http://www.detnews.com/article/20091126/SPORTS0201/911260425/Ex-Wolverine-Charles-Woodson-pledges-$2M-to-U-M-hospital
Last Updated: November 26. 2009 1:02PM
Ex-Wolverine Charles Woodson pledges $2M to U-M hospital
Angelique S. Chengelis / The Detroit News
Ann Arbor -- Twelve years ago, Michigan's Charles Woodson was "the best player in the country standing before you."
Those were his words when asked late that season if he was, indeed, the best college football player.
Now, a Heisman Trophy, a national championship and an NFL career later, he might just be one of the best guys standing before you.
Woodson has made a $2 million gift to the new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital, which opens in the fall of 2012. The Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund will support pediatric research for children with life-threatening illnesses. The hospital's lobby will be named in his honor.
"(I just want to) bring a sense of hope to someone who might not see any hope," Woodson, now with the Green Bay Packers and in town to face the Lions Thursday, said of his gift. "I want to be part of that symbol of hope that they can have that at some point (and believe), 'I can beat this thing, and I know there are people out there trying to help me beat it.'"
The Michigan football program and Mott Children's Hospital have long been associated. Former coach Lloyd Carr, for whom Woodson played, has dedicated much of his time over the years to raising money for the hospital.
But even before that, during Bo Schembechler's tenure as coach, the football program began its association with the hospital, when players started to visit the children Thursday nights.
It remains one of the most important links with the children and has now extended to all athletic programs at Michigan.
Woodson admittedly was never one of the "regulars" who visited Mott during his football career. But the last few years, and after participating in the golf weekend hosted by former Michigan teammates Brian Griese and Steve Hutchinson to raise money for Mott, Woodson wanted to become more involved.
And now that he's the father of Charles Woodson Jr., he has an even softer spot for children.
"The times that I did come, it always had an effect on me," Woodson said of the Thursday visits while he was a student at U-M. "But I never let it affect me the way it has as of recently to where I wanted to give the gift.
"It was a process to get to that point to where you look at it from the standpoint of, 'How can I help?' rather than, 'How you feel when you go into the hospital?'"
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