoulder pads. Davis said the Panthers plan to sponsor youths who need aid to play, with the flip side that if their grades start slipping, they’ll be directed to tutoring instead.
“This program is strong and it really has changed both my son and nephew,” said Jason Tatum of Oakland, a Crusaders parent. “It just gives them a lot of discipline; they get in shape. It gives them something they not only enjoy, but they can relate to some of their heroes.”
Also on Tuesday, Gruden presented grants of $15,000 to two high school programs: Oakland Tech and McClymonds. The amount included $5,000 each from Gruden, Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Raiders, who matched Gruden’s donation.
In a short meeting with the coaches and a few players in Alameda, Gruden challenged the teens to stick with football and encourage friends to play. He also asked coaches Virdell Larkins (Oakland Tech) and Michael Peters (McClymonds) about their yearly budgets. Both said they’re allotted $450 total for their varsity and junior varsity teams and sometimes cover equipment or uniform costs out of pocket.
“I bought a new (blocking) sled last year that we’d been needing that’s going to get paid off,” Larkins said. “Got a jersey bill that’s going to get paid off. Bills are going to be paid.”