Elk Grove’s 49er goes from a giant on the field to a giant in the Sacramento community
Arik Armstead is one of the more unassuming giants.
The 49ers defensive lineman doesn’t have the audacious energy of his teammate George Kittle, the bellowing voice of Fred Warner, the movie-star looks of Jimmy Garoppolo or the mountainous biceps of Nick Bosa.
The Elk Grove native — who stands out at 6-foot-7 and nearly 300 pounds — is carefully quiet and observant. He’s one of the longest-tenured players on the 49ers, yet his personality is mysterious to those who don’t interact with him daily. He didn’t reveal much in the often-awkward news conference settings with the media who would pry into matchups with Sunday opponents.
The 2015 first-round draft pick — No. 17 overall — has never been considered a go-to for reporters looking for quotes that would define a game or stoke controversy. That just wasn’t his style as a young player. He wasn’t after attention. He’d keep opinions largely to himself.
But there’s something that’s become apparent about Armstead as he’s grown into a man, an NFL veteran and a father. He lets his actions speak.
With that comes a beneficiary: the Sacramento community he grew up in that he’s working to help — continuously.
“It’s just always just a mindset of always striving to do more,” Armstead said.
Doing more started by Armstead volunteering with members of his church when he was in high school at Pleasant Grove, then creating a free football camp for kids when he first broke into the NFL, to using social media to encourage people in Sacramento to keep restaurants afloat when COVID-19 hit, to creating a reading program for students, to donating $50,000 to help kids buy computers for distance learning, leading to over $200,000 raised by Bayside Church, where his mother, Christa, has been a worship leader.
Always striving for more is the genesis of Armstead’s celebration every time he sacks a quarterback. He’ll lean back and rub his stomach telling the world he’s hungry for more.
“It’s kind of where ‘stay hungry’ comes from,” Armstead said. “Just striving to be better and not being satisfied.”
Armstead’s charity work
The latest example coincides with big steps in Armstead’s life. In the spring of 2020 he signed a five-year contract with the 49ers that could pay up to $85 million. He got married that summer and welcomed his daughter, Amiri, earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Armstead announced a $250,000 pledge in conjunction with the Mercy Housing California, a statewide group, to bolster the Armstead Academy, created to help under served youth in the area with after school enrichment programs, tutoring and leadership coaching. That effort was applauded last week by the NFL Players’ Association, which named him the community MVP of the week.
Over the last year and a half, the unassuming Armstead has grown more comfortable in his own skin. During the pandemic, when social justice issues were pushed back to the forefront following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, Armstead used his virtual news conferences with reporters to address issues outside of football.
He began by speaking out against hate crimes. Next he highlighted education inequality, noting schools with predominately Black and Latino students often received less funding than those that are predominately white.
Education is a sticking point and focus of Armstead’s philanthropy.
Roughly 37% of children raised in poverty in the United States don’t finish high school, according to Child Fund, making them seven times more likely to remain poor as adults. And according to the National Center for Education Statistics in a 2019 study, 30% and 23% of Black and Hispanic families with children 18 or younger, respectively, live in poverty, compared to just 10% of white families.
“I feel education, in the way society is today, is a big determining factor for life trajectory,” says Armstead, who played football at the University of Oregon. “Things are moving towards tech and services. Obviously, to get a good job, the standard is having a good education. So it really starts there for the masses of people.
“Looking at that, I feel like a lot of people don’t have opportunities and don’t have really a chance to be as successful. That starts when they’re young. A lot of things get decided for their life before they even know it. So that’s why I wanted to have an impact in making sure that if society today, if that’s how it operates, try to put young people in the best position to be successful in the future.”
Charity from the heart
Armstead made the two-plus hour drive from his South Bay home last week to announce his quarter-million dollar investment in conjunction with Mercy Housing in Land Park, just south of downtown Sacramento. The event included a speech from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
“It makes me very proud and I don’t take it for granted that this man who is a star and has a bit of celebrity is investing in the kids of Sacramento. That means everything,” Steinberg told The Bee. “There’s some who do it out of some obligation because it looks good. Arik is the exact opposite of that. He does it from the right place, from the heart. And he’s just starting, too, which is what’s really exciting.”
Steinberg indicated the city plans to partner with Armstead on future philanthropic efforts.
“I think the sky’s the limit,” Steinberg said. “We’ve been talking about bigger and broader things. ... I think he wants a long-term presence in the city.”
What that is remains to be seen. Armstead said one of his biggest influences is NBA megastar LeBron James, who helped create the I Promise School, which opened in Akron, Ohio in 2018 to help at-risk children. Armstead’s other influences: late rapper Nispey Hussle and former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who became a pillar in philanthropy and the social justice movement for his protest of police brutality and racial injustice in 2016.
“They inspire me to continue do more and more,” Armstead says. “Beyond that, my family and how I was raised (inspire me) and I owe a lot to my parents and my family instilling those characteristics in me.”
Eventually Armstead will pass along those characteristics to his daughter, who dramatically changed his worldview, his father Guss said.
“I think it gave him a different perspective,” Guss Armstead said. “I think he’s seeing a whole other side of it, and I think he’s embracing it. I see him smile a lot now. He’s always smiling, but he was really smiling a lot with his daughter.”
Added Arik: “Everything I do, I work with kids, I support and help kids. There’s going to be those things that I want for my daughter, I want for these kids as well.”
Adding to the causes
Since Amiri was born, Armstead has added gender equity to his causes. He’s become a board member for a startup, Syndio, that creates software for companies to evaluate their own employment practices and identify discrepancies in pay surrounding gender and race.
“Having a daughter and thinking of working in a company that helps with women’s rights and women’s equity, is really cool for me too,” he said. “I wasn’t even necessarily thinking like that before having my daughter.”
Armstead was the 49ers’ Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for last season which recognizes players for their excellence in community service and play on the field. He should be the favorite to repeat as the nominee for 2021. Many of his teammates this week posted about his $250,000 donation on their social media feeds.
“He for sure inspires me,” Warner, the All-Pro linebacker, said. “He’s just so consistent and diligent about wanting to give back and help in the community. He leads by action. ... That’s why he is one of our captains and why we all look up to him so highly.”
Indeed, the once-unassuming Armstead has become a giant in the Sacramento community. And not because he stands 6-foot-7.
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
