49ers: 3 times San Francisco made us proud off the field

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Anquan Boldin San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

No. 1: The Global Humanitarian, 49ers WR Anquan Boldin

It would be remiss to have this list and not include Anquan Boldin, the former 49ers wide receiver. Boldin, the 2015 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recipient, is the first (and currently only) award winner to represent the 49ers.

Boldin through his Anquan Boldin Foundation has done numerous amounts of charitable work for the communities around the teams that he played for as well as his hometown of Pahokee, Florida.

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Some of his acts of charity included things such as creating summer enrichment programs for students that needed extra help, giving out scholarships dollars to graduating seniors and providing new equipment to sports teams.

Boldin did not just help people in the various communities he lived in. No, his work didn’t stop there. In 2012, he took a trip to Ethiopia to help build infrastructure for drought-stricken rural communities.

Boldin established himself as a global humanitarian, first acknowledging issues that were close to home while not ignoring his fellow humans overseas.

In his acceptance speech for the award, Boldin mentioned that early on in his career he was just living life without a purpose. He soon found out there was much more to it, “I understand what my purpose is now, and that’s to honor God in everything I do on the field, off the field,” Boldin told the crowd.

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Boldin was ever-deserving of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2015 and having him be the first 49ers player to be presented the award was a great moment of pride for the organization. Boldin was the first, but seeing various 49ers players level of engagement with their communities, he will hopefully not be the last.