Randy York's N-Sider:
The Official Blog of the Huskers
It's no small coincidence that
Nebraska’s football team has: 1) won back-to-back Life Skills Awards at
the past two NU Student-Athlete Banquets; 2) carries the highest
overall grade-point average in Nebraska football history (3.1); and 3)
is using Bo Pelini’s team leaders to
begin their own foundation to support Uplifting Athletes, a national
organization that recently named Husker captain Rex Burkhead its 2012 award winner for mentoring and encouraging 6-year-old Jack Hoffman,
who is battling pediatric brain cancer. “Coach Bo has made life skills a
team focus, and they’re reaching out and drawing players in for
outreach efforts like we’ve never seen,” said Keith Zimmer,
Nebraska’s associate athletic director for Life Skills. “Everyone knows
the popularity of Nebraska football, so there are always requests out
there to help others. But ultimately, football has to take the
initiative to accept these requests. They’re the ones who have to follow
through and deliver, and they have.”
Pelini’s passion begins with his own
foundation that has distributed more than $400,000 to help find cures
for breast cancer and juvenile diabetes in addition to supporting dozens
of other charities, ranging from the Make A Wish Foundation and
People’s City Mission to numerous Nebraska-based cancer foundations.
Bo’s foundation also supports such critical causes as special needs
children, food banks, Cystic Fibrosis and Big Brothers and Big Sisters,
plus many others. “Our motto in Life Skills is ‘Live to Give’ and our
support comes right from the top – from Coach Bo,” said Ryan Klachko,
a 6-foot-4, 300-pound redshirt freshman offensive lineman from Sacred
Heart-Griffin High School in Springfield, Ill. “Giving absolutely
applies to everything we do, off the field as well as on the field.
Giving back to the community is a big part of Nebraska and says
everything you need to say when you live here and play here.”
Klachko staunchly believes that the
motto connects the game he plays to a much bigger game – the game of
life. “When you live to give, it helps your whole mentality about
everything you do,” he said. “Your whole mindset is based on how you see
things, and when you experience everything we’ve experienced over this
past year, it makes you really appreciate what others people have to go
through.” When a dozen Huskers showed up at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo
on Halloween to hand out candy and hang out with a young teenager
fighting spinal cancer, “you realize how important it is just to show up
and let people know how much you care,” Klachko said. “We just hung out
with Ian and played tag football with him, his buddies and his brother.
We looked around and saw about 50 percent of kids wearing costumes were
dressed up as Husker football players. That’s when you realize you’re a
role model, and you want to do everything you can to help.
“It’s definitely a fight trying to play
football every day at Nebraska,” Klachko said, “but when you see what
kids are fighting through every day, you realize there’s some really,
really tough people out there and whenever you can make them feel just a
little bit better about what they’re going through, it’s good. Look at
Rex Burkhead and Jack, the little guy Rex is so gung ho about helping.
That kid has become part of Rex’s life, and I think that’s awesome to
see how much he cares about other people.” The mindset starts at the top
and spreads through the ranks. “Coach Bo made sure our whole team got
to meet Jack after one of our bowl game practices,” Klachko said.
As a father himself, Pelini invited Jack
and his parents to watch practice, so the Huskers could reach out and
touch someone with compassion and genuine caring. “We have a lot of
caring players on this football team,” Zimmer said. “They’re
volunteering all the time and with genuine motives. It’s not about
getting extra points or enhancing resumes. They’re volunteering because
it’s the right thing to do and it’s part of our tradition. I think it’s
really cool what Coach Bo has done with his foundation. What he’s
started has spread to his players.” The day before Nebraska’s Spring
Game was cancelled, a sizable group of Husker players met with Zimmer
and Scott Shirley, a former Penn State player who founded Uplifting Athletes.
“They want to start a players’
foundation to help raise money for a rare disease like Rex’s little
buddy has,” Zimmer said. “That’s a real compliment to Bo and good
modeling. They’ve seen what Coach Bo has done in terms of service with
his foundation, and now they want to do something, too.” Burkhead and
his teammates are all “N” because they live to give, just like their
head coach.
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