Linebacker Grant Stuard celebrates a tackle against Washington State. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
With racial tensions rising across the United States, UH football senior linebacker and captain Grant Stuard uses his platform to make a difference in the Houston community.
During Saturday’s march of student-athletes and coaches across campus to advocate against racial injustice, Stuard revealed that he and teammates Kyle Porter, Chandler Smith, Donavan Mutin with the director of player development for the football team Daikiel Shorts Jr., are in the early stages of forming a non-profit organization that centers around serving and educating the community.
“A few teammates and I are currently developing a non-profit organization that will focus on serving and giving back to those in our community, informing the public on how to be a part of action and leading the youth in the right direction,” Stuard said in a speech at the end of the march.
With college athletes being busy balancing school and athletics, they feel like they do not have the time to serve and make a difference in the community. This is what gave Stuard and his teammates’ the motivation to start a non-profit organization and give student-athletes a chance to serve.
“We just felt as if there was a severe lack of opportunity for us as student-athletes to go out and serve just because we don’t really have that much time on our hands to organize and do things like that,” Stuard said. “So our organization is going to focus on putting those opportunities together.”
While this organization, which will likely be called Serve and Lead UH, is primarily focused on giving student-athletes an opportunity to go out and make a difference in the community.
It will also be open to any UH student who wants to seize the opportunity of setting an example and making a difference in the surrounding community.
“We have to be the example of how to love others if we are going to get active and fight against hate,” Stuard said. “It starts with us and our individual actions no matter how small they may be.”
Stuard’s leadership during the march caught the eye of men’s basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson, who praised Stuard’s passion for the topic.
“Of all the things that I was most impressed with today was Grant Stuard,” Sampson said. “It’s that kind of passion that’s going to carry this generation forward.”
