When Al Golden became Temple's head coach after leaving Virginia last winter, he talked about how his players would be student-athletes. They would sit in the front of class. They would introduce themselves to professors. Golden went on to emphasize character, on and off the football field.
Prior to Temple's loss last Thursday to Clemson, Golden gave a letter to Clemson coach Tommy Bowden indicating that his team would donate $1,500 to the Fahmarr McElrathbey Trust Fund. Fahmarr, the trust's namesake, is the younger brother of Clemson redshirt freshman defensive back Ray Ray McElrathbey.
Over the last month, the McElrathbey have made national headlines with their inspiring story. Last summer, 20-year-old Ray Ray took temporary custody of 11-year-old Fahmarr because their mother is a drug addict. The brothers live in an off-campus apartment at Clemson while Ray Ray learns on the fly how to be a parent. Recently, the NCAA granted a waiver allowing Clemson to set up a trust fund for Fahmarr to provide for basic needs such as food and clothing.
Al Golden's Temple Owls donated $1,500 to the fund before they lost to Clemson 63-9 last week.
"Our team voted to donate one week's game per diem to help you and your brother. It was a unanimous decision," Golden wrote to Ray Ray in the letter, distributed in the press box during the game.
"What you are doing will not only impact your life and Fahmarr's but many more people that you are an inspiration to," Golden wrote. "Your unselfish actions have not only shown a very positive light on you and your family but to all of college football."
Golden wasn't lying when he came to Temple and said that his student-athletes would develop character. For that, the first-year coach and his team deserve to be commended.
In fact, this isn't the first time that Golden's team has made such a donation. Following Temple's opening game at Buffalo, the team donated $1,530 to the Adam Taliaferro Foundation in the name of Shykem Lawrence, a high school safety who suffered a severe spinal cord injury in late August.
"This is just something we are trying to teach them," Golden said. "Giving is the highest level of living. The kids made the decision."
In a week where all Miami can muster is a pathetic one-game suspension for players involved in a vicious brawl with Florida International Saturday ("Join a Team Not a Gang Night," by the way, with 700 youth in attendance), Golden, his Temple team and Ray Ray McElrathbey are a refreshing reminder that the college athletic experience can actually be a good thing.
It isn't always about wins. It isn't just about the money.
Sometimes it can be about making sure that a college athlete has the necessary resources to raise his little brother. It can be about making sure that Ray Ray and Fahmarr don't have to do it alone -- that they have their team and others supporting them.
When a coach sets out to teach his players the value of character, success isn't just defined by wins. Success is also found in the development of character, exemplified by a simple act of giving. Golden's team has proven that they are successful in that regard.
On the field -- a less important challenge -- the Owls have had some difficulty.
As of now, Temple is 0-7. Any win this season would be a huge success.
I know who I'm rooting for this weekend.
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