Seahawks QB Russell Wilson named NFL’s Man of the Year
SEATTLE – Russell Wilson didn’t get his first MVP vote when the NFL announced its season awards Saturday night.
But Wilson got an honor he may value even more, taking the NFL’s Man of the Year trophy during the league’s official awards ceremony.
Wilson is only the second Seahawk to win the award – receiver Steve Largent also won it in 1986. Wilson won the trophy after being nominated for the second time – he was also nominated in 2014.
Wilson was honored for a variety of off-field and charitable activities that include visits every Tuesday during the regular season to Seattle Children’s Hospital, which he continued this year virtually, as well as his Why Not You Foundation having donated over $9 million to Strong Against Cancer to fund life-saving immunotherapy treatment since 2014.
Wilson and the Why Not You Foundation are also both founding partners of United Way’s Ride United Last Mile campaign, which has resulted in 211,000 completed deliveries (2,414,321 meals) nationwide and 28,759 deliveries (860,000 meals) across King County.
One player from each team is nominated for the award, which was first established in 1970 and was renamed after Payton, a Hall of Famer with the Chicago Bears, in 1999.
For winning, Wilson will receive a $250,000 donation to a charity of his choice.
Some of the families Wilson has visited at Children’s Hospital this week released a video thanking Wilson for his efforts and wishing him good luck in winning the award – Wilson is estimated to have visited at least 600 patients in his nine years with the team.
“We’re incredibly thankful for everything he has done for our patients and families throughout the years,’’ stated a release from Seattle Children’s Hospital. Even during the pandemic, he still takes time to visit children in the hospital through Zoom.”
Along with the hospital visits and his efforts for cancer research, Wilson and his wife, Ciara, also embarked on severa COVId-19 pandemic-related endeavors this year, as well.
Specifically, they donated one million meals to Feeding America and Food Lifeline, then partnered with the aviation company Wheels Up to launch the Meals Up campaign, which raised the equivalent of more than 50 million meals.
Among other endeavors, in 2018, the WNYF partnered with the Seattle Symphony, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, to raise over $1.4 million to create access and opportunity to the arts for children in the community.
Also this year, Wilson and his foundation announced their latest efforts towards providing quality education to underserved communities and revealed the first-ever Why Not You Academy, a tuition-free public charter school which is set to open next fall.
During the 2020 election campaign, Wilson also joined the I Am A Voter (IAAV) organization encouraging the registration of voters nationwide.