On Monday, Sapp was the center of a bigger huddle at the Northwest Arena as hundreds of area elementary and middle school students listened to the former NFL player give life lessons about respecting themselves and others.

Sapp started his career in football at Clemson University. During this time, Sapp was a defensive player and ranked fourth in the ACC for career tackles for loss, and for career sacks by his senior year. Sapp was later chosen with a fifth-round pick in the NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010. Sapp also went on to play with the N.Y. Jets in 2011, the Houston Texans in 2013, and the Washington Redskins in 2015.

Sapp’s NFL career came to an unexpected halt around this time, as he suffered an injury to his hamstring that left him unable to return to the league. Sapp then received a request from a teacher at North Myrtle Beach High School. This request asked for Sapp to present a speech to children at the school. The message of Sapp’s speech was so well received, that school administrators were continuously asking Sapp to come give speeches at a host of schools. This led to Sapp eventually accepting an offer to work as a football coach for a school, and later an assistant basketball coach as well. While coaching basketball, Sapp noted that a member of the team questioned why Sapp was so hard on him. Sapp noted it is because of his love for those players and for children that he inspires everywhere. The message Sapp gave in this small situation has gone on to be a cornerstone of what him and his organization have come to represent.

Sapp spoke of his time in school at the event and highlighted important lessons pertaining to respect and proper educational behavior. Sapp said that he would frequently find himself in trouble in school due to the need he felt to seek attention. Sapp noted that this behavior would draw attention to him and make his friends laugh, but at the cost of respect towards him from both adults and peers. This behavior included things such as talking in class, disrespecting teachers, and even getting into fights, according to Sapp.

Children arriving at Northwest Arena, awaiting the beginning of Sapp’s speech.

“One thing that I regret, to this day, is that I allowed my friends to think that I was the dumb one. That I couldn’t do the school work. Because I knew that if they saw me doing that school work, that maybe I would lose that attention,” said Sapp.

Sapp noted that, while in eighth grade, he has received nearly 75 referrals merely two months into the school year. This led his assistant principal to take action and remove him from the school. Sapp said nobody believed he had the ability to continue advancing into high school at that point. Both parents and friends struggle to believe Sapp had any chance of moving on, yet one school administrator believed. At the end of that eighth grade year, the head principal called Sapp to state that there is potential seen within his abilities. As a result, this principal enrolled Sapp in summer school to give him another opportunity to make it into the high school.

Sapp drew a comparison of this attention-seeking behavior to the phrase “a child not embraced by the village will burn down the village for warmth.” Sapp noted that he was destroying relationships and respect in order to feel a metaphorical warmth from the attention he would receive as a result. Sapp expressed to the children that it takes a village to raise them into successful young adults and that these people are all around. Teachers, guardiances, and trusted adults in general all take on an important role in providing support and ensuring these kids are on the right track, said Sapp. Sapp stressed the importance of the children recognizing the extensive support present around them and encouraged them to use these as opportunities to advance their achievements.

Teachers line up, creating a fun entrance for the children.

Ricky Sapp takes a photo with two children who were selected as the winners of the prize baskets.

Children learning about Chautauqua Striders, one of the organizations set up for tabling before the speech from Sapp began.