Football can wait at least one more day. University of Alabama coach Nick Saban had another appointment on Wednesday before his team reported for fall camp.
Nick and Terry Saban took their time at the podium at the Nick’s Kids Annual Giveaway Luncheon at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Instead of a stump speech about the season to come, Alabama's head football coach took time to thank volunteers for children’s charities in the area.
“Every year I come here and sometimes I think that things are a little bit rough at work or we’re worried about who’s going to be the quarterback or who’s going to play right guard and I come here and none of that stuff really matters,” Saban said to the crowd. “Because there’s so many things that so many people do to help these young people. Certainly everything that Terry and I and Nick’s Kids stands for is to help young people create opportunities that they may have a better quality of life or to be successful in life.”
Nick’s Kids works to raise awareness and resources for charities in Alabama and around the region. The Nick’s Kids Foundation has donated more than $5.5 million to those charities since the Sabans arrived in Tuscaloosa.
Among other recent projects, the foundation has helped renovate the short-term treatment and evaluation program building at Brewer Porch Children’s Center, opened new playgrounds around Tuscaloosa, and sponsored 16 Habitat for Humanity homes to match Alabama’s 16 national championships in football.
“We’ve built a lot of houses, we’ve built a lot of playgrounds, and now the renovation is just about complete,” Terry Saban said.
The annual luncheon also brings in children from organizations around the area. Kids had the opportunity to get autographs from about a dozen UA football players and take a picture with Nick Saban. Tight end O.J. Howard, defensive end Jonathan Allen and several other players signed posters and T-shirts on the day before fall practice began.
“This is one of my favorite days,” Nick Saban said. “The atmosphere around here, you feed off the kids and the people who actually make the sacrifices and support the kids. We have so much gratitude for them and appreciation for them and also the people here today who support Nick’s Kids and help make some of this possible. It’s very important to us. We certainly appreciate our players who come over and try to give a positive experience to the kids involved here.”
The Sabans also recognized Fuller Goldsmith, a seventh-grader at Tuscaloosa Academy, presenting him with the “Bigger than the Game Award.” Goldsmith was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3 years old and spent three years undergoing chemotherapy, then three more when the leukemia returned. He’s had a bone marrow transplant and had to have spinal surgery to fix problems caused by his medication.
The Sabans have known Goldsmith since they moved to Tuscaloosa, and former UA linebacker C.J Mosley also befriended Fuller.
“C.J. told him years ago that his motto is ‘Fight through the pain,’ and that is now his own personal motto,” Terry Saban said.
Nick’s Kids has donated more than $650,000 to children’s organizations this year, according to a press release. The fall luncheon is a high point for the foundation and the head coach, and not just because it comes with football right around the corner.
“It means a lot to me when somebody back home from West Virginia says, ‘Your dad would be really proud of the way your team plays,’” Saban said. “I never know for sure about that, but I know one thing for sure about this: What he stood for, how he tried to help young people. ‘No man stands as tall as when he stoops to help a child.’ I know he would be really proud of what we’re doing here today and trying to help the young people.”
Reach Ben Jones at ben@tidesports.com or 205-722-0196.
