Content
Introducing an Athlete of the Rarest Kind
| Article Index |
|---|
| Introducing an Athlete of the Rarest Kind |
| Page 2 |
| Page 3 |
| All Pages |
by Kevin Blackstone
Madieu Williams hasn't changed his surname to reflect his Minnesota Vikings jersey number, 20.
He doesn't star in a reality television show circling around his life.
He is the anti-Ochocinco, the mirror opposite of T.O., the quietude in the cacophonous world of the modern professional athlete.
But Williams' refreshing persona is not what is most remarkable about him. Instead, it is that he is a pro athlete -- no, make that member of the human race rather than sell him so short -- who actually has something worth sharing about his life, from which all of us can learn and our neighbors can prosper, and chooses not to pound his chest to the world.
To be sure, this is how Williams spent the Vikings' bye week last week:
"It's remarkable. He has a real commitment to education and health."
- Robert Gold A Terrapins sports information official told me their office was unaware of their former player's act until after the fact. A Vikings media relations officer said he was unaware of their starting free safety's latest altruistic gesture until I called asking to speak with Williams. Williams' agent, Kenny Zuckerman, relayed my request to Williams to interview Williams about what he'd just done and called me back a few days later to inform me Williams had said all he would publicly about his generosity.
"He's quite a young man," Gold summed up Williams, now 28 and a six-year NFL veteran.
Gold told me he'd met Williams -- who immigrated to Lanham, Md., from Sierra Leone as a 9-year-old -- only a couple times as a Maryland student. Williams earned a bachelor's degree in 2003 in family science.
As a football fan, Gold said he was following Williams' career. But Gold said he didn't come to know Williams until the last year and a half after Williams inquired with Gold's office about establishing a scholarship.
Their initial discussion led to several more, as well as talks with another Maryland alumnus, Alice Horowitz, who had donated $2 million to the public health school earlier. The next thing Gold knew, Williams elevated their discussions to seeding something that could serve many rather than just a few.
What Gold didn't know immediately about Williams was that giving to many others wasn't new for him. He'd started his own foundation, the Madieu Williams Foundation, which focused on wellness and education for underprivileged youth. In Cincinnati, where Williams started his NFL career in 2004, he built a playground with the hope that it would inspire kids to get outside and be active for the betterment of their health.
