Former U-M football star LaMarr Woodley is donating $60,000 to the Saginaw Public Schools athletic department to cover the pay-to-participate expenses for athletes in the school district for the 2012-13 school year, Mlive reports.
In the past, Woodley, a Saginaw High grad who now plays for the Pittsburgh Stelers, has provided free food, free school supplies, free sweatshirts, free haircuts and free football camps for Saginaw students.
Because of cuts to the athletic budget, the school system instituted pay-to-participate fees for the first time in Saginaw Public Schools history, charging high school students $75 a year to participate in athletics.
“When LaMarr heard about it, it bothered him,” Malcom Staples, Woodley’s uncle and business advisor, told Mlive. “When LaMarr was playing sports, if his family had to pay $75, they probably could have done it, but it would not have been a simple thing. It would be a hardship for a lot of people, even if they could come up with the money.”
