MIAMI GARDENS, FL —The Miami Dolphins today announced Kenny Stills as the team's nominee for the WALTER PAYTON NFL MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD. Representing the best of the NFL's commitment to philanthropy and community impact, Stills was selected as the Dolphins' Man of the Year and is now eligible to win the national award. Considered one of the League's most prestigious honors, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field.
New this year, all 32 team winners will be highlighted as finalists and recognized for their important work during the weekend leading up to Super Bowl LIII. The 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on February 2, 2019, the eve of Super Bowl LIII, on CBS. NFL Honors will be at Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Five hundred thousand dollars will be donated in the name of the 2018 winner. $250,000 will be donated in his name to expand Character Playbook, the NFL and United Way's digital character education program. An additional donation of $250,000 will be donated to the charity of his choice. All other 31 nominees will receive a donation of $50,000 in their name to expand Character Playbook, and an additional donation of up to $50,000 to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation, Nationwide and United Way Worldwide.
In 2017, Stills spearheaded a campaign that led to every Dolphins player completing paperwork to become a registered voter for the first time in team history. The initiative was created through a partnership with RISE and the Drum Major Institute, led by Martin Luther King III and Bill Wachtel. Stills later traveled throughout the county on a social justice tour during the 2017 offseason to see first-hand and participate in work to fight for equality and social justice.
This September, Stills was named a "Luminary Icon" by LGBTQ-rights group SAVE for his social justice work in the community. He has participated in countless hours of community service events during the 2018 season and has been a key figure in the Miami Dolphins FOOTBALL UNITES™ program, uniting groups of different races, genders, sexual orientations, identities and abilities in South Florida around the power of football.
The Dolphins have had three players named as winners of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award (Dwight Stephenson in 1985, Dan Marino in 1998 and Jason Taylor in 2007). Miami is one of only seven teams to have had three or more winners of the award.
To learn more about Stills' nomination, visit NFL.com/manoftheyear.
This is the second consecutive year that Stills has been nominated by the Dolphins. In his fourth season with the team, he has consistently utilized his position as a professional athlete to make an impact on and off the field. Stills is a two-time winner (2016 and 2017) of the team's Nat Moore Community Service Award, given each year to a Miami Dolphins player recognized for his involvement in the South Florida community.
In 2016, he worked with the Miami Dolphins and Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) to host a town hall meeting that brought influential local leaders together with law enforcement to discuss actionable steps that could be taken to address issues of racial inequality and unite the community. Items that came from this meeting included a police ride along program and CommUNITY tailgates, which brought local student-athletes, coaches, parents, community leaders, law enforcement and military personnel together at every Dolphins home game.
