When legacy and leadership collide, the impact resonates far beyond the field!
Myles Garrett, star defensive end for the Cleveland Browns and reigning 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, recently returned to Hampton University—not as an athlete, but as a bridge-builder, investor, and proud son of HBCU excellence.
While on campus in Virginia for a special panel on STEM education and innovation, Garrett didn’t just bring his championship mindset—he brought a generous heart. The six-time Pro Bowler donated $25,000 to Hampton University in honor of his mother, Audrey Garrett, a Hampton alumna whose own story is rooted in athletic brilliance and academic ambition, Black Enterprise reports.
A former All-American track star who attended the university on a scholarship, the matriarch has continued to shine as a doctoral candidate at the Southern University Law Center in strategic leadership and as a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Now her son has returned to her alma mater to ensure his mother’s legacy is cemented at the HBCU.
The panel, which also featured Johnson Energy Storage CEO Brandon Martin, centered on empowering students to pursue STEM careers and to embrace futures where they are more than athletes. Garrett, who invested in Johnson Energy Storage last fall, is not only using his platform to uplift but also to educate and empower.
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Still, this isn’t just a story about football or finances. It’s a full-circle moment of legacy—a son giving back to the institution that helped shape his mother, and in turn, shaped him. Garrett’s donation serves as a tribute to the transformative power of HBCUs and to the excellence passed down through generations.
Even as he makes history on the gridiron—becoming the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history with a $40 million-per-year contract extension through 2030—Garrett is proving that greatness is not only measured in stats and accolades but in the seeds planted for the next generation. His recent achievement of 100 career sacks, making him the fourth-fastest and youngest to do so, is just one part of the story. Off the field, he’s using his platform to redefine what it means to be a game-changer.
As a result of the early seeds planted by Audrey Garrett, a trailblazer in her own right, and the fruits of her labor, Myles Garrett, students at Hampton University are now one step closer to their dreams.
Cover photo: NFL Star Myles Garrett Honors His Mother’s Legacy With $25K Gift to Hampton University/Photo credit: Court Winter/Myles Garrett/Instagram