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April 8, 2005
Pennington, Other Herd, NFL Greats Raise Funds for 1st and 10 Foundation
by Grant Traylor
Huntington News Network
Huntington (HNN) — Once upon a time, there was a skinny kid from Tennessee that was given a chance to live his dream. His dream came true and now he wants to make sure that other kids have that same opportunity he did.
Former Marshall and current New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington joined former Herd greats and other National Football League players at the first annual 1st and 10 Celebrity Bowl, Thursday, April 7, 2005 in an effort to raise money for Pennington's foundation, the 1st and 10 Foundation.
Chad and Robin Pennington established the 1st and 10 Foundation in 2003 with the goal of improving the quality of life for Southern West Virginia residents by working with area community centers to establish after-school programs for kids and special programs for senior citizens.
"My wife Robin and I decided that we wanted to give back to the smaller communities," Pennington said. "My wife has a passion for working with senior citizens; I have a passion for working with kids. But, we wanted to reach a whole range of ages because everyone in the area has things they need to improve their life or quality of life."
In addition to Pennington, former Marshall stars Byron Leftwich, Mike Bartrum, Troy Brown and Aaron Ferguson were in attendance to aid in the charitable cause.
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"When we say we bleed green, you know, we really mean that," Leftwich said. "When you can help out and look out for your fellow guy, we always try to do that."
Bartrum, who played for Marshall's first Division I-AA national championship team in 1992, agreed with Leftwich that being a part of the Marshall family still exists long after you have left the school.
"When Troy and I have our (Bartrum and Brown) camp, these guys are always offering their support," Bartrum said. "Anytime it's for any ex-Marshall alum, we all want to be able to come and help out."
Brown said now that Marshall is placing more members in the NFL, the prestigious Marshall family in the NFL is growing, making events like the 1st and 10 Foundation Celebrity Bowl possible to bring to Huntington.
"Now that we have more guys in the NFL, Chad is coming back and doing his thing," Brown said. "It is a great thing for the community for guys like us to be able to come back here and help the community benefit from our success. The more involved the community gets, the better off the community will be."
Brown and Bartrum did not play with Pennington with both being in the NFL before Pennington got to Marshall, but just being a part of the Marshall family and watching its progress is something that has built friendships, according to Brown.
"The guys have kept it like a family atmosphere," Brown said. "We worked with them in the summers when they were in college and it carried over into the pros. It's always nice to help out for a good cause."
"It's a no-brainer to have the opportunity and just come back to meet some fans and see some of the old players," Leftwich said.
Leftwich even said that he would call Pennington back on his favor soon as he is in the midst of getting his own fund-raiser started for the Jacksonville area.
"I'm about to get something started now," Leftwich said. "I don't know what the name is or what it will go to, but I have a big meeting about that next week."
Many of Pennington's current teammates with the Jets, including Kevin Mawae, Jerald Sowell and Laveranues Coles came to the Celebrity Bowl to help with Pennington's cause.
"To me, the NFL is great when it comes to charity work," Pennington said. "The guys that have accompanied me here tonight have just been amazing in doing what it takes to get here and make this event successful. It just shows what type of people they really are."
While most of the contributors were in attendance, there were still many contributors who could not make it, but still offered their support in other ways by donating items to auction.
Items that were to be auctioned at the event included autographed jerseys by Donovan McNabb, Peyton Manning and Lebron James, an autographed baseball bat by Alex Rodriguez, autographed pictures by Pennington and Derek Jeter and many helmets, free trips and other valuable items.
This page last updated: Thursday, March 31, 2005, 1:04:29 AM
