Rams tackle and former Bengal Andrew Whitworth is the recipient of the NFL Players Association’s Alan Page Community MVP award for his work in the Los Angeles area.
Whitworth was not at the union’s news conference, and his wife, Melissa, accepted the award and the $100,000 check that will go to the Big Whit 77 Foundation.
Former Falcons tackle Mike Kenn introduced Melissa Whitworth and noted her husband went “above and beyond in serving his city.” Whitworth donated a game check to helping people in Thousand Oaks who were displaced by fires — the Whitworth family was one of them — and to survivors of victims of a mass shooting in the area.
“This means a lot to our family,” Melissa Whitworth said, “but not as much as it’s about the community of Thousand Oaks. I’ve never been through anything quite like the month of November in Southern California. Twelve people were murdered 5 miles away, and hour later our entire city was on fire.”
She noted there were firefighters “who chose to save our house when theirs were burning.”
In a video, Whitworth called the honor “something so special because of community involvement.” He hoped the money would “make lasting change in our community.”
