Richard Sherman Helps Compton Youth Team Get to Title Game

Richard Sherman Compton Donation

Getty Richard Sherman #25 of the San Francisco 49ers runs on to the field for their game against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium on November 11, 2019 in Santa Clara, California.

Through the power of social media, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman is helping a Compton youth football team make their dreams come true.

The four-time All-Pro took notice of a story from Fox 11 Los Angeles about a pop warner football team from his hometown looking to raise money for a trip after being invited to participate in the National Youth Championship next month in Florida. The Hub City team serving kids ages 6 and younger had gone undefeated in its California division with all 20 boys also meeting the minimum 3.1 GPA requirement to play, but affording the trip proved challenging alone.

So, Sherman decided to lend a hand.

After retweeting the story and initially trying to reach out on Twitter, Sherman opted to donate $5,000 to the team’s GoFundMe page set up to raise at least $15,000 for “boarding, travel, transportation, activities, and food” for the players. He wasn’t the only NFL cornerback willing to help the cause, either, as Oakland Raiders’ Keisean Nixon also donated $2,000, tweeting he was “glad I can help my community.”

As of Monday afternoon, the page had received more than 250 donations and had well exceeded its target amount with $22,543 sitting in the fund.

Sherman was born and raised in Compton, graduating from Dominguez High School before attending Stanford and, eventually, leaving for the NFL with an undergraduate degree in hand. He has since been one of the league’s best cornerbacks as a signature member of Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense that came just short of two Super Bowl titles.

Now in his second year with San Francisco, Sherman has tallied three interceptions, including a pick-six, along with 10 passes defended and 38 total tackles this season with the 49ers (9-1) leading the NFC West and currently projected as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

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Sherman Has Theory About Penalty Calls

Before his good deed, the outspoken 49ers cornerback also had an interesting take on Sunday’s 36-26 comeback win over the Arizona Cardinals. Sherman was called three times for defensive pass interference in the first half and didn’t bite his tongue in the postgame, seeming to suggest his status in the league has NFL officials out to get him.

“I had three penalties on the season coming into this game, and to get three in a half is really interesting,” Sherman said Sunday. “Especially with the way that the reversals have gone. I think there’s been probably over 100 PI challenges this year, and there’s been five, I think, reversals, and I’m two of them. I think being an [NFL Players Association Executive Committee] member and part of that committee has its perks, and then it has its conversations where you’re the only one who gets overturned.”

Though, Sherman also said he wasn’t going to dwell on the plays and instead would trust the NFL to evaluate the calls and inform officials whether they made the right decision on the field.

“Let them deal with it later on,” Sherman said. “I know the way the system works with the referees and how they get in the playoffs and how they have a point system, whether they got it right or wrong, so the league will make that decision and tell them if they’re right or wrong and I’ll let it play out like that.”

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