J.J. Watt spreads Christmas cheer among children, hospital patients, first responders
Houston Texans defensive superstar J.J. Watt isn’t just having a great year on the gridiron, with 20.5 sacks on the season (just 2.5 short of breaking Michael Strahan’s record). He’s also proved in the past year that he’s an all-around great guy.
Watt recently hosted a handful of students from the Sandy Hook elementary school on the field with him and some other players for almost two hours, allowing the children from Newtown to just hang out with them and “be kids”
“They were down here visiting Houston for the weekend, and they were stopping by our stadium, so I had a chance to take them out on the field and hang out with them, and I gave them my cleats and gloves from the last Colts game because that was the game I wrote ‘Newtown, Conn.’ on my cleats and gloves,” said Watt in an interview with USA Today.
The Texans player had to spend the Christmas holiday away from his family, but he didn’t spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day alone. No, instead, he went to the Children’s Hospital and delivered gifts, then he stopped by local fire and police stations to thank the servicemen and women for all they do.
Watt also visited the Bellaire police department, who had just lost one of their officers on Christmas Eve, to drop off a pair of cleats for the family to auction off to raise money.
Finally, on Christmas day, Watt continued to share the Christmas spirit by visiting random fans.
“Instead of sitting in my house, I figured I might as well go spread some Christmas cheer. It was awesome. It was a great day,” said Watt.
The defensive end mentioned that he learned from his mother at an early age the importance and volunteering and giving back.
“I’m only a 23-year-old kid, and if I wasn’t doing this stuff, I’d just be sitting in my house watching TV. So being able to do stuff like this is so much more important for me and so much more impactful [sic] than just sitting at my house playing video games or watching TV.”
For only being 23 years-old, one can’t help but admire Watt’s spirit and kindness after recently striking it big in the NFL.
Most players would spend their money on lavish items for themselves, buy the biggest house on the block and stay out until the wee hours of the morning partying it up with his buddies, but Watt focuses his time an energy off the field to giving back to those that may be less-fortunate than him.
How could you not love him?
All the charitable work and volunteering aside, Watt still admits his first priority is his team and making it to the Super Bowl in February while still keeping that looming sack record in the back of his mind.
“I’m thinking about the win first and the record second. It’s obviously on my mind, but I want a win. If I get the sack record along with the win, it would be a great day.”
