FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Safety Devin McCourty received the New England Patriots 2014 Ron Burton Community Service Award at Monday evening’s Patriots Premiere on the Field event.
The Ron Burton Award is given to the player who is seen as a community leader involved in charitable work off the field. The late Ron Burton, the first player drafted by the Patriots in the franchise’s history, set the model for how a Patriots player should act both on and off the field.
Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft presented the award to McCourty.
The Patriots drafted McCourty in the first round of the 2010 draft. He has gone on to be a Pro Bowl-caliber player and has been named an All-Pro Second Team player at both cornerback and safety. McCourty is also a team captain and leader of the Patriots’ defense.
McCourty's work extends off the field as he has been a regular participant since his arrival in Foxborough in the organization’s community Tuesday events (the players’ only off day each week). He also started his own foundation with his twin brother and Tennessee Titans cornerback, Jason, called McCourty Twins Tackle Sickle Cell -- an organization to help fight sickle cell disease, which is one that as affected their family.
McCourty joins Joe Andruzzi (2003), Troy Brown (2004), Matt Light (2005), Jarvis Green (2006), Ty Warren (2007), Larry Izzo (2008), Kevin Faulk (2009), Vince Wilfork (2010), Jerod Mayo (2011), Zoltan Mesko (2012) and Matthew Slater (2013) as winners of the award.