Chris Long is playing for free.
Chris Long is playing for free.
The Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman is donating his first six game checks this season to fund a pair of scholarships for kids in Charlottesville, Va., the scene of this summer’s ugly race clashes .
Long is a native of Charlottesville and a product of the University of Virginia. He was particularly outspoken after violent protests surrounding a statue of Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
“In August, we watched people fill our hometown streets with hatred and bigotry,” Long said in a statement Tuesday. “(My wife) Megan and I decided to try to combat those actions with our own positive investment in our community.”
Chris Long says he had moral duty to support anthem protesters
The Chris Long Foundation will provide two members of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia with a scholarship that will be administered by Long’s alma mater, St. Anne’s-Belfield School. The scholarships will award each student a seven-year, all-expenses-paid education.
The socially-conscious Long has never been shy about not sticking to sports. As a member of last year’s New England Patriots team, he did not attend the championship ceremony at the White House with President Donald Trump. Long has also been one of the few white NFL players to participate in the pregame anthem protests that Colin Kaepernick started last year.
Long, in his first year with the Eagles, has been standing with an arm on teammate Malcolm Jenkins, who raises a fist during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“I would have felt really strange, morally, if I hadn’t done something,” Long had said of supporting Jenkins. “I felt compelled to do it. Certainly I’ve always seen the need for silent protest. I’ve said numerous times, I won’t kneel but with everything that happened in my hometown, it was a tipping point for me.”
Why Chris Long broke NFL protest color barrier
Long is now doing work to improve his community far from the field, and long after the anthem is over. For the first six weeks of this season, he’s playing for free so two kids can go to a fancy private school and have access to an education they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own.
“We want these scholarships to be reflective of what the ‘Cville’ community is really about — supporting one another, social equality and building up those in our community who need it,” Long said. “We hope our investment will change the lives of the students who receive the scholarship and in turn, those students can positively impact others.”
