Buffalo Bills rookie offensive lineman and 2003 San Lorenzo Valley High School graduate Andy Levitre donated $5,000 to San Lorenzo Valley High School to help build stadium lights at the school’s sports complex.
“(Andy) called me midway through the (football) season and wanted to give back to the school,” Assistant Principal Brian Mercer said. “I told him it would be a good start to the project if (he) donated money to the light project.”
Levitre, who will spend some time with his family in Ben Lomond during the National Football League offseason, had been thinking about Friday night games at SLV before he called Mercer.
“When I grew up and went to high school, we always played on Saturday afternoon, and we missed watching all the college football games,” Levitre said Thursday after practice in Buffalo. “I got to thinking, most high schools play on Friday night, and we can’t.
“I just wanted to give back to my high school and the football program,” Levitre added.
Levitre’s donation will be matched by the NFL, the same way a previous donation by another Cougars alumnus who reached the NFL was matched.
Jordan Beck, a 2001 SLV graduate who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2005 after starring at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, donated $5,000 to the school’s sports complex when he was a rookie. His donation was matched by $5,000 from the NFL.
The campaign to build lights at the school is in its early stages. The school rented lights and hosted the first night games in the school’s history in mid-October to test the idea.
The booster club deemed the lights a success, and it has started to explore ways to raise the money needed to buy and set up the lights.
The sports complex was built so that lights could easily be installed without tearing up the field, Mercer said.
Levitre, who was drafted 51st in the 2009 NFL draft, has started 13 games on the Bills’ offensive line this season.
After graduating from SLV in 2003, Levitre starred at Oregon State University, where he earned All-American honors after the 2008-09 season. The Bills traded their third- and fourth-round picks for the right to pick Levitre.
“He always does the right thing,” said his father, Gene Levitre. “We’re very proud of him.”
