Finalists Named for 2024 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NFL Players Association is proud to announce the five finalists for the 2024 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award: Calais Campbell (Atlanta), Damar Hamlin (Buffalo), Charles Leno Jr. (Washington), Harrison Phillips (Minnesota) and Frank Ragnow (Detroit). Each will receive a $10,000 donation from the NFLPA toward his foundation or charity of choice.
This year’s winner will be announced at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT on February 7 at the NFLPA’s annual Super Bowl press conference in Las Vegas. The honoree will receive an additional $100,000 donation, courtesy of the NFLPA, to his foundation or charity of choice.
The Alan Page Community (APC) Award is the highest honor that the NFLPA can bestow upon a player. The award annually recognizes one union member who goes above and beyond to perform community service in his team city and/or hometown. As an award for the players and by the players, the winner will be determined next week through a league-wide digital vote by their NFL peers.
When Campbell recorded his 100th sack this past October, the Falcons defensive lineman made sure that others got in on the celebration, donating $100,000 to support teachers in under-resourced schools across the four team cities he has played in: Phoenix, Jacksonville, Baltimore and Atlanta. The NFLPA Executive Committee member worked with Kids In Need Foundation’s Supply A Teacher program to select 25 teachers from each city that will receive $500 worth of essential school supplies and $500 to purchase other classroom resources. En route to earning Week 7 NFLPA Community MVP honors, Campbell also donated $25,000 each to support Denver South and South Miami teachers, paying homage to where he played high school and college football (University of Miami), respectively.
A year that began with Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest in a game before miraculously recovering, the Bills defensive back reciprocated the tremendous love and support he received by hosting the type of holiday giveback that he had envisioned when he started a GoFundMe campaign as a college student in 2020. Using a portion of the millions of dollars that poured into his fundraiser-turned-foundation, Hamlin distributed more than 2,000 toys, 50 bikes, and hundreds of books for 750 kids in his home state of Pennsylvania. This full circle moment earned him this season’s Week 18 NFLPA Community MVP and a shot at winning the APC Award for a second straight year.
Leno also secured the distinction of Week 17 NFLPA Community MVP and APC Award finalist for a second consecutive season after hosting his latest Leno Claus initiative. For 25 days during the month of December, Leno’s Beyond The Entertainer Foundation positively impacted more than 20 different non-profits and causes, including donating 720 winter blankets for Chicagoans in need; covering expenses for a family facing terminal illness to go on a retreat; purchasing 10 computers to help new mothers pursue their education; adopting 22 families in need while clearing their holiday wish lists, helping out with rent, assisting with daycare costs, buying groceries, and much more. Leno and his wife, Jennifer, began this season’s campaign by announcing the launch of Paitynn’s Friends, which honors the daughter that they unexpectedly lost to miscarriage in October and will support those who have lost a sibling by providing care packages.
Phillips spread holiday cheer to more than 450 families across three different states while benefiting multiple causes. In his team city, the Vikings defender dressed up as Santa Claus and took 200 families on a shopping spree that totaled $25,000 in gifts. Back east in his previous team city of Buffalo, Phillips got an assist from some of his former teammates, who hosted 150 families for a Christmas party with arts and crafts, a DJ, games, cookie making gifts and more. Finally, in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, he and his Playmakers foundation held a shopping event for 100 families to get items off their wish lists. At each stop, the Week 15 NFLPA Community MVP asked the kids and their families to pay it forward by bringing in donations for various non-profits. This resulted in more than 400 pounds of items for the Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha; more than $3,500 for Minnesota veterans in need; and, monetary donations and gifts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Buffalo.
In honor of his late father, Ragnow hosted his second annual Fishin’ For Memories, an outreach program in support of eight families who recently lost a loved one. The Lions offensive lineman invited the families, including 16 kids, through Angela Hospice for a special afternoon of fishing and bonding activities with him and some of his Lions teammates. They tossed around the football, ate pizza and played games including cornhole and Connect Four together as a way to deal with their grief and tap in to what the Week 4 NFLPA Community MVP calls the “healing” power of being outdoors.
The nominees for the award were pulled from the NFLPA’s 2023-24 Community MVP campaign, where one player was honored each week during the regular season for his outreach efforts. Each of the 18 Community MVPs was awarded $10,000 for his foundation or charity of choice and committed to making a virtual or in-person visit to a school or children’s hospital as a way to broaden their goodwill efforts.
In commemoration of this weekly honor, our supporting partner Heartlent Group digitally created 18 unique football statues that showcased the players’ cause and team city while highlighting the remarkable philanthropy demonstrated by each of this season’s Community MVPs.
A panel of judges from across labor, media, sport and service as well as the results of a digital fan vote narrowed the pool of 18 NFLPA Community MVP candidates down to five finalists. The panel included DeLane Adams (Assistant Director of Communications at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), Brandon Copeland (former NFL linebacker and 2020 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award winner), Maria Gatti (Vice President of Philanthropy & Community Engagement for MGM), Angela LaChica (Founder & CEO of LaChica Sports and Managing Director for Players Coalition) and Mike Jones (national NFL writer for The Athletic).
Learn more about the NFLPA Alan Page Community Award.
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About the NFL Players Association:
The National Football League Players Association is the union for professional football players in the National Football League. Established in 1956, the NFLPA has a long history of assuring proper recognition and representation of players’ interests. The NFLPA has shown that it will do whatever is necessary to assure that the rights of players are protected—including ceasing to be a union, if necessary, as it did in 1989. In 1993, the NFLPA again was officially recognized as the union representing the players and negotiated a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL. The current CBA will govern the sport through the 2030 NFL season. Learn more at www.nflpa.com.