Former UF football player Thaddeus Bullard will be sending a message to The Swamp via video during Florida’s home game against Tennessee on Saturday.
Bullard, also known as World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Titus O’Neil, is asking Gator fans to log a combined 3,000 volunteer hours as part of UF’s For The Gator Good campaign.
"I feel like that’s not a whole lot to ask of a fan base and an alumni base as large as the University of Florida’s," said Bullard, who collaborated with UF to set up the announcement.
Bullard, who was a defensive lineman at UF from 1996 to 2000, said community service became a vital part of his life when he was a junior in high school, when scholarship offers and opportunities to advance his life started coming around.
"I started reaping the rewards of people who were investing in me when they had nothing to gain in return," the 38-year-old said.
UF launched the Gator Good campaign in September 2014 with the goal of showing how UF students, faculty and alumni are impacting their community.
The campaign’s website has 10 categories people can submit their stories to, including poverty and hunger, human rights and mental health, among others.
Warren Buck, the principal of KIPP charter school in Jacksonville, posted to Gator Good about how he is working to get under-served middle-schoolers "Gator Ready."
The UF alumnus said he uses social media platforms to inform others about KIPP and its goals for its students, he said.
"If you are ‘Gator Ready’ at our school, any school you want to go to will be open," Buck said.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the Gator Good campaign has received noticeable traction since launching last year.
But Orlando said Bullard’s proclamation adds an extra dimension to the commercials and billboards that have been promoting the campaign.
"It’s a call to action," Orlando said.
If the 3,000-hour goal is reached, Bullard said he would make a pledge of his own, one he said he does not want to reveal until the target is hit.
"That’s a-wait-and-see," Bullard said, "but it’ll be something pretty special."
Contact Jordan McPherson at jmcpherson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @J_McPherson1126.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
