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By
JOSH EZZELL
Murfreesboro
Post
As a child Byron De'Vinner
remembers what it was like to depend on people for help.
He lived with his grandmother, who often had to make ends meet
with only $400 a month. She relied on food stamps, and money was
often tight.
Therefore, if he wanted to do something extra like attend a
football camp, he needed help from others. He always got help,
and, as a result, he was able to make something out of his life.
He hasn't forgotten what it was like to rely on help from others.
That's why the Murfreesboro resident started the Byron De'Vinner
Foundation Nov. 5, 2004. It's a nonprofit organization that has
activities to help children.
"It's very unique," De'Vinner said of the foundation.
"I look at it as what can people do to give back to
kids."
De'Vinner's foundation does various things to help children. One
year, for example, he got former Tennessee Titan wide receiver
Kevin Dyson to help put on a camp for kids. He raised money to
ensure that any kid who wants to attend a camp or other activity
can do so.
De'Vinner calls upon contacts made during his college football
career at the University of Alabama-Birmingham in the early 1990s
to raise funds.
Next month at Riverdale High School the foundation will put on the
Byron De'Vinner Foundation Celebrity Basketball Game.
In that March 24 game such past and present college and pro
football celebrities as Dyson, Ross Browner, Lemanski Hall, Eugene
Gross, Brad Hopkins, Courtland Finnegan, Corey Fleming, Will
Bartholomew, Antonio Langham, Antonio London, Joe Cribbs, Pierre
Goode, Reggie Grimes, Wayne Shaw, De'Vinner and Ricardo Colclough.
The celebrities will face the Rutherford County MLK Scholarship
Team, which will consist of various players.
Admission is $5 to the event that starts at 7 p.m., but children 5
and under get in free. The athletes will sign autographs after the
game.
Sixty-five percent of the proceeds will benefit the Martin Luther
King Jr. Scholarship Fund, and the remaining portion will go to
the Byron De'Vinner Foundation. That money will cover expenses and
other future events.
"Byron does a great job," said Browner, who won the
Outland Trophy at Notre Dame in 1976. The Outland Trophy is
awarded to the nation's top interior or defensive lineman.
"I always help out Byron at Riverdale," said Browner,
vice president of corporate and community development for
Backfield in Motion, a nonprofit organization that teaches
athletic and academics to boys.
Like De'Vinner, Browner, who played nine seasons with the
Cincinnati Bengals and one with the Green Bay Packers in the NFL,
got help from others as a child and wants to help.
"I like giving back," Browner said. "I like seeing
youth go in the right direction."
Browner is also famous for playing football with Daniel
"Rudy" Ruettiger, whose story was the basis for the
sports movie, "Rudy."
Browner was one of the Notre Dame players who marched into head
coach Dan Devine's office and laid his uniform on the coach's desk
to support giving Rudy the opportunity to dress in uniform for one
game.
Rudy played against Georgia Tech as a senior and recorded a sack.
He was carried off the field and is the last player to receive
that honor at Notre Dame.
BIRTH OF A FOUNDATION
De'Vinner's grandmother passed away on his birthday in 1999, and
he wanted to honor her in some way. She always did what she could
to help, and he decided to do the same thing.
"For four or five years I contemplated what to do," he
said. "I told myself I wanted to give back. I wanted to give
kids the opportunities I had."
In 2004 he started the foundation. With his contacts — as a
native of Birmingham, Ala., he knows numerous Alabama and Auburn
athletes — he decided to put on events to help kids.
He's put on charity softball games, football camps and basketball
games. The events raise money for kids who want to attend camps or
need something.
"It keeps kids motivated," Riverdale track coach and
assistant football coach Rickey Field said of the events. Field
has worked with De'Vinner on various projects and also likes to
help children.
"It keeps them built up," Field said of events. "It
gives them structure. What we're doing is helping motivate
them."
GETTING ATHLETES INVOLVED
Youngsters often look up to athletes. They want to be like the
stars. They want their ability and accolades.
When a youngster meets a star that moment can have a profound
effect. For De'Vinner that moment came in eighth grade when he met
Bo Jackson, who won the Heisman Trophy as a running back at Auburn
and enjoyed successful careers in football and baseball.
Jackson talked to De'Vinner and came across as a humble
individual. Jackson kept in touch with him, and he never forgot.
"He would check on me and call," De'Vinner said.
"If he was busy, his mom would call."
Now DeVinner's the adult, and he decided an effective way to reach
kids is athletes.
"I'm just trying to give kids the opportunities I had,"
said Goode, who will participate in the basketball game in March.
He played football at Alabama from 1984-87.
He's known De'Vinner since the early '90s and loves to help.
"It's my chance to give back," Goode said. "If it
helps schools, helps kids, put me down."
GRADES AND FOOTBALL
De'Vinner enjoyed success as a high school football player, but
grades were another issue.
He didn't worry about hitting the books much until a visit to the
University of Georgia. De'Vinner toured the campus and met with
former Georgia coach Vince Dooley, who sat down with him for a
meeting.
"Coach Dooley told me (Georgia wants) me bad, but I had to
qualify (academically)," De'Vinner remembers. "I learned
really fast how important grades were. No one told me grades were
important (before meeting Dooley)."
He learned his lesson and buckled down in the classroom.
After contemplating whether to attend junior college, he decided
to attend Alabama State in Montgomery where he played one year but
didn't enjoy his time there. He had a friend at UAB who told him
to return to Birmingham.
De'Vinner returned home and played three years for the Blazers as
an offensive/defensive lineman. He graduated with a degree in
communications and now works for T-Mobile in customer loyalty.
"Birmingham was a good fit for me," he said. "It
gave me the opportunity to be back at home and play. I had the
opportunity to play early. It taught me a lot about giving
back."
Now he's taking those lessons and applying them.
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