Join Jen and her guest, former NFL football player, Morlon Greenwood. Morlon shares with us what his Foundation is all about and his plans to have a youth facility built!
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Giving Back Through Youth Mentorship with Morlon Greenwood
Hey everyone. Welcome to Success to Significance. I’m your host, Jen Du Plessis. Today my guest is Morlon Greenwood. Let me tell you a little bit about him. He, uh, comes from Kingston, Jamaica, which I’ve been, I’ve been there, Kingston, Jamaica, so I know exactly where you live. Um, and, uh, moved to the United States when he was 11 years old and, and, uh, loved playing soccer or as you call it, football.
I was a soccer player too, uh, you know, a soccer player until he was introduced to wrestling, which he did for most of his, uh, childhood. And then that same coach introduced him to football in the latter part of his junior year, and, uh, that took him to Syracuse University and, um, he played football and then he was drafted in 2001.
What a horrible year that was, I wanna talk about that. Uh, he was drafted in 2001 in the third round, um, pick for the Miami Dolphins as a linebacker. Were you offense or defense?
Uh, defense
Defensive linebacker. Yeah. His, uh, my, my son-in-law was a defensive linebacker as well. Um, And then he played for the Houston Texans a little bit.
And he, expanded his career to being a, uh, music, I’d say a singer. Right. To actually you’re rapper. Yeah. Yeah. Like, cause I’ve heard you rap. I’ve heard you rap, but we were in Miami. Yeah. Um, I love that and has done a couple of collaborations with, uh, pit Bull, whom I love and Flo Rida, which whom I love as well.
But after his, so this is what we wanna talk about today after his football career, his endeavors, you know, include his music and you’re obviously working on that as well. But more importantly for you. This is what you love doing, is you created the Morlon Greenwood Foundation. You are currently the current, uh, president of the NFL Alumni Association in Las Vegas.
And, you know, you guys are really, everything you’re doing is helping kids, you know, the, um, underprivileged youth, making sure that they have a place to go that they, you know, we all know well, we, we don’t all know, but. As an athlete and you’re an athlete, you know what it does for your confidence, what it does for your stature, right?
The way you even hold and carry yourself, and what it does, um, to help you achieve your dreams. So I wanna, I wanna talk about you. As a child, were you an underprivileged child that you felt that this was, this is the compelling piece of this for you? Or were you just, you know, a kid in Jamaica and you guys moved here and, and you’ve had all these wonderful things you wanna give back?
Yeah. So, um, the, the purpose of this, since I was five years old, my childhood would dream, was to help my family. Came from a big family. Mm-hmm. , I have seven brothers and four sisters. I remember walking barefoot on the ground, and the only thing I wanted to do was to help my family. I just wanted to be, become a success so I can be able to help them in the system. So, fast forward, you know, you, you mentioned, Stuff about going to the NFL and going to wrestling.
And, um, I had two great mentors in my life. My father who told me, do your best at any contest, and God would do the rest.
I love that. I wrote that down when we were in Miami . I wrote that down. I, I added that to my daily affirmations and quotes. I absolutely love that. Yeah. Do the rest. So say it again.
Do do your best.
Do your best at any contest and God will do the rest
I love it.
What did he mean by that? It means that whatever you doing, just put your best foot forward, you’re gonna have to do it anyway. So why not do your best? And, uh, what that will do is that will just help to propel you forward. Um, I remember, uh, my second, um, mentor with my gym teacher that got me into wrestling and he saw something in me I didn’t realize myself with, with football.
Mm-hmm. . And then he got me into football my junior year and that’s what helped to propel. Getting the scholarship my first year, uh, playing in high school, went up to college, saw the, the all the magnificent opportunity that football had, uh, for, for, for me. And I wanted to take advantage of that. And so fast forward when I finished playing football, I just wanted to create the same opportunities for youth coming up that are striving to accomplish their goals and trying to help their family or trying to just be the best that they can be just to get out of their current situation.
Yeah. And, uh, the best way I see doing that by, you know, through mentorship, Um, um, doing the, the stuff that we do within the foundation, helping at risk youth and also for the alumni, our mission of caring for kids and caring for our own. So in, in working on that, combining all of that, we’ve, uh, um, evolved into where we’re pursuing to put a facility in place.
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Listen to the Full Episode HERE
Get to know Morlon Greenwood
Morlon Greenwood, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica, found his passion for soccer at a young age. After moving to the United States at 11 years old, Greenwood continued to participate in soccer until being introduced to wrestling by assistant wrestling coach Russ Cellan during his sophomore year. After being discovered for his wrestling talent, he took 4th place in the Nassau County Wrestling Tournament and was then encouraged by Russ Cellan, also the head football coach, to give football a shot during his junior year. His athleticism and his expeditious learning skills earned him a scholarship to Syracuse University after his first year. Greenwood continued to compete in wrestling and won the freestyle state championship, the Empire State Games freestyle championship twice and Greco Roman state championship once. During his senior year he won the scholastic state wrestling championship at 215 lbs and became his coach’s first ever state champion in 29 years at Freeport High School as well as competing in track & field.
After a successful college career at Syracuse University, Greenwood was drafted in 2001 as a third-round pick for the Miami Dolphins as a linebacker. His NFL career spanned eight years as a starter and two teams, the Miami Dolphins and the Houston Texans. During his time as a free agent, Greenwood had a chance to expand on his career as a recording artist under the moniker “Ultimate,” with multiple songs reaching the rhythmic music charts and collaborations with artists such as Pitbull and Flo Rida. He also began training in other sports, such as boxing, where he turned professional for a brief period with a record of 3-0 and 3KOs. A year after becoming a free agent, Morlon signed with the Omaha Nighthawks, where he started for three years. After his football career, his endeavors have included furthering his music career and developing an acting career, as well as involvement in the non-profit sector.
During the time in his professional career, he also became involved in community needs with underprivileged youth by instilling keys to success and teaching marketable skills on and off the football field. With this passion, the Morlon Greenwood Foundation was created. The mission of the Foundation is to “Raise-Up youth to become successful socially responsible citizens through mentorship imparted to encourage the realization of their full potential while respecting diversity within the community.” This non-profit organization has utilized a network of nationwide organizations and a connection to local communities, where 3500 youth have been helped achieve their goals since 2016 for free. Morlon is also the President of the NFL Alumni Las Vegas Chapter, whose mission is “Caring For Kids and “Caring For Our Own”. Currently Mr. Greenwood is working on putting the MG52 Olympic Complex in place to provide mentorship through sports and the wrap-around services for the youth year-round. MG52 Complex will remain consistently focused on accomplishing its mission of inspiring today’s youth towards reaching their full potential. “BELIEVE IT AND YOU WILL ACHIEVE IT”
GET IN TOUCH WITH MORLON!
EMAIL: ADMIN@MG52.ORG
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