Repurposed glory: Leonard Fournette's old trophies made into weight set, donated to high school
For many of us who were athletes, it’s always fun to reminisce about those glory days, when we felt like we could beat every opponent or conquer any challenge with teammates.
Those memories live forever in our minds, whether we have physical proof of them or not.
That’s part of the thinking behind a cool gesture by Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Leonard Fournette, who teamed with Met-Rx to do something unique for a high school in Fournette’s new city.
Fournette has been a standout athlete for years, and accumulated 700 trophies – 700! – that served as testament to his greatness as a young superstar. But Fournette recently gathered up all the trophies, and they were shipped to Pittsburgh where they were ground down and made into a set of weights.
The barbells, now black with gilded bars and stamped, “Made with trophy materials donated by Leonard Fournette”, were delivered to William Raines High School in Jacksonville:
While most trophies gather dust, @_fournette helped us give his old trophy a new purpose at a Jacksonville high school. pic.twitter.com/tZBPx6XwU5
— MET-Rx (@Official_METRx) August 1, 2017
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The student athletes got the chance to meet Fournette, who called it a “proud moment” to see his hard work pay off in other ways.
Raines High has turned out some stellar athletes over the years. Among them: Harold Carmichael, a four-time Pro Bowl receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1970s, Brian Dawkins, a nine-time Pro Bowl defensive back with the Eagles and Denver Broncos, and Vince Coleman, the 1985 National League rookie of the year with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Raines Vikings football team opens its season Aug. 25 against Jacksonville’s Lee High.
