Art Monk Comes Home to Present NFL Gold Football to WPHS

The National Football League in recognition of the 50^th Anniversary of the Super Bowl this year is honoring high schools and communities through their Super Bowl High School Honor Roll initiative.

High Schools from across the country and around the world will receive a commemorative Wilson Gold Football for every player and coach who graduated from their high school and was on an active Super Bowl Roster.

White Plains High School bred a three-time Super Bowl Champion, James Arthur “Art” Monk, who graduated in 1976. Monk played in four Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins, while winning three as Super Bowl Champions.

On Friday, Nov. 6, to the delight of many of his local admirers, Monk returned to White Plains High School to personally present the NFL Wilson Gold Ball to his Tigers football program.

The Wilson Gold Football Ball does not only represent that your school graduated a Super Bowl participant; it also brings promise to that high school for future endeavors. The NFL will also provide a new character education curriculum to the school and offer the opportunity for the school to apply for grants up to $5000, to help support their football program.

“This is great. It gives players the opportunity to go back and honor our schools for what they have done for us and to acknowledge the school’s input, while contributing to the success of the NFL,” said Monk. “If they had not produced what they did in us, we would not have made it to the NFL or played in a Super Bowl,” he added.

Monk, a prolific wide receiver, attended Syracuse University from 1976-’79, after graduating from White Plains High School. He won the Lambert Trophy his freshman and senior year as the top college football player in the Eastern United States. Monk was inducted into the Football Bowl Subdivision College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Monk played 16 years in the NFL, with the Washington Redskins (1980-’93), New York Jets (1994) and Philadelphia Eagles (1995). He was known as the “Quiet Man” and was selected to the Pro Bowl three times and voted to the NFL 1980’s All-Decade Team. Monk was elected to the National Football League Hall of Fame in 2008.

But it was not always easy for Monk growing up on Battle Hill Avenue in White Plains. Monk spoke about his struggles in high school and the community before adhering to the advice of his teachers, administrators and coaches at WPHS.

“Obviously I am known for my athletics, but me as a person, it was not that I was a bad youngster, it was just that I had no direction or hope for the future,” explained Monk. “Sports was the only thing I had to hold on to, but even with that I did just enough to get by. It took the teachers, administrators and coaches to push me and the fruits of my life is what they instilled in me,” Monk said humbly.

Dan Woodard was one of those administrators who helped guide Monk to his positive path in life. Woodard is a former Principal at WPHS, who was an Assistant Principal at the school when Monk attended.

Woodard presently is the Chairman of the Loucks Track & Field Games and the preserver and presenter of The Art Monk Football Scholarship Award. Monk through his Art Monk Foundation presents a graduating senior from the White Plains football team a $1000 scholarship and a trophy designed by him each year.

“This man is one in 20 million; from the day, 17 years ago from the time he started his efforts in the NFL, nobody knew how great he was going to be and he has never forgotten the White Plains graduating senior, never,” exclaimed Woodard.

A total of 80 players from the Tigers football program representing the Freshmen, Junior Varsity and Varsity teams attended the Wilson Gold Ball presentation. Senior players J.J. Hernandez, Tommy Avery and Elijah Ojo accepted the Wilson Gold Football from Monk on behalf of the Tigers football program. “This will help the Tigers athletic programs a lot. Art does a great job. He has always given back to the community,” stated Tigers Head Football Coach Skip Stevens.

The Media Center at WPHS was filled with White Plains dignitaries who came to welcome Monk back home to his alma mater. Dr. Paul Fried, the White Plains Superintendent of Public Schools, Matt Cameron, WPHS Athletic Director, Principal Ellen Doherty, former Athletic Director Nick Panaro, (who was Monk’s track coach), VP of the Board of Education, Charlie Norris, Mayor Thomas Roach and former Mayor Joseph Delfino. Also in attendance, Frank Williams, Director of the White Plains Youth Bureau, Board of Education Clerk Michele Schoenfield and New York State Assemblyman David Buchwald.

“It is wonderful to have one of White Plains High School’s foremost alums back here to recognize his accomplishments but also because he continues to recognize how much White Plains prepared him for his later career,” said Buchwald.

“He is such an example of talent, humility and love for the people that nurtured him to where he is today,” stated School Board President Rosemarie Eller. “We just love him and the fact the he has come up to be the example that we need is just awesome” said the White Plains School Board President.