Just because Mike Peterson busts heads for a living, doesn’t mean he’s not a good guy. Sure, the 6-foot-1, 230-plus pound outside linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons relishes crushing offensive opponents on Sunday. But he’s equally passionate about his work off the field, crushing the bookworm stigma.
“When I was a kid that was something that wasn’t considered cool,” Peterson recalls, though he acknowledges that these days things are different, and feels it’s more important than ever to focus on fostering literacy amongst youth.
An issue close to his heart, childhood literacy is the main focus of his Mike Peterson Foundation, which partnered up with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Public Schools in order to create the Top Dog Readers Club.
In only its second year, the program has already enjoyed tremendous success, motivating kids at Atlanta’s Grove Park Elementary School to out-read their library (over 1,000 books). This year, they’ve shifted gears to ensure that the children of Grove Park’s scholarly appetites have plenty of sustenance to sate them.
“They already read all the books in their library,” Peterson says with well-worn pride. “So now we’ve got to get them some new books to read.”
Thus was born the latest fundraising effort of the Mike Peterson Foundation, the Game Day Experience Raffle, which draws directly from his work on the field. the raffle is a special online promotion where participants can buy $20 tickets at www.mp53raffle.com to be entered in a drawing to win two round-trip tickets to the Falcons-Saints division game on November 13th, two roundtrip airfare tickets to Atlanta, a parking pass for the game, two nights at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, a $50 gift certificate to Chick-fil-a at Terminus and a private post-game meet and greet with Peterson. Only 1,000 raffle tickets are being sold, and the winner will be announced on Monday, October 31st.
It’s a big campaign with a lot of moving parts, and Peterson is understandably also proud of the foundation’s ability to mobilize so many sponsors for this worthwhile cause. Recognition for his deeds is the furthest thing from his mind, though. His motivation for do-gooding lies elsewhere.
“I guess it comes from my upbringing,” he admits. “I mean, I can’t even imagine being in the position I’m in, and showing up back home if I wasn’t doing something to help bring others up.” But he’s also quick to point out that just because he feels compelled to give back to the community, it doesn’t mean he looks down on others who don’t.
Meanwhile, the veteran linebacker finds himself in his 13th year in the NFL, still harboring that same competitive drive he brought to the pros following a collegiate career at the University of Florida that culminated with him as a senior team captain, an All-SEC selection and a first team All-American.
The Falcons have gotten off to a shaky start in the 2011 season, a fact that Peterson is cognizant of, but he points out, accurately, that they’re turning a corner. And with a stout D and a high-powered offense led by quarterback Matt Ryan, running back Michael Turner, veteran wideout Roddy White and the superbly promising rookie out of Alabama Julio Jones, there’s no reason to discount them from in the NFC South.
“We got off to a rough start there,” he says. “But we just need to keep taking it one game at a time and keep doing what we need to do.”
The Falcons’ victory this weekend, handing the Lions just their second loss of the season, is a sign that they are moving in the right direction.
