BATON ROUGE — Former LSU defensive standout Jarvis Green was honored on Tuesday night for something other than his play on the field as he was named the recipient of the 2006 New England Patriots Ron Burton Community Service Award, the club announced.
The award is named in honor of Ron Burton, the first player ever drafted by the team and known for his charitable throughout the state of Massachusetts.
Green, a native of Donaldsonville, La., devoted many hours of his time to numerous Hurricane Katrina efforts during the past year. He also started a fund with members of his family in Louisiana to help victims of the hurricane that devastated the state of Louisiana, in particular New Orleans.
“This is something that is very special to me,” Green said. “I was surprised when they first told me about the award. I just try to be there for the community, for the fans and for the kids. Going back and seeing the mess still in New Orleans made a big impression on me. We’re still helping people and plan to continue to do so. There’s a lot to do because the area is still in bad shape. It’s a slow process, but it’s getting better.”
Green, who also spends time at hospitals and schools in the New England area, is the fourth Patriot to be selected for the award, joining past winners Joe Andruzzi (2003), Troy Brown (2004) and Matt Light (2005).
“We’re happy that the one thing we have in the locker room that isn’t football related is the trophy with Ron’s image on it and now we can put the fourth name on there,” Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft said. “Jarvis is a very special man because he’s not out there loud and boisterous. He just does a lot of good things in a very classy way. He really deserves this honor.
“This is the exact day (Tuesday night) that Katrina hit and he’s been so supportive of the people down there and he and his wife also did things to help this community as well. Jarvis is always the first person, whenever our foundation is looking for someone to go out into the community, he always volunteers. Really, just in a quiet way, he makes a great impact.”
Green enters his fifth season with the Patriots in 2006, having already been a part of three World Championship teams. During his NFL career, Green has played in 62 games, starting 17 times. He has 11 sacks and 122 tackles to his credit.
During his four years at LSU, Green helped the Tigers return to national prominence as he was part of the 2001 squad that won the school’s first outright Southeastern Conference since 1986. LSU also went on to beat Illinois in the Sugar Bowl to finish the year ranked No. 7 in the nation, the highest final ranking for the Tigers since 1987.
Green earned second team All-SEC honors for the Tigers in 2001 after recording four sacks and 52 tackles as a senior. He capped his career with 20 sacks, which still ranks fourth in LSU history.