On Sunday, Golden Tate used his hands to catch the Philadelphia Eagles’ game-winning touchdown pass and keep the defending Super Bowl champions alive in the playoffs.
On Monday, he used them to relate to a patient at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
Acquired at the trade deadline from the Detroit Lions, the veteran wide receiver has only called Philly home for just over two months. But just like his impact was felt in the Eagles’ 16-15 upset of the Chicago Bears on Wild Card Weekend, it was also felt in his new community a day later, when Tate joined a contingent of players who used their off day to surprise patients and families at CHOP.
As first reported by Matt Petrillo of KYW-TV (CBS Philly), close to a half-dozen Eagles were in attendance for everything from arm wrestling to arts and crafts on Monday. Wide receiver Nelson Agholor and offensive tackle Jordan Mailata were apparently selfie celebrities. Backup quarterback Nate Sudfeld drew pictures with kids. And Tate had an especially touching interaction with a specific patient — a 16-year-old boy named Ibrahim Boyd, whose right arm was injured by a gunshot in West Philadelphia over the summer.
Because of the injury, the right-handed Boyd struggles to use the hand he controls best. So Tate, a man known mostly for his reliable hands in the NFL, used only his weaker hand to color while visiting with Boyd at CHOP.
“I’m left-handed and I was coloring with my right hand to go through what he’s going through,” Tate said, per CBS Philly, “because I can’t do anything with my right hand … but it was really tough.”
After a big win, #Eagles players spent their off day hanging out at @ChildrensPhila.
Last night’s hero @ShowtimeTate got us started with some arts and crafts.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/h1CXUGJU76
— Eagles Community (@EaglesComms) January 7, 2019
This isn’t the first time Tate has put himself in others’ shoes in order to help children in need. The former Lions and Seattle Seahawks wideout announced in December that he and his wife, Elise, had sponsored a baby boy and kicked off a campaign to raise funds and purchase toys for underprivileged families with new children.
The one-time Pro Bowler has often attributed his dedication to community service to his faith in Christ, a devotion he shares with some of the Eagles’ most notable stars. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, Tate made it a point to highlight the amount of public dedication to Christian service in the team’s locker room, forming an immediate bond with quarterback and fellow believer Carson Wentz. Since then, he’s also developed an on-field connection with Nick Foles, another unabashed follower of Christ who just happened to deliver Tate’s game-sealing touchdown on Sunday.
Tate remains under contract with the Eagles only through the end of the 2018 season, but the Super Bowl XLVIII champion may have been the team’s most dependable target outside of Alshon Jeffery during Philly’s first playoff game. He and the Eagles will return on Sunday for a 4:40 p.m. ET Divisional Round showdown with the New Orleans Saints (13-3), who own the No. 1 seed in the NFC and routed Philadelphia earlier in the year.
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