NFL wide receiver Ramses Barden visited the Boys & GIrls Club of Pasadena last week, paying a spring break visit to the place where he spent so many hours himself as a youngster.
The Altadena-born Barden was a member of the New York Giants Super Bowl XLVI championship team in the 2011 season, and is currently a free agent.
Barden, an alumnus of the Boys & Girls Club Mackenzie-Scott branch at 2020 N. Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, spent two hours visiting with club members and answering a host of questions, according to a relea
se from the club. He also spoke to the members about the importance of doing their best and staying in school.
Barden was a member of the Mackenzie-Scott branch in the late 1990s, where his favorite activity was basketball. He attended Flintridge Prep high school in La Canada on a full scholarship, where his mastery of several sports earned him the title of High School Athlete of the Year for small schools.
Barden later attended Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo, and was drafted by the New York Giants.
“Ramses is proof that great futures start at the Boys & Girls Club, and he is a wonderful example of how our alumni continue to make a positive impact on the Club and the community,” said Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Rachel Estrada. “It was such a pleasure to see how positively our teens reacted when talking with Ramses as they realized that anything is possible when they follow their dreams.”
The Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena was founded in 1937 and today serves more than 4,000 youth, ages 6 to 18, annually at two branch sites in the city of Pasadena. Our mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. It offers programs in five core areas: Education & Career Development; Character & Leadership Development; Health & Life Skills, Arts, and Sports, Fitness & Recreation.