STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Former Penn State quarterback and NFL All-Pro Michael Robinson is clear about his motivation to serve others in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia.
"I am indebted to the community that created me, that helped me be the man I am today. The next generation, they have to be spoken to by people like me, this is my duty, I have to do it," Robinson explained.
Now an NFL Network analyst, Robinson founded Excel to Excellence as a public charity in Richmond to help students getting left behind in the classroom.
Aaron Maybin was an All-American Defensive End in 2008 for the Nittany Lions and a first round draft pick in the NFL.
He admits he was functionally illiterate until the sixth grade going through the Baltimore City School System.
"At the point that the light flipped for me, my life was never the same," said Maybin. "I started to think about my classmates back in Baltimore, the kids that grew up just like me that had a lot of those same labels, a lot of those same learning disorders that were put on our shoulders but were also brilliant."
Today, Maybin is an artist, author, educator and activist in Baltimore and the founder of Project Mayhem which provides aid, both personal and economic, to help underprivileged and at risk youth excel beyond their current conditions.
Bill Spoor is a varsity letterman in football at Penn State, graduating in 1992. After an impressive career in finance with Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, Spoor started an agricultural business in New Jersey called Underground Farms which focuses on harnessing data to promote the responsible practices of local farmers. Spoor and his wife Elke formed Happy Valley Uganda in 2008 as a high-impact educational initiative that gives the children of southwestern Uganda a pathway out of poverty.
"When my wife and I were dating years ago, we went to an Amy Grant concert and during an intermission, she was kind enough to set out a bunch of pictures of kids from around the world that needed help and we randomly went up and picked up a picture of a girl who was 8 years old named Doreen," Spoor smiled. "She was in Southwest Uganda and that was the start of it."
Robinson, Maybin and Spoor are the first recipients of the Inaugural Impact Awards.
"There are countless former Penn State athletes that have done incredibly benevolent, altruistic and impressive things," Spoor said. "In the context of that, I think I speak for Michael, Aaron and myself, that's humbling."
To recognize Penn State Alumni student athletes and their role in that tradition of service to society, the Make an Impact Fund established the Impact Awards, which include financial grants to support the charities of the honorees.
The event was held at the Penn Stater hotel in State College Thursday Night and will be made into an hour long television presentation. 1982 National Championship winning quarterback Todd Blackledge was the host.
FOX43 will air the Impact Awards Sunday, April 16 at 3:30pm.