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Kelvin Beachum is an NFL rarity on and off the field.
Selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventh and final round of 2012 NFL Draft, Beachum was the longest of long shots. The offensive tackle continues to beat the odds — he played at a high level in his just-completed 12th season in the league with his fourth team, the Arizona Cardinals.
And the SMU grad (bachelors and masters degrees) has leveraged his platform to positively impact a myriad of important causes, from fighting hunger to improving STEM education access and more.
The two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee has also worked on water quality and accessibility. And two weeks ago, Beachum added the #ClimateComeback to his ‘make a difference’ CV by becoming a judge for Season Four of the Impact League, the sustainability competition that tracks the positive actions SailGP teams make to reduce their carbon footprints and accelerate inclusivity in sailing.
Beachum shared his inspirational story, including his work with SailGP, with GSB.
GreenSportsBlog: Kelvin, youʻve been giving back to your community in so many ways since you were in high school. What about your background drove your ethos of service?
Kelvin Beachum: I was raised around the national poverty line, but I never knew that until I was older. My parents never said it and we never thought it. Our family benefitted from programs like SNAP (supplemental nutritional assistance program) and WIC (special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children). My parents instilled the values of service and hard work from an early age. Growing up in the church, our family extended into our community.
I’ve always been passionate about addressing food insecurity and providing clean water access because my belief is that they are basic human rights. No family should have to decide between an electric bill and food on the table. Whether or not I’ve experienced it, I believe that if we have the ability to help others, we should. I am blessed that football has given me the platform and resources to make an impact. I believe in access to food, water and equitable education and committing to service and action has always been a part of who I am and how I was raised. To me, it’s about the service. It’s about adding a smile to somebody’s face: to provide a meal, to bring awareness to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) so young people can realize they have a great shot at being a positive contributor to the world economy. It’s the little things like that that really matter; to see the work completed within the lives of people that I have the opportunity to serve.
Kelvin Beachum (Photo credit: Kelvin Beachum)
GSB: You were also chosen to serve when you got selected to give the SMU commencement address. How did that happen? What was your topic? What was it like to give it?
Kelvin: As an athlete and a student, I have always operated best when having a chip on my shoulder. I’m a self-motivated person, but when someone tells me I cannot do something, it lights a fire in me. At the time, I was motivated to get my masters, but with the impending draft, I needed to complete it in 16 months before embarking on my football career. The Dean at the time told me it would be impossible for me to achieve. When I was successful in finishing my degree in that time frame, he thought that I deserved to be the commencement speaker on the topic of defining stereotypes. It was an emotional experience and I was excited to celebrate such a major accomplishment with my family, friends, and peers. It was an honor to deliver the address and extra special to mark the occasion of becoming the first member of my family to secure an advanced degree.
GSB: Congratulations! After the commencement, you went to your first training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In addition to bringing your talent and drive to the Steel City, you also brought your ethos of giving back and service. What causes did you supported while in Pittsburgh?
Kelvin: Iʻve always been passionate about ending hunger — it’s the cause I’m most personally connected to and something I know we can eradicate in our lifetime with the proper infrastructure and attention. While in Pittsburgh, I was able to work closely with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank on distributions and monthly volunteer shifts. It is something I have carried over into every market in which Iʻve played — utilizing Feeding America’s network of over 300 food banks across the country. I created the Kelvin Beachum Charitable Foundation while in Pittsburgh with the goals of ending hunger, providing clean water access, advocating for education equity, and encouraging minority youth to pursue STEAM disciplines while addressing the digital divide. These are the pillars I am still passionate about today.
GSB: The environment, especially clean water, is another of your key pillars. With that in mind, talk about your participation in the NFLʻs My Cause, My Cleats program, in which players illustrate the causes they support on their football shoes…
Kelvin: …The NFLʻs ʻMy Cause, My Cleatsʻ program allows players to express their commitment to the causes that are most important to them. In prior years, Iʻve highlighted Feeding America in our collective efforts to end hunger, and Donors Choose in our efforts to fund educational initiatives and directly impact students and teachers. This season, I featured my partner World Vision for our work toward global clean water access. I also invited leaders discuss sustainability and sports in general, with a particular focus on ESG, clean water, education, business, and travel.
Why? The sports industry, and especially the NFL, is both a driver and reflector of societal thinking. Issues like clean energy, reducing carbon emissions, equitable access to resources, environmental protection, and fighting climate change have of course been moving into sharper focus in recent years. Giving more exposure to these topics will help the NFL and other leagues, along with their corporate partners, to strategically adopt sustainable solutions within their businesses and encourage fans to do the same!
Kelvin Beachum gets ready to block Seattle Seahawks linebacker KJ Wright (Photo credit Arizona Cardinals)
GSB: What sparked your interest in environmental and climate issues, from water quality and water access, and now to your work with SailGP on its Impact League?
Kelvin: When it comes to my investments, both in terms of my time and my finances, I’ve always cared about the human element. How can my investments or business partnerships address social responsibility? How can we identify the needs of our communities and work toward sustainable solutions? As an investor, I focus on areas like data infrastructure, technology, sports, etc. Access to clean water touches all of those areas.
What appealed to me about SailGP and led me to invest my time in judging its Impact League was its equal commitment to competition and, well, impact. I am happy to use my platform to support that commitment, just as Iʻm happy to build wells as part of my partnership with World Vision. In both cases, I believe the result will be cleaner oceans and hopefully reduced carbon emissions.
GSB: Iʻll sign on to that kind of return on investment (ROI)! Speaking of cleaner oceans, let’s turn to SailGP, the technologically and environmentally innovative global sailing racing circuit that features advanced foiling catamarans. The Impact League measures the positive actions that its teams make to reduce their overall carbon footprint and helps accelerate inclusivity in sailing. Winning teams are rewarded with a cash prize donation to their ‘Purpose Partners’ to drive more positive impact on environmental sustainability and diversity. What was it like to be a judge of Season Four of the Impact League?
Kelvin: Two other judges and I reviewed submissions from all ten teams and gave out scores for each team’s project in the following areas:
- Problem, solution, and impact (worth 40 percent of the total score)
- Technology and Innovation – 20 percent
- Collaboration – 20 percent
- Using your voice to educate and inspire – 20 percent
After combining all of our scores, Switzerland ended up being the winner, with Australia and Denmark coming in third. and had a briefing to discuss the reasoning for our scoring decisions.
GSB: Which team stood out most to you?
Kelvin: While the quality of the teams’ presentations was excellent across the board from both sustainability and DEI perspectives, when you think about what sustainability integration and inclusion looks like, it was Switzerland that stood out for me! The moment I saw their deck and video, I felt that their DEI project, with a focus on inclusiveness for people with disabilities, was one of the best I’ve ever seen in my time reviewing sports, philanthropy and community involvement initiatives of any kind. You could see throughout the entire presentation that inclusion is core to their DNA.
The Swiss team hosted the WE Foundation SailGP OneSport Inclusive Regatta, featuring ten SailGP athletes and ten sailors with a variety of disabilities. The activity formed the core of their team’s DEI strategy while also aligning with SailGPs DEI Objective – to use their platform to champion equal opportunity, increase disability awareness, and inclusivity. The Swiss team’s ethos — Representation Matters — was evident throughout the presentation.
So, when it came time to take a stand for a team, Switzerland was it for me!
GSB: Clearly you weren’t neutral about Switzerland! Sorry for the pun, had to do it. Last questions: Why do you think more NFL players have not led on environment/climate to date? And what do you think can change that?
Kelvin: Well, often times, athletes focus on the issues that are most personal to them. Making a difference on persistent, long-standing problems like hunger, substandard education, social injustice, access to quality healthcare, economic stagnation, and more, have been front and center for them because so many athletes have experienced these problems firsthand.
Environmental and climate issues are now moving into sharper focus for athletes since they, and just about everyone else, are experiencing the impacts of all sorts of extreme weather driven by climate change. That is why I think we will see more athletes join these conversations — especially once teams, leagues and businesses embrace environmental sustainability as a core strategic pillar.
Photo at top: Kelvin Beachum (#68) blocks for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (#1) against the San Francisco 49ers (Photo credit: Arizona Cardinals)
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