By Lisa Zimmerman, Player Engagement Insider
From the moment he was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, quarterback Matt Ryan immediately embraced his new city – and it embraced him back.
A native of Exton, Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia, Ryan became not just the face of the franchise, but a face of Atlanta. One reason was because of the way he immediately became part of the city’s community off the field, participating whenever he has been called upon, and, in particular, through his support of, and involvement with, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).
On Sunday, December 6th, that support will be on public display as Ryan participates in the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats league-wide campaign. In conjunction with the Players’ Tribune, the league has created a way for players to showcase their charitable commitments, by allowing them to design game-day cleats that tell the story of the cause that is near and dear to their hearts. Players can then auction off the cleats via NFL Auction, or a similar platform and donate the proceeds to their charity.
While Ryan, whose Boston College jersey was retired earlier in 2016, has had myriad accomplishments on the field including being named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2008 being a three-time Pro Bowl selection and holding almost a dozen Falcon team records, include all major passing records, his work with CHOA has been equally compelling.
Many of the young patients are fighting cancer and from his first visit to the hospital, during his rookie season, Ryan was touched by the spirit he saw in them. Following his second season, Ryan put the lion’s share of his fundraising efforts into working on behalf of CHOA.
“The kids have such positive outlook all the time whether they’re really sick or on the mend,” Ryan said. “When you go into a hospital and you see kids that are sick it’s hard not to want to help. For me, to start with, it was, ‘How can I help? How can I put a smile on their face?’ Then after I’d been doing these visits for a while I understood CHOA – they’re really good people. Then it became about how could I help raise funds to give doctors, nurses, patients and families the best resources possible.”
Although it’s difficult to keep track of all the patients and families he encounters, there are always a few and each year, when Ryan holds his annual golf tournament and dinner, he invites children who have recovered and are back in school, and back to their normal lives, to speak and share their experiences with those in attendance.
Ryan has been gratified not just by seeing the results of his own efforts, but he has watched as some of his teammates have become equally touched by the children and in turn, taken it upon themselves to participate in both fundraising and in things like hosting families at Falcons home games.
All the proceeds from Ryan’s events go directly to CHOA and following the Falcons’ week 13 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Ryan will auction off his game-worn cleats and those proceeds will be donated to CHOA as well.
Lisa Zimmerman is a long-time NFL writer and reporter. She was the Jets correspondent for CBSSports.com, SportsNet New York’s TheJetsBlog.com and Sirius NFL Radio. She has also written for NFL.com.