GREEN BAY, Wis. — For the Milwaukee Bay View football team, it was a tour of Lambeau Field. But little did they know what was behind the curtain.
“Nothing but excitement,” Bay View player Alonzo Jones says. “We finally got new helmets. I can’t even explain the moment really.”
A.J. Dillon was there to surprise Bay View players with new helmets for the upcoming football season. The Packers running back got quite a thrill out of being part of the surprise.
“It means a lot and it’s very easy for me to reflect back and realize I was that kid not too long ago,” Dillon says. “I’m really excited with what the Packers are doing for these schools here and I’m wishing all these teams the best of luck.”
“The helmets are definitely an upgrade,” Bay View player Jaqwavis Hill says. “We’re going to show out next season.”
“It’s really important,” Dillon says. “I feel like if I were to have that same opportunity as a high school player it would be the coolest day of my week, month, year, whatever, so hopefully everyone enjoyed it.”
For the Redcats, it was a day they won't soon forget.
“It’s great to know we have the Green Bay Packers looking out for us next season,” Hill says.
The helmets were awarded as part of the Packers Helmet Give Back Program, which invited coaches and athletic directors from around the state to apply to receive new helmets last fall. The gift is part of a donation match by Xenith as part of their Community Give Back Program and their Buy a Helmet Give a Helmet Program.
Bay View was one of three teams who were surprised with the helmets after their tour of the stadium, but Kenosha St. Joseph, Milwaukee Academy of Science, and Racine Park were among seven other high schools also awarded $6,000 worth of brand-new Xenith helmets for their football team. The helmet packages will be awarded this summer and each package will be custom-made to fit each school’s colors to supplement or replace their existing equipment inventory.
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