ARIZONA, USA — Arizona Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz is among the five finalists for the NFL Players Association’s highest honor: the 2022 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award.
The award recognizes one player who goes above and beyond for his community, providing the winner with a $100,000 donation to go toward the player’s foundation or a charity of choice.
Ertz was named the NFLPA Community MVP in Week 9, earning $10,000 for his work serving communities in both Philadelphia and Phoenix.
In January, Ertz spoke with Team 12’s Lina Washington about the Community MVP honor and the possibility of winning the Alan Page Community Award.
“We want the votes to win the whole thing but at the end of the day there are so many qualified candidates and just being mentioned is awesome,” Ertz said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to use that money to make an impact wherever it is, it’s going to go to something good and I think that’s the most exciting thing about it.”
In 2021, his Ertz Family Foundation was able to break ground on House of Hope, a safe space for Philadelphia youth. During his time in the Valley, Ertz was able to team up with Athletes Corner to launch the "Score More n' Feed More" campaign, which provided 145,000 meals for Arizona food banks.
Ertz and his wife, Julie, who grew up in Mesa, wasted little time making an impact in Phoenix following a mid-season trade from the Eagles.
"Each and every community we're in we feel the love and support each and every Sunday, not only on Sundays but really Monday through Sunday. For us, when we started the [Ertz Family] Foundation, it was just a small way for us to kind of repay that love and support we feel into our communities,” Ertz said.
“Our faith is huge for us so that’s kind of been the anchor behind the foundation and we just want to make change. We want to give kids hope, we want to show kids love and encouragement, and so for us, it’s something that we love to do.”
In addition to Ertz, the other 2022 finalists are San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Will Gholston, Philadelphia Eagles safety Rodney McLeod and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
A panel of judges and the results of an electronic fan vote narrowed the pool of 18 NFLPA Community MVP candidates down to the five finalists. Each of the finalists will receive an additional $10,000 donation from the NFLPA for his foundation or charity of choice.
The winner will be determined this week through a league-wide electronic vote by their NFL peers.
The winner will be announced at 2:00 p.m. MST on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at the NFLPA's annual Super Bowl press conference. You can watch Super Bowl LVI on 12 News on Sunday, Feb. 13. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. MST.
Follow the conversation with Lina Washington on Twitter: @LWashingtonTV. If you have a sports story idea, e-mail Lina at LWashington@12News.com.
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