Charity stripes

Not long ago, many college athletes were charity cases who couldn’t receive charity: Despite being broke and unable to pursue employment while on scholarship, they couldn’t accept money or gifts—even from well-meaning benefactors rather than unscrupulous agents or boosters—lest they run afoul of NCAA rules.

Now that the NCAA lets college athletes profit from name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, many are earning six figures or more—and some are even using NIL deals to benefit the less fortunate.

Take, for instance, the darlings of this year’s NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament. University of Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and Louisiana State forward Angel Reese turned in record-setting performances in leading their respective teams to the NCAA championship game, as well as in the game itself: Clark became the first player in the history of the women’s tournament to post back-to-back 40-point games and set an NCAA title-game record by burying eight 3-pointers. Reese, meanwhile, garnered 15 points and 10 rebounds—her NCAA-record 34th double-double of the season—in leading her Tigers past Clark’s Hawkeyes for the national title.

Both players now have NIL values of nearly $750,000 or more, according to the website On3.com.

“Obviously, that’s fantastic for a college athlete who wasn’t allowed to make any money less than two years ago,” Tim Crean wrote in a profile of Clark for the Gannett-run website Sportscasting.com.

Off the court, however, Clark and Reese are using their star power to assist those in need.

Clark’s many NIL deals—Nike, H&R Block, Buick, and the Hy-Vee grocery store chain have hired her to promote their goods and services—include one that pays her exactly $0. The Coralville Community Food Pantry “had every intention of ­paying Clark to help with fundraising and community outreach,” Grace Raynor wrote for the website The Athletic. “But Clark insisted she wanted to help for free.”

Clark’s efforts in this year’s NCAA ­tournament netted more than $23,000 for the food pantry, beating her goal of $22,000 (which she chose in honor of her jersey number). The senior even chaired an in-­person donation drive in which people who donated personal care items such as feminine products, shampoo, or soap got to take a picture with her.

Reese, meanwhile, is living up to her first name for girls who otherwise might not be able to attend private school in her native Baltimore: The junior recently donated $12,000 to her high school alma mater, St. Frances Academy, to cover a year’s tuition for a girls’ basketball player.

Reese intends the payment to be the first of many. “I always wanted to create the ‘Angel Reese scholarship’ at St. Frances,” Reese wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I wanted to pay one of the girls on the team’s scholarship for the whole year. I wanted to help the little Catholic school across the street from a jail in Baltimore that made me and I DID THAT.”

Clark and Reese aren’t the only ­college athletes using their money and public profiles to benefit charities: Bru McCoy, a senior wide receiver for the University of Tennessee football team, has signed an NIL deal in which he will provide one automated external defibrillator (AED) kit to a local youth sports organization for every touchdown he scores this season.

The transfer from the University of Southern California hopes to help address the problem of sudden cardiac arrest—a leading cause of death in young athletes, according to Knoxville TV station WBIR.

AED devices deliver shocks that jump-start the hearts of those experiencing cardiac arrest while they wait for emergency medical responders. At least one inner-city organization, NewBreed Youth Sports, received two AEDs from McCoy before football season had even begun.

College athletes have been using NIL deals to serve others since the NCAA first allowed athletes to ink them: In 2021, University of Texas quarterback Casey Thompson recorded special messages on the celebrity media platform Cameo for $50 a pop, donating the proceeds to NoKidHungry.org.

That same year, five University of Georgia football players—Stetson Bennett IV, Payne Walker, John Staton IV, John Fitzpatrick, and Owen Condon—teamed up to create the DGD Fund, which raised money for multiple charities.

University of Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett, who now plays nearby with the NFL’s Steelers, collaborated with a trucking company and an apparel maker to create Pickett’s Partners, which benefited the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania. And Florida State offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons started the nonprofit Big Man Big Heart to help other college athletes use NIL deals to benefit the less fortunate.

Fans, coaches, and college administrators often bemoan the greed that seems to be shaping the NIL era. However, just like their pro counterparts, many college athletes are using their newfound gains to do more than line their pockets.