Carter’s Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX last month
By Teresa Sargeant
Reporter
Apopka High School alumnus Jalen Carter was granted the key to the city for winning the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles and hosting free football camps for local youth.
An estimated 500 people turned out for the city’s celebration of Carter on Saturday, March 8, on Fifth Street in downtown Apopka. The ceremony included performances by the Apopka Blue Darters Marching Band and cheerleaders, and remarks by local dignitaries and Carter’s former football coaches. After the ceremony, BlueMoon Band performed live music for the rest of the night.
After graduating from high school, Carter, 23, played three seasons at the University of Georgia.
Apopka Commissioner Nadia Anderson spotlighted Carter’s numerous accolades such as being a two-time NCAA football champion and a first-round draft pick of the Eagles, in which he plays defensive lineman.
“We are all a village, and we all know if it wasn’t for us, the teachers, the educators, the coaches, right, the community leaders and stakeholders that he would not be here,” Anderson said. “So we want to give a round of applause to all the people that have impacted his life. It goes without saying absolutely, the mother in the family.”
After remarks from Anderson and Carter’s former coaches, Mayor Bryan Nelson presented Carter the key to the city for the athlete’s contributions on and off the field. For the past three years, Carter operated free football camps for local youth at Apopka High School.
“It’s great to be an awesome athlete, it’s great to be a great singer. It’s a great to be whatever, but you got to give back to your community, show that you have pride from where you came from, that you’re going to make the next generation even better than you are,” Nelson said. “So, Jalen, we are so proud of what you’ve done on ball field, but off the ball field as well.”
Carter did not speak at the ceremony and was unavailable for comment afterward.
According to Anthony Fieldings, who spoke at the event, he and other coaches in Carter’s life knew he was destined for greatness on the football field. Fieldings watched Carter transform from a shy youth to a humble and gracious person.
“You’ve never seen Jalen without a smile on his face, how humble he is, how gracious he is, and thankful for everyone that’s contributed to his life,” Fieldings said. “I just want to tell him how proud I am of the young man that I see, because he used to be a very shy young man, not very talkative to anybody. And you see him in his interviews – I’m not going to cry – you see him in his interviews, and I just sit back and I just smile, you know, because I know the journey that he’s been on.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the location of Jalen Carter’s football camp.
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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