Sunday, a fan from Steelers Nation will have the experience of a lifetime, thanks to the humble Mr. Will “#26” Allen. This past week Allen hosted a Celebrities for Charity Net Raffle to raise proceeds for his namesake, The Will Allen Foundation. Not only did the foundation raise money for his youth programming but Allen personally gave the raffle winner (George Will) two tickets to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers take on their arch rival the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday (November 18th) at Heinz Field. George Will also will get a pre-game sideline pass and a post-game meet and greet with the former Ohio State Buckeye.
This is just one of the standout player’s conscious acts of kindness. It’s hard to put into words what the Steelers’ cornerback is doing in the Pittsburgh community, but he is using his gift to play in the NFL as a leadership platform. When speaking to him, one can hear his passion as he articulates how he is making a hands on difference off the gridiron.
Each week Allen personally heads to North Hills or Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh to sit down with students. While there, he and his foundation work to prepare students academically for college and job/career opportunities, while helping them develop character and integrity as well.
Pro Player Insider’s Theresa Villano was able to catch up with Steelers community leader on his way to volunteer, to talk about everything from his foundation success stories to Troy Polamalu’s hair. Watch and Listen HERE:
Pro Player Insiders: Will, you are a scholar, a former Ohio State Buckeye and a philanthropist. After doing my research I found out you’re a major player making moves in children’s lives with your foundation so we have to talk, but how you been, Will?
Will Allen: I’m doing well. Actually, I’m headed to my after school program now. We have a specialist coming in to talk about bullying and you know just common good for man. We will be talking about how to respect people, how to treat people and how that works in everyday lives especially as teenagers. So I’m on my way there now. Our programs are in a school in Pittsburgh, North Hills and Wayne in Dayton, Ohio (that’s my hometown). What we’re doing is helping them raise money for the kids. Also helping them to help further their education by raising money now for their college. I ultimately want to give a scholarship out, a full ride scholarship, out for a deserving kid.
PPI: Is there a success story that you’ve seen in a kid that’s been part of your program or a most memorable moment? What was that “Ah ha” moment when you realized this is why I started this foundation?
Will Allen: I had this young girl she was a junior back in 2006. She was getting suspended all the time, this is when I was in Tampa. I started the program in Tampa. She was getting suspended all the time, didn’t know anything about ACT/SAT, or what she wanted to do with her life. But she was a good girl, a really good girl. Good heart, friendly but had a bad attitude.
I worked on her, kept showing her who she was and who she could be. She didn’t start off at a 4 year college initially but she ended up at a community college after graduating from high school. She stopped getting in trouble as much and got her grades up, because she made her mind up that she wanted to be somebody. So we kept bringing in individuals from the community to show her that: just because it’s where you’re starting off that doesn’t mean it’s where you’re going to finish.
She just adhered to that and stuck to it and she ended up going to Hillsborough Community College and then she said I’m going to a 4 year university. You know she had a plan before she left and she executed it and that’s the most powerful story. She wrote a letter to me on Facebook probably a year ago or 6 months ago, so 6 years later, and talked about how much it helped her, how much it improved her life and how much the program was impacting her and helping her to impact others around her. It brought a tear to my eye because just because you don’t see the results that same day or same week, or even a year later, you never know what words you say or your actions or how they influence someone.
We’ve had several success stories like that. We gave her money for school, we gave her a laptop and it’s been wonderful and hopefully I can continue to impact people’s lives and impact these kids’ lives and they can impact the other people’s lives around them and we can continue to have multiple success stories as we go.
PPI: Wow, that’s great! That story gave me chills. Off the field a lot of players are doing similar things and we need to hear more of your stories like that. So you personally go into the programs when you get a chance and you are there to mentor the kids?
Will Allen: Yes, in Pittsburgh -I’m in Pittsburgh now – so I go to the meetings every week if I don’t have anything work related. We get to Skype with the kids in Dayton, so I get to see them and interact with them as well and they get to interact with the kids in Pittsburgh.
It’s a good group. It’s a good, fun group that we have in both in both areas in both cities (in Pittsburgh and in Dayton) so it’s a lot of fun. The kids over in Dayton, Ohio, did a mock election for the election that just passed and it was just to get the kids more familiar with politics, how politics run and how to go vote and do other things of that nature and here in Pittsburgh, we are doing something here with hunger awareness so these kids are doing their own campaigning with national hunger awareness. It’s pretty good, we’re just trying to get the kids to be more well-rounded more conscious of and aware of their surrounding and what’s going on in the world. And it’s going pretty well.
PPI: Speaking of politics it sounds like you’re big into advocacy. With Obama reelected what do you think that means for people like you that are trying to help education and education field itself?
Will Allen: Well I hope that the president would spend more attention and more time in the health sector, the education sector and our energy sector. I think those are the three catalysts for the future. Those are the three main topics that we really have to really hit hard, especially for youth, and that’s why I spend so much time on education and after school in Pittsburgh and Dayton, because I want to see these kids progress. I want to see a difference. I want to see them make a difference in other people’s lives. and there’s no way you can do that if you’re not educated, if you’re not healthy, if you don’t know what’s going on around you. Those topics I stress heavily with my after school program. I just hope that the president would, too. Hopefully he will and I think he will over the next four years.
PPI: I love your passion. There’s got to be a reason behind you starting this Foundation beside your love of education and helping youth succeed has there been anyone in your life that inspired you or mentored you like you’re doing to these kids?
Will Allen: I’ve had a lot of people come along the way and push me and motivate me and keep me focused and keep me on the right track, but the person I admire the most has to be my father. He never labeled himself as a mentor or someone who was influential but he looked at the little things in life and worked hard. He was a baseball coach. He was a football coach and he helped mentor a lot of young kids. Every now and then we’ll be together we’ll be home and some kid will come home and say, “Hey coach Allen remember when you told me this or told me that and you know it helped me out. It pushed me.” And I just saw him do that growing up many times and he was like the neighborhood dad so watching him motivated me and pushed me in the direction of which I’m going now.
PPI: That could be you one day…kids knocking on…that will be you, Will. You’re a product of your parents.
PPI: I’ve seen in your past interviews I’ve heard you say twice, “When you’re in positions of leadership, you’re called to service.” It sounds like you’re being a leader through your foundation but what does leadership really mean to you?
Will Allen: Again you’re in a position to serve others and I think I have to have that responsibility as a leader. When you have the responsibility, you are accountable to other people. Also to think how is that accountability placed into action? What are you doing? Are you being a tyrant? Are you being prideful? Are you being resentful? What are you doing? When you are in a position like that you have to lead with 
compassion. You have to lead from a place of humility.You have to lead from a place of servitude, but also you have to have direction. You have to be assertive in understanding how the whole operation should be reflected of who you are. Everybody around you should be reflective of how you treat them and reflective of the direction of where you want to go. So that’s my definition of a leader.
If I look at the people who I’ve been under, great leaders Jim Tressel, Mike Tomlin, those guys are supreme leaders. Even Jon Gruden, even though he had a reputation of yelling and screaming, I still commend him for being a leader. Those guys like Jim Tressel, Mike Tomlin, they lead by serving, they lead by providing information and resources and tools that are completely beneficial for the team’s advancement and you know you have to commend people like that. Those are special individuals special people that I’ve learned from and I just use those tools I use what they’ve said to help other people around me.
PPI: So a little bit about football… That was close last night. I saw #26 because I know I was talking to you. You had several tackles out there, what was the game like?
Will Allen: It was rough I’m not gonna lie
PPI: It was close!
Will Allen: Yeah Kansas City is a good team. They’re record doesn’t show how hard they. They run the ball and how good they are on defense. You know they’re just missing a few pieces and they’ll be well put together. They have a lot of talent on their team, a lot of first round draft picks but man we knew what they were going to do when they came in. It was rainy it was cold -so you know it was just a tough game. Tough, hard fought game. I’m glad we got the victory but it was tough. I’m not gonna lie about it.
PPI: Ryan Clark he’s part of our one team movement and amazing hair Polamalu they’re injured. How are you going to be stepping up to fill the gaps?
Will Allen: Well I’ve been starting the last 5 games we won 4 of those 5. That’s just not on me but my team area really pushed themselves very hard and been very determined to keep this thing intact and to keep pushing along and to keep stacking wins. You know I’m just trying to help as much as I can and give energy to this team and make plays where need be. You know I miss some plays at times, I make some plays at times but we just keep fighting. We stay resilient as a team and we keep building and that’s what it takes to win a championship. And that’s what it takes to run games in the NFL.
PPI: And that’s how the Steelers Nation will get to the playoffs, am I right?
Will Allen: Absolutely.
PPI: So will Troy be back this season or no?
Will Allen: Yes,he will. You know he’s almost there. He almost there, every week he’s getting better and better and better so I’m excited. I’m excited to see that to see him back on the field and we need him. We’re going to need him down the stretch.
PPI: Everyone asks you about his hair have you touched Troy’s hair? Is it as glossy as it looks? Has he given you any head and shoulders samples?
Will Allen: Troy’s hair is very sacred to him it’s a part of his culture, part of the Samoan culture, so you know he only pulls it down on game day. He keeps it up during the week but you know he’s a very peculiar person. He’s a very sweet, sweet and loving man, a really good heart and he loves football, he loves his family, he loves the Steelers. I enjoy being a teammate and I enjoy being his friend.
PPI: Definitely a stand out so I had to ask. I’ll wrap it up because you’re going to your after school program thanks for allowing PPI to catch up with you -great things on and off the field Will much respect to you as you are a stand out. Keep being “the change,” Will.
Will Allen: Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
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For more on Will Allen stay tuned for Part 2 of @Theresa_PPI interview
Visit www.willallenfoundation.com
Follow him @WillAllenWAF
Watch and Listen to Interview HERE: http://youtu.be/mshhS-wAiTA
–Theresa Villano
Joey Rivaldo and Mindy Schlegel contributed to this feature.
