Greg Olsen Has Just Been Nominated For ‘Man Of The Year’ Award

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car_2016Greg Olsen has just been nominated for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

Olsen is one of 32 players, one from each NFL franchise, who has been nominated for the award that recognized a player for his community service as well as excellence on the field.

This is now the third time Olsen has been nominated the award.

The NFL had some incredibly kind words for one of Panther fan’s favorite players:

“On the field, Greg is one of the NFL’s best tight ends. A four-time team captain and three-time Pro Bowler, he is the first tight end in NFL history with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (2014-16). Greg ranks in the top 10 all-time in receptions (625) and receiving yards (7,393) and is approaching the top 10 in receiving touchdowns among NFL tight ends.

In 2009, after watching his mother tackle and survive breast cancer, Greg Olsen founded Receptions for Research: The Greg Olsen Foundation. The Foundation’s Receiving Hope program focuses on cancer research and education programming. The program has distributed over $524,000 to six hospitals and foundations nationwide, with funding generated by events executed entirely by Greg. The program’s most notable and largest fundraiser, Kicks for a Cure, has raised over $850,000 in its eight year history.

In early 2013, Greg and his wife Kara founded the HEARTest Yard Fund after a routine examination of their unborn son, T.J., revealed the infant had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a congenital defect marked by an underdeveloped left ventricle and aorta. The HEARTest Yard Fund is a family service program administered in conjunction with Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. The cutting-edge program provides families of babies affected by congenital heart disease with services including in-home, private nursing care, physical therapy and speech therapy, all at no cost to the families or hospital. The program provides about $25,000 – $30,000 worth of nursing care (approx. 460 hours) per family during the first six months of the baby’s life. Since its inception, the fund has distributed nearly $1.7 million in support. In November 2017, the HEARTest Yard’s cutting-edge programming expanded when Greg and Kara announced the initiative’s new cardiac neurodevelopmental program – the first of its kind in the region.”

You can read the NFL’s entire description of Olsen here.

The winner of the Man of The Year award will be announced in Houston at NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally the night before The Super Bowl on FOX.

The winner will receive a total of $500,000 donated in his name, with $250,000 going to a charity of his choice and $250,000 supporting the expansion of Character Playbook across all NFL markets.

They’ll also be running a separate “Charity Challenge” on social media – if you love Greg Olsen, please post #WPMOYChallenge and ‘Olsen’ on social media between Dec. 11 and Jan. 7. If Greg receives the most hashtag mentions, he’ll win an additional $25,000 donation to his charity, the runner-up will receive $10,000 and the third-place winner will receive $5,000.

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