Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch had an impactful rookie year on the field, and now he’s making an impact off the field as well.
Vander Esch has purchased a new weight room for Salmon River High School, the school he attended in Riggins, Idaho. Vander Esch said he wanted to do something to help his community after signing his first NFL contract, and refurbishing the room where he spent so much time in high school seemed like a good fit.
“It was the first thing that popped into my mind because it was a big need,” Vander Esch told the Idaho Press. “It just made the most sense. A lot of the racks and stuff were all made in shop class and everybody has been saying we need a new weight room. It was barely even a weight room before, and now to see the excitement level of the guys using the new room has just been awesome.”
The total cost of the weight room is $70,000, of which Vander Esch paid $45,000 out of his own pocket and got a fitness equipment company to donate the rest in exchange for Vander Esch making promotional appearances for the company.
Vander Esch is back home this offseason and has been going to his old school before 6 a.m. most mornings to work out there himself. He also personally unloaded the heaviest weights, 125-pound dumbbells, that the players aren’t strong enough to carry from the delivery truck to the weight room. At least not yet.
