Advocacy work keeps retired Boldin busy
Longtime receiver walked away from NFL with no regrets.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — After 14 seasons, 1,076 receptions and one Super Bowl championship, Anquan Boldin walked away from the NFL last summer to become a full-time social activist. He says he hasn’t looked back. “There are more important things in life than catching foot- balls,” Boldin said Thursday before serving as host for one of those important things — the 16th annual Q81 Celebrity Golf Tournament at PGA National, which raised a record $40,000 for his foundation and its efforts to serve underprivileged children.
Boldin, a former Pahokee High and Florida State star, has been giving back to the community since early in his NFL career. In addition to the golf tournament, the Anquan Boldin Foundation has sponsored annual Thanksgiv-
ing turkey drives, Christmas toy drives and back-to-school shopping sprees for families in the Glades. Pahokee’s football stadium, built with considerable financial help from Boldin, bears his name. His efforts earned him the 2015 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.
But when Boldin retired last year, just two weeks after signing a contract with the Buffalo Bills, he decided to broaden his reach. In an article for Time magazine, he wrote that he wanted to “become a champion for criminal justice reform and both racial and social equality.”
That has made the transition away from the football field a bit easier, Boldin said.
“It’s been a very interesting year for me,” he said. “Even though I’m retired, I seem to be a lot busier with the advocacy work. Busy in a good way.
“When you’re talking about criminal justice reform, there’s no shortage of things to deal with. We’re trying to learn about what’s going on in each state. We don’t know everything. We’re learning about the issues that are affecting people and we’re learning the best ways to deal with them.”
One of those issues that hits close to home for Boldin is the loss of voting rights. On Friday night, Boldin took part in the Second Chance Workshop, cosponsored by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and the Players Coalition. Participants in the workshop at Glades Central High discussed Florida’s policy of terminating voting rights for life for anyone convicted of a felony and explored ways for residents to regain those rights.
Thursday, however, was time for a little fun. Boldin brought in a high-profile roster of stars, including Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor and Warren Sapp and current NFL players Pierre Garcon, Torrey Smith and Mark Ingram, to help attract donors who contributed anywhere from $400 to $5,000 for the chance to play golf with them. The tournament sold out for the first time, officials said.
“These guys could be anywhere right now,” Boldin said of the A-listers. “They don’t shy away from making a difference in their communities. It means a lot to us.”
Boldin, 37, still appears to be in playing shape. He continues to train every day but says he isn’t holding out hope for a call from an NFL team. That will leave pundits to debate whether his impressive numbers — 1,076 catches (ninth on the alltime list), 13,779 yards (14th) and 82 touchdowns (23rd) — are enough to earn him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“I don’t even think about it,” said Boldin, who earned three Pro Bowl berths and played in Super Bowls with Arizona and Baltimore. “You do what you do on the field and let the people vote.
“My life is complete with or without that.”