Cowboys WR Brandin Cooks Gives Back to Community: ‘Faith is My Foundation’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks is inspired by his faith to give back to his community.
“I think it’s huge,” he told Fox News Digital. “I think it’s always important that you give back, but especially to the community that had an impact on you, you grew up in. Being from Stockton, wouldn’t change it for the world, love the place with all my heart. To be able to inspire kids and continue to give them hope and get them to come back and show face, I think is important.”
He hosted the third annual Brandin Cooks Football Camp and Carnival earlier this month, which he hosted at his high school alma mater.
“The event featured a football skills camp and drills for elementary and middle school children — ages 7-14 — and a family-friendly carnival with games, face painting, a photo booth, giveaways and more,” PR Newswire reported. Over 750 people attended the event.
“I want to give glory to Jesus for the success and happiness he brings me in my life and hope that I can help inspire young athletes by giving back to a community that gave me so much growing up,” said Cooks.
The event was sponsored, in part, by He Gets Us, a movement with a priority “to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus – Christians, non-Christians, and everybody in between. All of us.”
Cooks prioritize his faith.
“For me, my faith is my foundation. Christ is, I truly mean it when I say it, everything I have, everything I’ve been blessed with, even from the good to the not-so-good,” he declared. “He’s always been my foundation growing up and just continue to be able to be a light in this world today.”
“I definitely lean on [my faith,] but I also remember and don’t forget who I am, the impact I can have on a team on and off the field and in the locker room,” he added. “For me, I just look at it as an opportunity to be able to go around and make my mark on different cities, different people, different locker rooms, still at the same time producing at a high level. I look at it as a great thing in a sense – I’d rather that than get cut five, six times. That’s the way that I look at it.”
PR Newswire reported of his football career, “Cooks is entering his 11th season in the National Football League. The former first-round draft pick starred as a wide receiver for Lincoln High School before attending Oregon State, where he earned consensus All-American honors.”
Movieguide® previously reported on another Cowboys star:
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch is retiring from the NFL and thanked God for the blessing his football career has been.
Vander Esch was the Cowboys’ 19th pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Per Sports Spectrum, “The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder made an instant impact in Dallas, starting 11 of the team’s 16 regular-season games in 2018 while amassing a career-high 140 combined tackles and two interceptions. For his efforts, he was awarded with Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro selections that year.”
Now, six years after joining the organization, he announced his retirement on Instagram.
“Today is a difficult day for me, but it is also a day of reflection and gratitude…My dream of playing for the Dallas Cowboys came to reality on April 26, 2018,” Vander Esch wrote. “That night will forever be a night I’ll never forget. During my six years as a Cowboys player, I’ve always pursued success and winning football games, while preparing and training with the highest standards of competition, passion and perseverance. It has been an honor to represent my family, my teammates and the people of Dallas.”
