The Big-Hearted Elementary School Teacher Who Should Be Seahawks MVP

What's This?

Seattle's raucous fans -- young and old alike -- have earned a reputation as the Seahawks' '12th Man.'

Image: Harry How/Getty Images

By Sam Laird2014-01-16 01:19:51 UTC

Fridays are spirit days at Kimball Elementary School in Seattle, and students are encouraged to wear jerseys of their favorite local sports teams. Lately, that means they don the blue, green and silver duds of the Seahawks. The Emerald City's NFL heavyweights are currently making a Super Bowl push behind likable star players and a raucous rooting section known as the "12th man."

Kevin Zelko sees the kids in their Seahawks jerseys every single Friday, there at Kimball Elementary. Little Russell Wilsons walk the halls. Miniature Marshawn Lynchs crowd the cafeteria. But he also sees the other kids at Kimball. The kids whose parents can't afford jerseys. The kids who are part of the 70% of Kimball students whose families' low incomes qualify them for free lunch. The kids who root for the Seahawks just as hard as anyone, but feel left out when more well-to-do classmates strut their stuff on Fridays.

Zelko teaches special education at Kimball. It's a full-time job, and on many weekends he goes to Seahawks home games. Not to get drunk and watch football, though. He lugs 70 pounds of booze up and down the aisles of CenturyLink Field as a beer vendor. He enjoys the people and the work, the camaraderie of it all. Plus it helps him afford gifts for friends and family when the holidays roll around each year.

So Zelko sees it all. He sees how the 12th Man goes crazy for its Seahawks on Sundays at CenturyLink. He sees the kids that can't afford jerseys to wear to Kimball's spirit Fridays. And he sees the way Seattle — the entire city, really — is currently rallying around the 'Hawks, who with a home win on Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers will earn a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII.

Talking with his girlfriend last Sunday night, Zelko decided to do something. Something to make the kids who can't afford jerseys feel a part of the team — both at Kimball and in Seattle.

"Getting to participate with your peers in what everyone is excited about — and right now that's the Seahawks — is a huge deal," Zelko tells Mashable. "In the entire city right now, it seems like every conversation anyone has is about the Seahawks. The kids experience that too and for them to smile in their jerseys of Fridays and cheer for the Seahawks on Sundays would be so great for them."

So Zelko took to the Internet. He set up a crowdfunding campaign using the site GoFundMe to solicit donations. On Friday morning he'll deliver jerseys to as many of the kids who can't afford them as possible. Just in time for spirit day. Just in time for Sunday's showdown against the rival 49ers.

Zelko, however, is no stranger to the social web. His Twitter handle — @Msbeervendor — refers to his former days as a suds salesman at Seattle Mariners baseball games. A few years back he created the account and set up his own system for fans at Mariners games: If you tweeted him your seat location, he'd bring you your beer. ESPN, CNBC and a host of local media outlets picked up the story.

The GoFundMe page has so far raised just over $600. Zelko hopes to raise $1,000 — or more — to buy Seahawks jerseys on Friday (he gets a discount as a team employee) and bring them back to Kimball. He'll hand them off to classroom teachers, who will then gift them to the neediest kids, simply saying the new gear "came from the Seahawks." The thousand bucks will cover many kids, but not all whose families can't buy them jerseys.

Anything Zelko's campaign raises above $1,000 will go toward buying more jerseys for more Kimball kids. With a day and a half left to go, Zelko is counting on Seattle's 12th Man to help out some of its littlest fans.

"Hey, even just a $12 donation in honor of the 12th Man would be great," Zelko tells Mashable. "A jersey's not going to change the world, but it will bring the kids here a couple more smiles."

To see Zelko's campaign, click here.