While his NFL career might have defined him, Mo Collins was working to give back to the community that helped get him there.
That work was cut short Sunday, as the 38-year-old Collins died suddenly in Charlotte.
According to Langston Wertz of the Charlotte Observer, the former Raiders tackle had been receiving dialysis treatments for kidney failure.
Collins returned to coach his alma mater, West Charlotte High this season. He didn’t coach in Friday’s game, however. He was trying to get his old program back on track (he had them 4-5 after going 0-11 last year), and had helped secure a grant from the Panthers to install a new artificial turf field at the school.
“West Charlotte is where it all started,” he said before the season. “You hear how bad it is and what’s happening. All you hear is negative things. I wanted to find out what it was myself. When I got in there, these were still kids and they deserve some positive people to see and be around, especially people their color.
“Me coming back was saying, ‘I care about you.’ I’m not doing it for money or status, by no means. I’m not trying to stay relevant. I have a job to show them what it is to be a man, to have a strong work ethic. Instead of me donating money – and money is always good for a program – but giving these boys this type of attention and male leadership, I think, I hope, will be invaluable to them.”
Collins won a national championship at Florida, and was chosen in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Raiders, and was a part of their last Super Bowl team.
Our condolences go out to West Charlotte and the Collins family.
