Ten former UW football players, including five from the 1991 national championship team, announced in January the formation of the UW Professional Athlete Academic Scholarship Team, which provides UW academic scholarships for inner city high school students in the Seattle and Tacoma areas.
The players, all of whom are currently in the National Football League, are: Chris Chandler and Ed Cunningham of the Phoenix Cardinals; Mario Bailey, Donald Jones and Siupeli Malamala of the New York Jets; Le-Lo Lang and Greg Lewis of the Denver Broncos; Charles Mincy of the Kansas City Chiefs; Jeff Pahukoa of the Los Angeles Rams; and Aaron Pierce of the New York Giants.
Each of the players has pledged a percentage of his income to help fund the scholarships, which will be administered through the University’s Office of Minority Affairs. The University will make five awards of up to $5,000 apiece to students who will enter the UW in the fall.
In a statement, the players said they felt more impact could be made by combining their efforts in this type of program, one that emphasizes the importance of academic as well as athletic achievement. “Everyone talks about education being the key to providing greater economic opportunity in inner cities,” the statement read, “and we feel this kind of program can start the ball rolling. Our experience has been that a team working together toward a common goal can be more effective than individuals working toward different goals. Our hope is that the corporate community of Seattle will join our campaign.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time professional athletes have united in an effort of this kind. We would like to encourage other players and other universities to work together on programs such as this.”