Giving the Tilden H.S. Football team new laptops. Classy gesture.

Bears RB Matt Forte gives laptops to entire inner-city Chicago football team

By Cameron Smith

This is the season for giving. Yet, for NFL star Matt Forte, the giving started earlier this season and culminated with incredibly gracious gifts for a high school football team from an underprivileged section of Chicago.

As first reported by Fox Sports Chicago, and followed upon by MaxPreps, Forte's mentorship of the Chicago (Ill.) Tilden Career School football team carried throughout the 2012 season, beginning with the star running back spending a full day with the Tilden players, following them through classes and eventually attending their practice to work with the players.

Yet, while Forte's initial foray into mentoring the 16-member Tilden squad was a sponsored act of charity -- he appeared on behalf of Duracell's "Trust Your Power" program -- the running back didn't stop there. Instead, he maintained communication with the coaching staff at Tilden and eventually hosted the team for a lunch in downtown Chicago and surprised the entire team by giving them each their own laptops.

"Being from a privileged high school, we had computers and were able to use them," Forte told Fox. "It's only right that, if these kids don't have that type of medium to use and stuff, that I give it back so they can use it.

"It will be good to see their faces again and let them know I'm not going to just come around one time and leave."

Forte's generous act of charity hasn't gone overlooked, but it still deserves praise in a time when professional athletes are routinely lampooned for poor decision-making but often overlooked when they do contribute to society.

The players at Tilden may never reach the success Forte has had on the field, but they won't forget what he did for them anytime soon, either.

Very nice gesture indeed. Only 16 players on the football team? That takes a lot of dedication.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Forte seems like a great guy.

I thought Tilden closed down in the 90s.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think I saw him at the Apple store this past Sunday around 2:00.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

After he got injured in the game he walked through the tunnel, took off his pads and drove
straight to the Apple store.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I do like Forte. Seems a pretty nice guy. Even with the feud with the Bears over a contract, he never was a nasty jerk.

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-- source

True enough, just has a little over inflated opinion of how valuable he is to the Bears.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Which can be said about 99.5% of all athletes. Then again, most professionals aren't about to go "Yeah, I'm not worth much to my team."