Levi was back for a visit at his high school alma mater, Midway in Waco, Texas, and was at a football game the first time he met Jacoby Burks and his family. Jacoby battles cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. Levi didn’t want their chance meeting to be just a one-and-done . He figured why not welcome a friend from his high school into his current family at Baylor University where he was a wide receiver and kick returner for the Bears.
For the next three years, whenever it worked for all parties involved, Levi and his teammates welcomed the Burks family to Bears’ practices and games.
A former friend from his days in State College, Pennsylvania, inspired Levi to take his relationship with Jacoby to the next level. Sam Rodgers, now at Syracuse, had co-founded the Syracuse Chapter and told Levi he should do the same at Baylor because the team already had a rare disease cause.
Levi agreed and founded the Baylor Chapter of Uplifting Athletes in 2013 and helped guide the Bears’ Chapter to holding its first events to support the Rare Disease Community in 2014.
