This past December 9th, the NFL community was shocked to hear of the passing of former Broncos’ star receiver Demaryius Thomas.
He was only 33 years old.
Thomas was one of the greatest receivers in Denver history, hauling in 665 receptions for 9,055 yards and 60 TDs during his eight years with the team.
He was also one of Peyton Manning’s favorite targets, going for 1,304 yards and 6 TDs on 105 receptions during their Super Bowl 50 winning season in 2016.
That’s just one of the many reasons why Manning had to honor his teammate and friend.
Yesterday, Peyton and his wife Ashley announced they established the Demaryius A. Thomas Scholarship Endowment at Georgia Tech, the late receiver’s alma mater.
“Demaryius Thomas was an incredibly talented and unselfish teammate, but more importantly, he was a special person and friend,” said Manning. “My family and I miss him dearly, and we wanted to honor D.T.’s memory by partnering the PeyBack Foundation with Georgia Tech to establish the Demaryius A. Thomas Scholarship Endowment.
“An important part of Demaryius’ legacy was the way he inspired the next generation to pursue their dreams with the same perseverance and determination that defined him. Through this scholarship to Georgia Tech, Demaryius will have a lasting impact on deserving youth from his hometown area who can follow in his footsteps and accomplish great things in life.”
According to Georgia Tech, the scholarship will benefit incoming freshmen hailing from Thomas’ home county of Laurens County, Georgia.
“The Demaryius A. Thomas Scholarship Endowment will endow academic scholarships to attend Georgia Tech for incoming freshmen students from Laurens County, Ga., where Thomas was born and raised, or surrounding areas who demonstrate significant financial need. Scholarship awards will range from full scholarships to partial scholarships that may be combined with other forms of aid and split to cover costs for multiple need-based students. Scholarships will follow recipients through the completion of their degree at Georgia Tech, provided they remain in good academic standing. To initially qualify for the Thomas Scholarship, recipients must have a 3.2 or higher high school grade point average and should have demonstrated community service involvement.“
“D.T. was a better person than he was a player, and he was a Hall of Fame player,” said Manning when Thomas passed. “That tells you how good of a person he was. He treated my kids like they were his own. He was there for every teammate’s charity event.”
And now Peyton is here to honor Demaryius through a scholarship fund to help others.
