By Abigail Aguilar —
Patriots wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell had a secret. He read at a junior high school level.
“Reading is more important than football, period,” the Valdosta, Georgia, native told CBN.
Since improving his reading, the retired NFL player is pursuing his calling in God to foment the love of reading to kids.
“I saw people doing things that I had never seen before, like study and read and write and use their brain to get the outcome that they wanted,” Malcolm says. “I immediately started realizing that reading was the most self-empowering tool a person could possess.”
To help struggling kids, he wrote a children’s book, The Magician’s Hat, which he reads at events with large groups of kids.
“Just as I practiced football, I would practice reading, and over time I would get better and better and better,” Malcolm said. “And then I learned the consequences of low literacy, and that only inspired me to want to do the same thing for others that books had done for me, and that was encourage them to read.”
The Magician’s Hat is a story about a magician teaching kids some magic tricks. “But the best trick of all is proving to kids that reading can help you make your dreams come true,” he says.
Despite his poor reading, he got a scholarship to play college ball and got drafted in 2015 by the New England Patriots. He went on to win the Super Bowl with the Patriots.
A knee injury forced him to retire from football. Malcolm jumped into improving literacy for public school students. Soon he partnered with New E3 School in Hampton Roads, Virginia, for early education.
Incredibly, Malcolm doesn’t consider his Super Bowl ring as the biggest highlight of his life.
“If I caught a pass or scored a touchdown or made a block, it’s fleeting,” Malcolm says. “Books are permanent. I was playing football to help me. I started writing to help others. I cherish the books much more than I do the ring.”
Faith in God has helped him overcome his own semi-literacy and help others.
“My faith has allowed me to persevere in moments where I know I, physically as a human being, don’t have the psychological strength to prevail, where I deep down want to quit,” Malcolm says. “I’ve wanted to quit on numerous occasions. But my faith keeps me in the fight because I know if I hold on long enough, the light at the end of the tunnel will show itself.”
To learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus, click here.
Related content: Jayden Daniels of the Commanders, Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Toby Nwigwe.
About this writer: Abigail Aguilar studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near Central Los Angeles.
