Ryan Mallett’s passing last June 27 in a drowning death created a huge void for Razorback Nation.
His sister Lauren Mallett-Hays and their mother Debbie have a plan to fill part of that void.
“We need something to do to give back,” Mallett-Hays said Tuesday.
Mallett’s mother and sister have announced the formation of the Mallett Family Foundation that will fund three areas related to high school athletics.
MallettFamilyFoundation.com is raising money. The family has donated the first $150,000 to be matched by donors.
“We have several things established already that the foundation will fund,” Mallett-Hays said. “Six high schools in the state will host football camps this summer. We will fund them and raise money that will pay for uniforms and equipment for the teams. They are free.
“Second, we will fund high school players who could otherwise not go to college camps where they might be noticed for a football scholarship. Third, we will establish scholarships at vocational technical schools for kids from the foster care system.
“We expect to fund more than six high school camps in the future, but we wanted to start small. We want to reach as many at risk students as possible.”
Mallett played as an NFL back-up quarterback from 2011-17 for New England, Houston and Baltimore. Before his pro career, Mallett was the 2006 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year at Texas High in Texarkana.
After one season at Michigan and a redshirt year to transfer to Arkansas, Mallett broke 16 program records during a sterling two-year career for the Razorbacks. He was the most valuable player at the 2009 Liberty Bowl, a 20-17 overtime victory over East Carolina. He led the Hogs to the Sugar Bowl in 2011.
He finished seventh in the 2010 Heisman Trophy voting. He was twice second-team All-SEC.
“This is something Ryan talked about when he signed his NFL contract and we are finally going to get it done,” Mallett-Hays said.
After his pro career, Mallett coached two years at Mountain Home High School as an assistant working primarily with quarterbacks. He was head coach for one season at White Hall High School. He told reporters just before his death that his second team at White Hall was experienced in his system and the expectations were high.
“Ryan had a soft spot for kids from single-parent homes or in the foster care system, so that’s going to be part of our focus,” Mallett-Hays said.
“The idea for all of this hit my mother and I in the days after his death as all of the stories began to come out that we had never heard. They were about how many people loved Ryan and how many lives he’d touched. We just felt that these are the type of people who would care about helping our youth and helping to keep Ryan’s legacy alive.”
