Pro athletes led big movement to aid disaster relief this year
support a city and a people that were having the toughest time of their life,” Watt said.
Watt was only one of many athletes who heeded the call for help when disasters struck in2017.
After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico shortly after Harvey’s destruction in Houston, several players stepped up.
Baseball star Carlos Beltran, who retired after winning the World Series with the Houston Astros, started a fundraiser to help victims by donating $1 million. Several other major leaguers, including Yadier Molina and Enrique Hernandez, also joined in with their own campaigns.
Members of the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors jumped in to help after wildfires scorched the West Coast in October. Klay Thompson donated $75,000 to fire relief efforts by giving $1,000 for each point he scored in a three-game stretch. The Oakland Raiders organization gave $1 million and the Raiders, Warriors and 49ers combined on a donation of $450,000.
Other athletes showed their generosity in various ways. Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Carson Wentz and former teammate Jordan Matthews went to Haiti on a mission trip in May. Wentz later announced he was helping build a sports complexin that country.
“I feel that this sports complex will be an incredible way for the youth of Haiti to have more opportunities to enjoy sporting competition, to further their education, to have access to healthy meals and to enjoy being around a Christian community to help further their faith,” Wentz said.
Eagles defensive end Chris Long donated in a big way this year by playing for free. The veteran player gave his first six game checks to provide two scholarships for students in Charlottesville, Va. He then used the next 10 checks to launch a charitable initiative that encourages people to make donations to improve equal education opportunities.
Long signed a two-year, $4.5 million contract with the Eagles, including a $500,000 signing bonus and $1.5 million guaranteed.His base salary in 2017is $1 million.
Texas Rangers ace pitcher Cole Hamels and his wife, Heidi, donated their Missouri mansion estimated at $10 million and 100 acres of land to a charity that provides camps for children with special needs and chronic illnesses and their siblings.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick also dipped into his own pocket to give. Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the national anthem last season to protest racial inequality and police brutality but now remains unsigned, donated $600,000 of his Million Dollar Pledge in 2017. Kaepernick began the pledge in October 2016 and contributed$300,000 last year.