Bobby Wagner is Seahawks’ 2019 nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year Award
SEATTLE – Those who know Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner best insist that he’d just as soon nobody know about his philanthropic efforts.
But do enough good deeds and word gets around.
Wagner got one of the ultimate recognitions for an NFL player Thursday, named as the team’s nominee for the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which according to the Seahawks’ website, “recognizes the NFL players who have not only exhibited excellence on the field, but whose passion to impact lives extends beyond the game and has led them to leave a positive legacy in their communities.”
Among the charitable acts Wagner is being recognized for is recently making a spur-of-the-moment decision to pay the tabs at Safeway for dozens of customers who were in the store while Wagner was helping package supplies for Thanksgiving dinners for homeless encampments around the city of Seattle. It’s a cause he has been involved with since last summer.
Wagner was honored by the NFL Players Association as its Week 13 “Community MVP” for paying the tabs at Safeway.
Other acts mentioned by the team include his “Walk with Wagner” for stroke awareness in the Seattle community, hosting “numerous holiday shopping events around Thanksgiving and Christmas to support those in need with groceries or Christmas presents” and hosting a bowling event for 54 youth from the Orlando, Florida, community while he was in town for the Pro Bowl.
Wagner told the team’s website that being nominated for the Payton Award would have been especially meaningful to his mother Phenia, who died of a heart attack while Wagner was a freshman at Utah State.
“This means a lot,” Wagner said. “It’s one of those things that acknowledges what you do off the field, and I feel like that if my mom was still here, she would appreciate the things I’ve done on the field, but she would appreciate more the stuff I have done off the field.”
Wagner also took to Twitter to express his gratitude for the award.
Last year’s nominee was fellow linebacker K.J. Wright, whose off-field efforts included helping build two water wells for a village in Kenya.
Steve Largent is the only Seahawk to win the award, doing so in 1988.
According to the team, all 32 nominees will receive a donation of up to $50,000 in their name to their charity of choice. For his donation, Wagner has selected the HBCU Foundation, which provides scholarship aid to deserving students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Wagner has been wearing sweatshirts representing noted Historically Black Colleges at postgame news conferences all season). The winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of their choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.