The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominees have been announced and the Cincinnati Bengals player nominated is Ted Karras.
The award is given to a player who not only excels on the field but also gives back to his community and has a positive impact outside of football as well.
Karras started selling his Cincy Hat in 2022 which featured Bengals colors and claw marks. In the year since the website was launched, it has raised over $800,000 in sales with all proceeds past $325,000 going to Village of Merici.
Village of Merici is based in Karras’ hometown of Indianapolis and is a non-profit living community and service provider for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which he has been closely involved with as a donor, fundraiser and event host since 2016.
“I’m truly honored,” Karras said. “I’m so grateful to be a part of Village of Merici and grateful to everyone in the Cincinnati community. I can’t believe how this project turned into something like this. What a very humbling experience.”
When Cincy Hat started, Karras matched $100,000 in donations and hat orders, and since then it has expanded to selling shirts, visors and onesies to go along with the original hats.
“The financial support The Cincy Hat project has provided Village of Merici is incredible,” Colleen Renie, Village of Merici Executive Director said. “This project has become 10 times larger than any other fundraiser we have throughout the year. It’s given us the ability to think bigger and reach more adults in need. We have a large waitlist of adults in need of services, and we’ve been able to hire more coaches and serve more people with this new income stream.”
Each team in the NFL had a player nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and each of them will be honored in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, with the winner being announced during the NFL Honors on Feb. 8 on CBS. The winner will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice.
Fans can vote for Walter Payton Man of the Year here, or by posting on Twitter with #WPMOYChallenge included in the post along with the name of the player they would like to vote for.
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