Charles Woodson – Playing and acting like the best

Charles Woodson, Heisman Trophy winner from the Univ. of Michigan and current Green Bay Packer has often been viewed, rightly or wrongly, as very self-centered. Some of that was based on his own actions, some of it based on media generalizations. Well, as he has gotten older, his performance on the field, especially the past couple of years, has certainly been worthy of accolades. And with age and maturity has also come an appreciation for the places in life that have had a great impact on him – Michigan – and his ability to have an impact on those less fortunate. He went ahead and recently made a major commitment to both with a $2 million donation to the new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital.

You can find the full article by Angelique Chengelis about Charles and the donation at The Detroit News at http://detnews.com/article/20091127/SPORTS0201/911270382/Ex-Wolverine-Woodson-pledges-$2M-to-U-M-hospital, with an excerpt below.

(Excerpt)

Ex-Wolverine Woodson pledges $2M to U-M hospital
Nov. 27, 2009

Ann Arbor — Twelve years ago, Michigan’s Charles Woodson was “the best player in the country standing before you.”

Those were his words when asked late that season if he was, indeed, the best college football player.

Now, a Heisman Trophy, a national championship and an NFL career later, he might just be one of the best guys standing before you.

             Former Michigan cornerback and return man
             Charles Woodson gives an autographed football
             to Todd Bonnici, 14, a patient at the C.S. Mott
             Children's Hospital, earlier this month.
             (Tony Ding / Associated Press)

Woodson has made a $2 million gift to the new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital, which opens in the fall of 2012. The Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund will support pediatric research for children with life-threatening illnesses. The hospital’s lobby will be named in his honor.

“(I just want to) bring a sense of hope to someone who might not see any hope,” Woodson, now with the Green Bay Packers and in town to face the Lions Thursday, said of his gift. “I want to be part of that symbol of hope that they can have that at some point (and believe), ‘I can beat this thing, and I know there are people out there trying to help me beat it.'”

(The article continues at http://detnews.com/article/20091127/SPORTS0201/911270382/Ex-Wolverine-Woodson-pledges-$2M-to-U-M-hospital)