Youtuber's quest to raise $250K for St. Jude gets attention of NFL teams, Pat McAfee
Tom Grossi, an NFL YouTuber with over 478,000 subscribers, wore a black St. Jude Children's Research Hospital shirt saying "This shirt saves lives" while walking on the hospital’s campus in Memphis on Tuesday morning ahead of a special fundraising event.
For the past 15 days, Grossi has been traveling around the country with a goal of visiting every NFL stadium in 30 days in an effort to raise $250,000 for St. Jude with the money from his videos. Grossi is halfway there as he reaches the midway mark in his journey.
As Grossi made his way to sign the Wall of Fame he took in every bit of emotion on a journey that began four months ago in his shower, where all great ideas come from.
“It’s a testament to the history of this place and what they're trying to do,” Grossi said. “Now, it's morphed into something that's so much deeper and meaningful.”
In order to achieve such a feat, Grossi needed to pick a charity that not only embodied what they were doing, but also had the same name recognition.
"I wanted to be able to use whatever influence I had to try and bring that recognition and raise as much money as possible," Grossi said.
Grossi isn’t alone in this journey. Jonathan Barker, freelance editor, has been working for Grossi over the past year and has been following the same path. Behind the scenes, Tyler Herrick and Johnny Rockford are putting graphics and shorts on social media.
From missed flights to editing in the car for six hours, the entire journey is worth it and all the adversity throughout the journey has been small potatoes.
“We're doing something bigger (than us)," Barker said. "We can sleep next month."
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Before embarking on his YouTube career, Grossi was a high school social studies teacher for six years. In 2015, after the NFC Championship in Seattle, Grossi made a video that went viral, which jumpstarted his podcasting career.
In 2020-21, Grossi was churning out podcasts and videos while teaching online, going on three hours of sleep daily. Grossi credits his teaching days for preparing him on this journey.
“It’s a service job in which you’re in the service of others,” Grossi said. “That’s why we do so much with charitable endeavors because it’s helping others.”
More: St. Jude's Dr. Downing receives Communicator of the Year award
Along with his various stops, Grossi gives back to his fan base by holding popup events, which in some cases, turn into opportunities to raise even more money.
Grossi’s fundraising efforts caught the attention of the Cincinnati Bengals, who donated a signed Ja’Marr Chase football. Fans have also chipped in with their own memorabilia to the cause.
“When we put our heads together, we could do some great things,” Grossi said.
The project even got the attention of Pat McAfee, as Grossi made an appearance on the show Monday.
Besides McAfee, the overwhelming support from the "Grossi Posse" has made the journey worth it since everyone wants to be a part of it.
“It’s really brings out the good in humanity,” Barker said.
Reach sports writer Jerry Jiang at JJiang@gannett.com or on Twitter @j_jiang30
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: NFL teams, Pat McAfee aid Youtuber quest to raise money for St. Jude
