Autism Light: Cam Newton
Autism Light #445 is Cam Newton.
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| Cam Newton (2014/Keith Allison) |
Cam Newton is the quarterback for the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers (Autism Light #362). He is from Atlanta, Georgia and has a residence in Charlotte, North Carolina. Newton played his college football at Auburn University. He is the first player since 1950, “to within a one-year span, be awarded the Heisman Trophy, win a national championship, and become the first overall pick in an NFL draft (Wikipedia: Cam Newton).” Cam Newton is an Autism Light because of the kindness he showed in the Summer of 2015 to a six-year-old boy named Jaxon Shytle who has autism.
Jaxon Shytle is a big fan of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. Because of the excessive stimulation at an actual NFL game, Jaxon has not been taken to a Carolina Panthers game yet. He watches Carolina Panther games on television and in the Summer of 2015, Jaxon’s father, Alan Winninger, took him to see the team at the Carolina Panthers training camp in South Carolina. At the practice, Jaxon was able to play catch with Cam Newton. The highlight of his experience with the star quarterback was when Cam Newton gave Jaxon the football to keep.
Alan Winninger was thankful his son was able to meet Cam Newton, saying, “This is something that will affect him forever, and it probably helped his progression being autistic. Now, he’s got something he can relate to and be a part of (Fox 46, Robin Kanady, 6-year-old Autistic Boy Got Football from Cam Newton, January 25, 2016).”
Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2011 and has been their starter since his rookie season. He has led the Carolina Panthers to a spot in Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, after a successful 2015-2016 season where they went 15-1 and won the National Football Conference. You can check out Cam Newton’s career statistics at NFL.com.
Social Media: You can follow news about Cam Newton on the following social media areas.
The following is a tweet that Autism Speaks put out on Twitter about Cam Newton’s remarkable kindness to Jaxon.
Cam Newton’s act of kindness leaves lasting impact on boy with #autism >> https://t.co/LN69DsNjne @CameronNewton pic.twitter.com/e3TbV54tQF— Autism Speaks (@autismspeaks) January 27, 2016
Special thanks to Cam Newton for being an Autism Light. His kindness to a boy with autism is an example to other athletes who have the potential to brighten the lives of people who look up to them as heroes. To read other posts about athletes that have been featured on this blog visit the Autism Light Sports Page.
Autism Light honors diverse heroes to the world of autism.
The photo of Cam Newton was taken by Keith Allison in 2014 and is in the Creative Commons of Wikipedia.
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