Super Bowl champion Darrelle Revis returned to his old stomping grounds at the University of Pittsburgh to hold his second annual H2 (Hunger and Health) Fun Fest.
Before the event, the former New York Jet and New England Patriot told Prime Time Sports Talk why he wants to tackle childhood hunger.
“Growing up, I’ve been involved with a ton of programs and a ton of organizations that helped me out, after school programs as well,” Revis said. “I come from a single parent home as well as growing up in an urban community has its challenges and those programs that I was involved with when I was in school helped me get to where I am today.”
What made it even sweeter for Revis, was the fact that the school where he earned multiple All-American and All Big-East awards, was heavily involved with making the event as special as he wanted it to be.
“It’s amazing and I’m very grateful that I can reach back out to the University of Pittsburgh,” Revis said. “[I’m glad] that they can be a helping hand in tackling this cause, of childhood hunger.”
The children who attended the camp were split up into six stations which included a food educational seminar, combine drills, and even boxing lessons. One station held 7-on-7 touch football matchups with the kids and parents joined by members of the Pitt football team.
College football players were not the only ones that attended as past and present NFL players came to help out in the cause.
Pittsburgh Steelers rookie safety Dravon Askew-Henry took what little downtime he had left before training camp to attend as one of the special guests.
“It’s for the kids man, anytime it’s for the kids I’ll make the time to be there,” Askew-Henry said. “I had a little free time and I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Askew-Henry wants to continue carrying on the Aliquippa football legacy of giving back to the community like Revis.
“This don’t stop here, we have to keep the tradition going,” Askew-Henry said. “[We can’t forget why we do this,] it’s for the kids.”
Another Jet alum Laveranues Coles attended the event as well and was impressed by what the All-Pro and his foundation put together.
“It’s amazing that Darrelle put this event on for these kids,” Coles said. “It’s truly an inspiration for everybody to see, I feel like he has given so much back and just to see the excitement and enjoyment in the all the family’s eyes not only means a lot to this community but throughout the country.”
Revis brought to light a part of his journey that most of his fans don’t know about his time at the University of Pittsburgh.
“When I first got here, I was a scout team running back carrying the ball against [linebackers] Clint Session and H.B. Blades who went on to have pro careers,” Revis said. “There’s a certain type of ambition you gotta have and I definitely did had ambition to not get hit by H.B. Blades or Clint Session and actually doing something about it by just taking my playbook and going home to the dorm room and studying as much as possible so when my number was called and I was able to contribute and the rest was history.”
If there is one thing he wants the kids to take away from his camp, it is what his coaches told him about earning what you want.
“You have to earn things in life,” Revis said. “Life is not handed to you, you have to put in the hard work and dedication to what your passion is or what your dreams are. I always say, ‘Dream big, dream massive as much as possible,’ but along the way there’s going to be bumps in the road there’s gonna be stuff that comes up where you have to make adjustments and you have to move forward. Your life experience is what makes you who you are and that’s the message we want to give to kids.”
For more information on the foundation, events, and ways to donate, go to https://darrellerevisfoundation.org/
