By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
The Eagles may have lost the Walter Payton Man of the Year this weekend, but the team has plenty of players doing good.
Between Zach Ertz winning the Steinberg-DeNicola Humanitarian Award, Malcolm Jenkins running the Players’ Coalition and campaigning for criminal justice reform, Carson Wentz running the AO1 Foundation and more, the team still has plenty of leaders to continue the ideals that Chris Long so obviously exhibited.
Today, Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson added his name to the list of Eagles giving back.
John Clark of NBC Sports Philly reports that Johnson is making a $500,000 donation to Kilgore College for a new sports complex. The building will be named after him.
Lane Johnson is paving “The Lane” at his Kilgore College
Giving $500,000 to build “The Lane” Athletic Performance Center. Lane played QB there
Lane:
“It truly is an underdog story, coming from small town East Texas to a JUCO to making it in the NFL and winning a Super Bowl” pic.twitter.com/GJkgJoqitQ— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) May 22, 2019
The Eagles selected Lane Johnson as a tackle with the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft. He was selected after fellow tackles Eric Fischer and Luke Joeckel. It made for a good story as Johnson had started only 23 of 26 games for Oklahoma over his final two seasons in college.
In his sophomore year, he had played tight end and defensive line for the Sooners. Just a few years before that, Johnson had played football in junior college as a quarterback and tight end. That was at Kilgore.
It was at Kilgore that Johnson caught the eye of major NCAA programs like Oklahoma and was eventually able to carve his way into the NFL.
Blessed to be able to give back to a place that helped me get to where I am today. @kilgorecollege https://t.co/DOxNnsUkfN #MTXE #JUCOproduct #PaveTheLane https://t.co/iCN0I7mn5d pic.twitter.com/JhVtTXl3nK
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) May 22, 2019
The new complex will be 3,800 square feet and is expected to be completed next spring.