North Carolina Central University is not the blue-blood college football powerhouse team fans are likely to watch on Saturday afternoons as they match up against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and other FCS schools.
Still, the Eagles boast a solid roster of players and enter Saturday’s game against Campbell with a 3-1 record and are coming off a 45-3 shellacking of Mississippi Valley State. The team is winning off the field as well.
Punter Juan Velarde was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team earlier this month.
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Velarde was honored, along with other college football players like Michigan running back Blake Corum, Clemson running back Will Shipley and Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey, for sharing his story about coming to the United States from Peru as a teenager, not knowing anything about the sport until junior year of high school and then making a Division I program.
He became an inspiration both on and off the football field.
Velarde told Fox News Digital in a recent interview he wanted to excel on the field but found that the community around the university in Durham, North Carolina, offered a lot more.
“When I got here, I found this amazing Hispanic community where a lot of them are immigrants. A lot of them are first-generation immigrants so not a lot of them go to college,” Velarde said, adding that to graduate from the university students need to have 120 hours of community service, and it makes people really go out and connect with the community.
“Let me make an impact on somebody else’s life. You don’t really see Hispanics in football in college or football in general, right? So, I was like, if I can motivate Hispanics – I go to three schools, middle schools, high schools – and I told them my story.”
Velarde admitted that he did not really understand the power he could have and how his story could be inspiring to other students in Durham and even across the state.
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“I think family structure and who you surround yourself with is really important,” Velarde explained. “My dad always told me that we’re here to have a purpose. We just don’t live just to be here and live our lives. During my life, I wouldn’t be here without the help of others. … So, I was trying to just give help … to somebody that really needed my help, just like I needed somebody else’s help at some point.
“So, imagine me, a kid, that didn’t speak any English, that didn’t know anything about football, start playing football his junior year of high school, made it to a Division I program. Like, I thought that was going to be really impactful for other kids. I think God has put me in a position where I can do that.”
Velarde said when he realized the power college athletes could have in their own backyard, he started to speak more about his story. He said he received the opportunity to talk to around 400 students at a Hispanic Federation Summit and some came up to him to express gratitude for sharing about his life.
“It’s really good when they tell you I’m doing this now. I’m not giving up just because I heard your story,” Velarde told Fox News Digital.
Velarde is one of the 22 members named to the Allstate Good Works Team. Fans can cast their vote for team captain until Nov. 22.
Velarde had a message for those looking to him for inspiration.
“You never know what chance or what door can open in your life if you don’t try it,” he said pointing to his initial goal of wanting to become a soccer player before a new path opened for him. “You got to try – with discipline and hard work.”
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