Former Virginia Tech and current New York Jets wide receiver David Clowney is reaching out to children in Ghana, visiting the poor African nation this week with several of his Jets teammates.
Clowney, who graduated from Tech in 2007, started making stops at children’s hospitals, schools, and orphanages on Monday and will spend the whole week giving back to the country.
“We’ve got so many things that we’re going to do while we’re out there,” Clowney told The Associated Press on Saturday. “It’s going to be ridiculous. We’ll do some sightseeing, too, and checking out the area itself, but for the most part, it will be about the kids. We’re just going to try to help however we can.”
The group of pros plan on setting up a football game in the capital city of Accra to teach the children American football.
After his team nearly went to the Super Bowl last season, Clowney has spent the majority of his offseason doing charitable work around the globe.
Stopping in Haiti in March, Clowney helped with relief and recovery efforts following the earthquake in January through musician Wyclef Jean’s charity, Yele Haiti.
In Ghana, the receiver is reportedly bringing around 250 pounds of children’s clothing with him and will also donate $1,000 to each hospital his group visits.
“I’m super excited about it,” he said. “Just thinking about all the work we got done in Haiti in just those three days, I think we’re going to get an extreme amount of work done while trying to help the kids and families of Ghana.”
Clowney reeled in 14 catches and a score last season, serving as the Jets’ backup wideout and role player on special teams.
New York will need him more than ever this season, as the team’s star receiver Santonio Holmes, who is also headed to Ghana, will miss the first four games of the season after violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
QUEEN HARRISON, HURDLER
Tech hurdler Queen Harrison continues to earn national accolades over a month after graduating.
The All-American and three-time NCAA champion found out last week that she is one of three female finalists for the Bowerman award, the highest honor given to collegiate track and field student-athletes.
Recently, Harrison was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Female Track Performer of the Year and the Track and Field News Female College Athlete of the Year.
Finishing off her illustrious collegiate career with a statement, Harrison won Tech’s first national title in women’s track and field in the 60-meter hurdles event at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. In June, she topped off her senior year by becoming the first female in NCAA history to win both the 100- and 400-meter hurdle national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Finals in Eugene, Ore.
In doing so, she recorded the 2010 collegiate-best times in each event, and over the course of the season, Harrison went undefeated in every final of those events.
Her accomplishments pit her against Iowa State’s Lisa Koll and the University of Texas El Paso’s Blessing Okagbare for the Bowerman Award. Koll is a distance runner, while Okagbare is a jumper.
The Bowerman Award is named after legendary University of Oregon head track and field coach and cofounder of Nike, Bill Bowerman. Bowerman served as the team’s coach from 1949-72 and even after cofounding Nike, continued to remain active at the university and in the coaching world.
Now that finalists for the award have been announced, The Bowerman Voters, a group of around 100 consisting of national and regional media personnel, track and field statisticians, administrators, and presidents will make their selections. The Voters will receive ballots listing each of the finalists and must rank them by first, second and third choice.
The voting process will last a few months and on Dec. 15 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country in San Antonio, Texas, award winners will be announced. The three female and three male finalists will be invited to the presentation.