BUFFALO, N.Y. - Being a Super Bowl champion doesn't mean you forget where you came from and the need to give back. Steve Means may play with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he is a Buffalo boy at heart and awarded a handful of eighth grade graduates with a $500 check and a signed iPad.
Means said he's tired of seeing students with potential fall by the wayside, but he's inspired when they "continue to fight and never quit."
Means attended School 53 on Buffalo's east side from kindergarten through grade eight.
"It's your job as kids to get to the point which you want in life, it's our job as a community to provide the opportunities for them to get there," he told the audience at the ceremony which was well received with applause.
One of the students to receive a Steve Means award was Diamond Hill.
"When people come back that means like they really care about you and want you to succeed in the future," Hill said. She will attend Cardinal O'Hara for high school.
Means said he is humbled by the expression on the students faces.
"I care because I grew up here," he said.
On another topic regarding football, Means admitted he was praying about whether or not to attend a White House ceremony honoring the Super Bowl champions before it was canceled by the President.
The NFL is now requiring players to stand or stay in the locker room during the anthem.
Means said he's "been standing the past couple of years," but he admits the issue is not about the flag, "the issue is about everything surrounding, the stuff that is going on, the police brutality," he said.
As for the president, who has been highly critical of players for not standing, and has gone as far as to say team owners should fire players for not standing, Means said, "I don't really try to put to much stock into what nobody else say. I got my own personal beliefs. I pray a lot. I got a close relationship with God. I'm numb to anything you can call adversity. I've been through a multitude of adversities."