NFL great Reggie McKenzie celebrating 50 years of giving back to the Motor City

(WXYZ) — As we shut out the tip of Black Historical past Month on this final Friday in February, we need to have fun a Detroiter who has been making an impression on youngsters for 5 a long time.

Reggie McKenzie went from Highland Park Excessive to the College of Michigan. This School Soccer Corridor of Famer additionally went on to the NFL.

We honor him at this time not for what he did on the gridiron however for what he has carried out for hundreds of children on the streets of Metro Detroit.

Reggie McKenzie is a person who grew up in Detroit with a dream to provide again and that is precisely what he is been doing for 50 years with the Reggie McKenzie Basis.

“What made you begin the muse?” requested WXYZ’s Carolyn Clifford.

“It began with a bag of footballs and cones and me and about 25 or 30 different college students’, youngsters’ younger youngsters and I referred to as it Reggie placing one thing again into the group,” mentioned Reggie McKenzie.

Along with his three sisters arguing about ‘what about us’ it has grown into a lot extra, touching the lives of women with basketball camps and monitor however adults too.

“What we discovered was quite a lot of these mother and father had not graduated from highschool and maybe wanted to be empowered just a little bit extra academically,” mentioned McKenzie.

Tutorial tutorial packages have been added enhancing lives within the classroom, instructing sports activities, job, and life abilities.

“Reggie’s slogan was a dedication to the character he at all times talked about – his dedication to character,” mentioned Tom Seabron.

Tom Seabron, a former Wolverine Soccer Participant, and NFL professional met Reggie at 18 and joined his camp.

“Reggie taught all people to have targets and so all these public-school youngsters from Cass, Chadsey, McKenny, Benedictine each faculty in Detroit turned a part of what we constructed,” mentioned Seabron.

And the roster of now well-known individuals who credit score Reggie with giving them their basis is kind of spectacular – from Lions Legend Barry Sanders to Detroit’s personal, The Bus, Jerome Bettis.

“We’ve got a band of folks that have supported this basis, it is not Reggie alone,” mentioned Seabron.

From Ford Motor Firm to Anheuser Bush to Faygo, Proctor and Gamble, and Morgan Stanley, everybody within the enterprise group is shopping for into Reggie’s dream of creating a distinction.

“He is a singular particular person who by no means forgot the place he got here from,” mentioned Jim Brandstatter.

Reggie’s school roommate at U of M was Jim Brandstatter, the now-retired voice of U of M soccer and the Lions. They have been teammates and Jim has been the emcee for his gala for 50 years.

“This man has carried out extra for the town of Highland Park and inner-city Detroit and underprivileged youngsters than quite a lot of authorities packages might have spent billions of {dollars} extra Reggie is a real treasure.

A treasure who made certain sports activities wouldn’t be the tip however a car to drive inner-city youngsters ahead.

“If my youngsters come out of faculty with a level and they’re Reggie McKenzie youngsters, can we get them in an intern program at Ford Motor Firm or issues like that he actually parlayed that into careers outdoors of athletics.”

For Reggie realizing the impression he has had on hundreds of lives brings him to tears, particularly when he runs into somebody whose life he’s impacted.

“Man, you in all probability do not keep in mind me I used to be 16 while you helped me and it is a good feeling, the nice and cozy and fuzzy,” mentioned McKenzie.

“He taught them if I can do it, you are able to do it,” mentioned

“What we attempt to do is simply give them hope,” mentioned McKenzie. “And it is became one thing that you understand we’re all pleased with.”

Now on this golden anniversary, there’s a lot to mirror on and to have fun.

This yr’s gala for the Reggie McKenzie Basis shall be Might 19, 2023. They anticipate visitors like former honorees Jerome Bettis and Desmond Howard and plenty of others.