Lockett is happy about the nomination for the Walter Payton Award less because of the attention it shines on him and the work he does, but more so because it means the work he is doing in his hometown of Tulsa and elsewhere is making a difference in people’s lives. Whether it’s the scholarships the Light It Up Foundation gave to 12 Tulsa-area high school students, or the job shadow program the foundation has established, Lockett has made it a priority to uplift youth from his hometown.
“Honestly, just to be nominated as the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, it really means a lot,” he said. “I’m somebody that doesn’t like to tell people a lot of stuff that I do off the field. It’s kind of weird for me, because when I was nominated, then everybody’s hearing about all the stuff that I do off the field. Sometimes you just get caught up and you don’t want people to know because it makes you feel like you’re doing it for everybody to see. For me, it was just a recognition that I really take to heart and something that I appreciate, because I’ve seen other people when I got here. I’ve seen what (Russell Wilson) does. I’ve seen what Bobby (Wagner) does. I’ve seen a whole group of people. Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, even our general manager John Schneider. You see the stuff that people do off the field and the difference they want to make for whatever it is that they believe in. For me, I wanted to be able to do that same thing. There’s a lot of things that I want to be able to do, but I understood that even the work that I want to do off the field is also a marathon, just like the football season. It’s a marathon, it’s never a sprint. I wanted to be able to focus on certain things, so that way when I’m done playing, I can continue to do those same things. That’s not just something that’s started and then it finishes when I’m done.”
Lockett has also made it a goal to shed more light on the history of Tulsa, and in particular on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre that saw the prosperous Greenwood District, also known as “Black Wall Street,” destroyed over the course of two days by armed white mobs, an event that set back opportunities for Black Tulsans for generations.
“Obviously, there’s more that I want to do in Tulsa, and there’s things that I have been doing, but one of the things that I think is really important between shining a light on your city but also shining that light onto the world. A lot of people don’t understand that Tulsa once was what Atlanta looks like now. Everybody sees Atlanta and they see the successful African Americans and all that type of stuff that’s going on down there, but very few people know that Tulsa was considered Little Africa—that was a nickname it was given. People moved from Arkansas and all these different places to be able to build this amazing community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 5-10 minutes from my house. Right there we had the Stradford Hotel. We had so many crazy things to where it was like they were about to name Oklahoma a Black state. That’s how crazy it was.
“For me, when I grew up, there wasn’t much there. I’m sitting here thinking there’s nothing in Tulsa, but you go to Dallas, you go to Cali, you go to New York, come here to Seattle, everything looks amazing. I always looked at it like we were a step behind. I understand now why we were one step behind, because once we had it all, and once it was taken away, now all of a sudden you have African Americans who think sports is the only way, entertainment is the only way, selling drugs or doing whatever is the only way. It’s because we don’t have that exposure to see what we once had. If you grew up in Atlanta, you see successful doctors, successful lawyers, successful whatever, but in Tulsa, it’s hard to find that. It’s because it’s hard to find it, but back in the day it wasn’t. It was something that was literally right there—that’s a CEO, that’s a business owner, that’s a hotel owner. Everything was there, and now that it’s not, it’s being able to create that same exposure that was once lost so that we can be able to be great again.”
Of course, the other aspect of the Walter Payton Award is the on-field excellence portion, and Lockett is again proving himself to be one of the NFL’s best pass-catchers. Lockett currently ranks 12th in the NFL in receiving yards with 881, and his 15.5 yards-per-catch average ranks fourth among players with at least 50 receptions.
Since the beginning of the 2018 season, Lockett is one of only nine players with 30 or more touchdowns—his 32 ranks seventh over that span—while his 3,957 receiving yards rank 12th in the NFL over that span. Last season, when Lockett set a team record with 100 receptions, he was one of only three players, along with Davante Adams and Travis Kelce, to have 100 catches, 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns. With just 119 more yards this season, Lockett would become the second player in franchise history to post three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, joining Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent.
“He’s been a marvelous pro,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “I say that because of his consistency, and his consistency at such a high level. He has never not been at the top level of play. He isn’t always recognized for it for whatever reason, although I think in the past couple of years his numbers have been so crazy positive that everybody is aware of him. He continues to make huge plays happen in the game and he makes difficult plays look routine.”
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