Georgia Magazine - January 2022 - 42

Hometown HEROES
By Amber Lanier Nagle
Malcolm Mitchell: Football champion
becomes literacy crusader
M
ost Georgians know Malcolm Mitchell as the former University
of Georgia (UGA) wide receiver who played for the New
England Patriots in the National Football League, but kids
know him for something else: reading.
He grips the mic at elementary school reading rallies and recites a
mantra. " In order to succeed, you have to ... "
" Read! " the children scream in unison.
A voracious reader-turned-author who launched the Read with
Malcolm initiative and the Share the Magic Foundation, Mitchell is a
respected voice in the national literacy community-quite a twist of fate
for the 28-year-old Valdosta native who once struggled to read.
" Growing up, I loved sports, especially football, but I wasn't the best
student, " he says. " I thought: 'What difference does it make if I make a
C? A C will get me to the next grade-same as an A-and it's less work.' "
After he graduated from Valdosta High School, Mitchell moved to
UGA in Athens to play football for the Bulldogs.
" It didn't take long to realize I was in trouble in the classroom. I was
not a strong or productive reader, " he remembers. " I decided to
approach reading like I approached football-by practicing. I practiced
reading children's books and worked my way up from there. "
Mitchell's reading skills improved, and he discovered that he
enjoyed the activity. One day as he browsed the shelves of the Barnes &
Noble bookstore in Athens, he asked another customer to recommend a
good book to read. The stranger, Kathy Rackley, suggested a book she
and others were reading in a book club. Mitchell's face lit up.
" I immediately asked her if I could join the book club, " he says.
He joined and loved the experience, even though he had little in
common with the other members, who were older, white women.
" None of that mattered, " he says. " We connected because of our
passion for books and reading. "
Books became front and center for the UGA wide receiver.
He began visiting schools and reading to kids. As he approached
graduation in 2016, Mitchell signed a contract with the New England
Patriots and also self-published " The Magician's Hat, " a book
re-published two years later by Scholastic, as part of a three-book
contract.
" And I started the Share the Magic Foundation, readwithmalcolm.
Free reading challenge
The Share the Magic Foundation is hosting its fi fth
global reading competition, in which pre-K through
eighth grade classrooms worldwide compete to read for
the most minutes. READBowl: The World Championship
of Reading kicks off Jan. 10 and runs through Feb. 6. Any
pre-K-eighth grade class in the world (public, private,
charter or home school) can participate by registering,
reading and logging its minutes. Malcom Mitchell will
crown the world champions online on Super Bowl Sunday,
Feb. 13. Learn more at readwithmalcolm.com/readbowl.
42 Georgia Magazine January 2022
com, to promote reading challenges, organize school events and provide
books to kids to help them read their way to better futures. We've
touched well over 300,000 students across the country and given away
thousands of books, " he says.
Although he was part of a Super Bowl-winning team, Mitchell says
he's most proud of his accomplishments off the football field: improving
his own reading skills, writing books for children and promoting literacy
to a new generation of readers.
" When you give a child a book, you give him hope, " he says. " Join
me in giving hope to more children. "
Amber Lanier Nagle is a freelance writer living in Adairsville.
SHARE THE MAGIC FOUNDATION
http://readwithmalcolm.com http://readwithmalcolm.com http://www.readwithmalcolm.com/readbowl
Georgia Magazine - January 2022

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