MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell, a 2004 graduate of Denver South High School, had just left the stage in downtown Miami after receiving the Walter Payton man of the year award from recently retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
Campbell, a mountain of a man at 6-foot-8, had reached the summit for NFL player philanthropy, the league honoring him for his charitable efforts in northeast Florida and the Denver area.
I asked Campbell what his late father, Charles, would be thinking. Charles passed away from hepatitis B when Calais was a high school senior.