Former pro quarterback Michael Vick may have a nice, respectable fade and may even have paid his debt to society, but some folks have not forgiven him for fighting dogs.
According to the Roanoke Times, two online petitions at Change.org had received nearly 100,000 combined signatures against his recently announced Sept. 22 induction into his alma mater’s Hall of Fame.
Vick attended Virginia Tech for two years and essentially put the school on the map; it goes without saying that he generated millions in revenue. The Times reports that Vick finished third in the 1999 Heisman Trophy balloting—the highest finish ever by a Tech player—after leading his team to an 11-0 regular-season record and a spot in the national championship game. He also won both an ESPY Award as the nation’s top college player and the first-ever Archie Griffin Award as college football’s most valuable player in that same year.
However, a few years into his professional career, he was convicted of dogfighting and served 19 months in federal prison.
The university released a statement defending the pronouncement:
“Mr. Vick’s induction into the university’s sports Hall of Fame acknowledges his tremendous achievements as a student athlete—who some will say was the greatest in the history of the university. We understand that there are those who do not and will never agree with this decision,” it read in part. The statement also noted Vick’s remorse since his conviction and the work he currently does to “advance animal welfare issues.”
We mention Vick’s hair only because he recently said that Colin Kaepernick would have been picked up by an NFL team if he cut his hair and stopped wearing an Afro.
Read more at the Roanoke Times.