J.J. Watt named Walter Payton Man of the Year for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts
MINNEAPOLIS -- In what might have been the most obvious choice for an award, Texans defensive J.J. Watt received the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year award at NFL Honors on Saturday for all his work with the Houston following the flood from Hurricane Harvey.
Watt raised millions and millions of dollars to help Houston after the city was flooded. It all started with Watt posting a video asking people to help him generate money that could be used to help with hurricane relief in Houston.
Recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey will be massive.
We must come together to help rebuild our communities.https://t.co/SR6DmnNbyM pic.twitter.com/iiMsG2i4dl — JJ Watt (@JJWatt) August 27, 2017
He was just trying to get to $200,000, a number he quickly blew past. He started getting huge donations from people around the NFL and within a day he was targeting $10 million as his new donation amount.
Watt's plan was to try and distribute the money in smart and slow fashion, making sure that it was used on quality charitable efforts. All told, Watt got over $37 million in donations for relief efforts.