ATLANTA — Falcons player Jamon Brown is donating to the funeral expenses of former NFL quarterback Jared Lorenzen in the hopes of showing that people come before football rivalries.
Brown is donating $5,000 to the funeral arrangements, WHAS in Louisville reported. Lorenzen, a former quarterback for the New York Giants, died last week after being hospitalized for an infection, kidney and heart issues.
While he only ever played four games in the NFL, Lorenzen was a star at the University of Kentucky, where he was beloved both for his big arm and big figure.
Brown, an offensive lineman for the Falcons, played for rival University of Louisville.
While those schools are fierce rivals on the field, Brown said he wanted his donation to show that the larger football family still sticks together.
“Obviously, growing up, watching him play against my Lousiville Cardinals, I knew he was, you know, a legend,” Brown told WHAS. “This was an opportunity for me and for a lot of, you know, people that grow up in that Kentucky and U of L rivalry. I wanted to display kind of an act of us setting our differences aside from the rivalry and coming together, cause at the end of the day together we can.”
On Twitter, Brown’s charitable foundation, the Jamon Brown Foundation, wrote: “Honored to support the Family of #TheHeftyLefty.”
Brown was joined in helping pay for the funeral by fellow Louisville football alums Deion Branch and Chris Redman.
Lorenzen’s services will be held Wednesday in Edgewood, Kentucky.
Brown spent signed with the Falcons as a free agent in March and is entering his fifth NFL season.
MORE SPORTS HEADLINES