Andrew Whitworth was always seen as a good player during his 11 years with the Cincinnati Bengals. He made the Pro bowl three times, was a first-team All-Pro once and only missed eight games from 2006-2016.
Since joining the Los Angeles Rams as a free agent in 2017, he’s not only maintained a high level of play in his late-30s and now as a 40-year-old left tackle, but he’s put more time into helping the community.
Whitworth has made a firm commitment to helping those in need, whether it’s providing support to families impacted by wildfires in California or finding places to live for people displaced by hurricanes in Louisiana.
It's exactly why Whitworth was chosen Thursday as the NFL’s 2021 Walter Payton Man of the Year. The award is given to one player each year, highlighting someone who displays excellence on and off the field. The award honors the late Walter Payton, who was always giving back to the community and whose legacy lives on through the Walter & Connie Payton Foundation.
One of the clearest examples of Whitworth’s widespread philanthropy was during the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” initiative, allowing players to support a charitable cause by wearing custom cleats. Most players chose one foundation to play for, but Whitworth picked four: St. Joseph’s Center, LA Family Housing, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, Rebuilding Together New Orleans.
The list of community work he’s done throughout his time with the Rams is about the length of a CVS receipt. And for anyone who’s shopped at CVS, you know the receipt is never-ending.
In his first season with the Rams, Whitworth treated kids at a Los Angeles elementary school to 550 new bikes and helmets. He spent his birthday surprising the students with the bikes, an example of the selflessness of the Rams’ left tackle.
.@awhitworth77 spent his birthday giving 600 bikes to Grape Street Elementary so the students decided to surprise him! Happy birthday, Big Whit! 🎉🎂 pic.twitter.com/427NoDBkxk
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 12, 2017
A few months earlier, Whitworth donated $10,000 to Jared Goff’s GoFundMe, which was started to help the families impacted by wildfires in Northern California – a gesture to not only support a teammate’s charitable cause, but to help folks in need.
In 2018, those in Southern California endured a lot of hardship. In the city where the Rams’ headquarters is located, Thousand Oaks, there was a tragic shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill that left 13 dead and 16 injured. Whitworth not only donated a game check to the families who were impacted by the mass shooting, buthe shared a moment with them after the Rams’ 54-51 win over the Chiefs.
"You always think it's never going to be around you or involve you, but you always see that from people once you experience it. I think we just wanted to find a way to come together and really just wrap our arms around the community that we live in and that we operate and work in,” Whitworth said in 2018.
That same year, Whitworth and the Rams tried to bring even the slightest bit of happiness to families displaced by the wildfires in Southern California – which forced Whitworth and his family to evacuate their home – by honoring them, along with first responders, at the game against the Chiefs.
He auctioned off his game-worn jersey from the win to raise money for the wildfire victims through the Conejo Valley Victims Fund and American Red Cross. Whitworth went out of his way to explore avenues to raise money, support impacted families of those tragedies and be a beacon of light during some of their darkest days.
One of his biggest initiatives is through his Big Whit Homes for L.A. Families program, which he started in 2021. After each Rams home game, Whitworth donated $20,000 to help repair homes of families in his home state of Louisiana. The money also went toward helping people in Los Angeles who were struggling financially to find affordable housing.
"My family and I participated in United Way's Home Walk in 2019 and through that experience, our kids had an opportunity to learn more about the humanitarian crisis of housing insecurity," Whitworth said last year. "The following Christmas, my wife Melissa and I gave the kids a chance to help decide how we as a family could make a difference, and the kids said they wanted to help people struggling with homelessness, which was so rewarding to hear as a parent. Being able to come together as a family and bless other families was incredibly meaningful and we continued the holiday initiative last year. This year, we are excited to make it a season-long initiative and broaden our impact in both our home state of Louisiana and our new home of Los Angeles."
The Rams committed to fighting racial inequality at the end of 2020 by giving back to local non-profit organizations that support social justice. Players pooled their funds and raised $750,000, which was distributed to a variety of non-profits in the community with donations ranging from $20,000 to $50,000.
Whitworth, being the philanthropist that he is, donated more than $215,000 to the fund himself, once again stepping up as a leader in the community.
“In my 15 years in the NFL, this has definitely been one of the most inspiring things that I have had the opportunity to be part of,” Whitworth said. “It was an amazing process that allowed us to learn about a variety of non-profits working across Los Angeles to positively impact lives and advance social justice. The chance to hear directly from them on how we could help left us both humbled and motivated. On behalf of my teammates, we thank them for their daily passion and commitment to drive equity and are proud to support their important work.”
While the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award is an annual honor given to a player who demonstrates outstanding community work in a given year, Whitworth has been giving back for years – which is why he was so deserving of this coveted award. And even after he retires, Whitworth is going to continue supporting the community, whether it’s in L.A. or his home state of Louisiana.
That much was made clear in his acceptance speech at the NFL Honors show.
"I'm here to tell you we have more work to do," Whitworth said. "Social media has been great for bringing awareness to all our causes, but that's not enough. We need more action. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, this is the truth: The people who come to see us play, who watch our game on TV, who buy our jerseys, who follow you on social media, they're why our game exists. It's why we have a field to play on. We are financially supported and provided the opportunity to play a kid's game because of the support we receive from communities across this country and across the world.
"But how are we supporting back? In what ways are we paying it forward to the same communities we all grew up in, we all came from, or maybe the people that we've seen struggling along the way we got to where we are?"
There are few players who have done more in the community over the course of their career than Whitworth, which is why it’s only fitting that he wins Man of the Year in what’s likely to be his last NFL season. It’s a storybook ending to a phenomenal career, both on and off the field.
