TAMPA, Fla. — A question from his father during his final year of college set Marquez Valdes-Scantling (MVS) on a path that now reaches far beyond the football field.
Tampa Bay 28 sports anchor Kevin Lewis caught up with the South St. Pete native, former University of South Florida standout, and NFL veteran who founded the Humble Beginnings Foundation.
This year the foundation awarded its inaugural scholarship to a college student who caught MVS' attention through hard work and dedication.
The question was: "What do you think your purpose is in life?" And it lit the fuse to drive Valdes-Scantling to start giving back.
"I think at that moment it kind of hit me, I wanna help people," he recalled. "As a broke college kid, you know, I had no money, I had no resources, but I had a voice."
He gathered a bunch of his extra football clothes and backpacks. Then, he made a social media post asking others to help gather resources to help the homeless community in Tampa Bay.
"I think we ended up with like 70 bags that we gave out to the homeless that year," MVS said. "Just off of me kind of tweeting out, and that's kind of what snowballed into my foundation." Valdes-Scantling added. The Humble Beginnings Foundation was born.
Valdes-Scantling is also the founder of Luxe Fashion Fest, an event that connects his passion for community with the professional world. It was there that he found this year's scholarship recipient, Nick Picard, who started as a volunteer and grew into one of the most essential members of the production team.
"Shows up every single time to do what he's supposed to do. After hours, before hours, day of the show, week before the show," MVS explained. "He's just always available, and I loved his work ethic, loved what he stood for."
Picard said the experience working behind the scenes of a professional event has been both demanding and rewarding.
"The team outside of us volunteering does so much work, you know, in just in the year leading up to the event," the senior-to-be explained. "We have a meeting a little bit of a couple of weeks before the event to kind of go over roles and responsibilities. It's a ton of set-up work. Day-of, it's a pretty long day, but it's a ton of fun. It's really cool to see the event come to fruition after all the hard work."
Picard said his interactions with Valdes-Scantling have gone well beyond event logistics.
"It's been so cool to get the chance to interact with him," Picard added. "He really wants to hear what we got out of it, what we want to do in our careers, how this is going to help it, so he's super involved and interested in what we're doing for the event and what we want to do past the event."
Picard has his sights set on a career in working with large-scale events that involve sports and pop culture, with ambitions that stretch into the future.
"I'm looking forward to starting a career in the sports and events space. Long-term, I'd really like to work for a mega event organization. Maybe pursue a master's, as well," he said.
When asked what a younger version of himself would think about what he has built, MVS did not hesitate.
"You did what you said you were going to do. That's kind of always been my motto. 12-year-old me would tell 31-year-old me that he's proud of him," Valdes-Scantling said.
The man who said "I'd seen it all before I turned 18" kicks off his ninth NFL season this year as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He's played for Green Bay, Kansas City, Buffalo, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. He has earned two Super Bowl rings along the way.
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