Cam Newton donates appearance fee from appearing on the Letterman show to an Elementary School thewareaglereader.com

[bishtw]

http://www.thewareaglereader.com/2010/12/cam-newton-donates-his-letterman-apperance-fee-to-wrights-mill-road-elementary/

Cam Newton donates his Letterman appearance fee to Wright’s Mill Road Elementary

Wright’s Mill Road Elementary School will soon be $200 richer thanks to the comedy stylings of Cam Newton.

The 2010 Heisman Trophy winner donated the $200 fee he received for his Monday night appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman to the Auburn school where he regularly volunteers.

“My secretary got a call from the David Letterman show yesterday and said he’d received word that the money [Newton] got for his appearance was to be donated to our school,” said Wright’s Mill principal Lynda Tremaine. “We had to call them back and give them our Tax ID number”

Last week, the school surprised Newton with an assembly in his honor, thanking him for his work with the school’s students and wishing him well on his trip to New York to attend the Heisman ceremonies.

“We’re crazy about him,” Tremaine said. “The children surprised him with songs and a little slide show of his visits here.”

Newton’s mother and grandmother were also in attendance.

“His grandmother said ‘I just wish the whole United States could see this celebration of the kind of person Cam really is,’” Tremaine said. “I think it touched their hearts to see how much love and appreciation we have for him apart from just football, but for all the things he does here.”

And now for a $200 donation (whether he could or could not have actually kept the money per NCAA rules is probably beside the point).

Click link for the rest of the article

Whats more news worth then the actually donation, is the fact that Letterman only pays $200 for the appearance. Thats almost as bad as the $25 cheerleaders get per game in the NFL.

And like Cam needs the $200 anyways, Cecil still has his $150k the boosters paid him.

[Seabee1973]

Its good that he is involved in the community like that

[Corcaigh]

Whats more news worth then the actually donation, is the fact that Letterman only pays $200 for the appearance. Thats almost as bad as the $25 cheerleaders get per game in the NFL.

And like Cam needs the $200 anyways, Cecil still has his $150k the boosters paid him.

He's not allowed to accept it under NCAA rules. Even at local Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5ks any college or high school athletes who care about eligibility always refuse to accept prizes.

[Rocky21]

He's not allowed to accept it under NCAA rules. Even at local Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5ks any college or high school athletes who care about eligibility always refuse to accept prizes.

:rotflmao:Takes a little air out of the "What a great guy he is" sentiment.

[daveakl]

It's a ploy by Auburn.

Rumor has it there are 3 kids at the school that are 5 star recruits and have committed to Alabama in 2020. Now that they have taken the "donation" their status is in doubt. That is unless they can show their parents solicited the donation for the school and they were "unaware"

[Corcaigh]

:rotflmao:Takes a little air out of the "What a great guy he is" sentiment.

And it's clear he knows the rules, because he never touched the money - it came direct to the school from the Letterman Show. Even if he had accepted the money and then immediately donated it, that would have been a violation of NCAA rules.

How do I know this ... my wife is a competitive runner and has received extra prize money from races because, although she was beaten by a current college athlete, the college athlete was only allowed to take home a medal or trophy and not anything of value.

[Burgold]

What a bunch of cynics.

It's a nice story. Good for the kid.

[renaissance]

He's not allowed to accept it under NCAA rules.

This was my first thought

And $200 is probably the SAG minimum that Letterman pays. The real payoff is the free publicity you get for being on the show.

[Corcaigh]

It's a nice story.

That's true if by 'nice' you mean misleading and bordering on an outright lie.

[Burgold]

The personal appearance elevates it slightly... "to the Auburn school where he regularly volunteers."

We can look at the monetary donation cynically, but, it's still, pretty cool for those elementary school kids that Newton has made numerous stops and pitched in as a volunteer.

[Corcaigh]

it's still, pretty cool for those elementary school kids that Newton has made numerous stops and pitched in as a volunteer.

I certainly agree with that. But he implication is that the $200 donation was an act of generosity by Newton. It was nothing of the sort. Whether the writer did a poor job, the school mislead the writer unknowingly, or even Newton suggested it, who knows.

[CoolUsernameHere]

Yeah, my first thought was that he's not allowed to take it.

My sister did her teaching internship at that school, actually. He goes there every Monday and spends time with this group of boys who were the "troublemakers". So it's no surprise that that's where he donated the money to.

Say what you want about the allegations on him, but it's pretty always nice to hear about a star athlete dong some good. Especially in this age of much more prominent Lewis, Vick and OJ-esque articles.

[Elessar78]

What desperate PR machine plays up a $200 donation? I wish the headline read "Cam Newton donates $200 fee from..."