Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch isn’t giving back to his hometown simply by making the team’s final year or two in Oakland more exciting and entertaining. He’s also providing a service to kids, along with an incentive.
Via Alyssa Pereira of sfgate.com, Lynch is offering free haircuts every Wednesday to local youth who have good grades. The sign at the Beast Mode store, spotted and photographed by Jarrett Bell of USA Today, requests only a report card. Per LarryBrownSports.com, the free haircut comes in return for a minimum GPA of 3.0.
It’s another reason to celebrate a man who shuns most of the trappings of fame and notoriety. And his efforts to lift Oakland up as its prepares to lose its NFL team for a second time will make the next season or two even more bittersweet, with plenty hoping that the sugar of a Super Bowl win will be sprinkled over the city before salt gets rubbed back into a 35-year-old wound.