A football player second, a father first.
GREG OLSEN IS ONE OF THE BEST tight ends in the NFL, and in the years since being acquired by the Panthers in 2011, he’s become one of Charlotte’s most prominent parents.
In 2012, his son T.J. was born with a congenital heart defect. T.J. underwent several open-heart surgeries at Levine Children’s Hospital in his first few years—surgeries and time that parents who don’t make $7.5 million a year, as Olsen does, often can’t afford. So Olsen and his wife, Kara, started a foundation called the HEARTest Yard, which gives financial assistance to families of children born with congenital heart diseases, to help those families through long hospital stays. In 2015, the foundation gave out $445,000 in grants and awards.
On top of that, Olsen is regularly spotted around town participating in fundraising events and helping in other ways.In the summer of 2013, for instance, cameras caught him assisting at the scene of a car accident he happened to witness in south Charlotte. And he’s gone to Raleigh to lobby the legislature to pass a bill that would make certain heart-related tests mandatory for newborns.
In the days after the Panthers lost by a single point in their season-opener against the Broncos on national television in September, Olsen spent some time with writer Bill Voth, whose website, Black & Blue Review, is an online news site covering the Panthers. The two didn’t talk about football. Instead, they talked about the lessons Olsen has learned since becoming a father to son Tate (now 5) and T.J. and his twin sister, Talbot, who turned four in October.
Here’s Olsen, in his words (edited for clarity and space):
This story is from the November 2016 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2016 edition of Charlotte Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
‘This Is How We're Going to Make Your Child Better'
Pediatric neurosurgery is technically and emotionally complex—and traditionally dominated by men. As Novant’s first female pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Erin Kiehna Richardson has had to learn the intricacies of a demanding field and battle sexism along the way
The Dumbledore of CMC
A surgery resident wrote a series of children’s books and created a special kind of medical magic
LGBTQ HB2+5
Five years after the furor of House Bill 2, the LGBTQ community—in Charlotte, in North Carolina, and across much of the nation—fights attacks on new fronts
Oh, Snap!
New ‘selfie museum’ in Concord celebrates the 1990s
ALLISON LATOS
The WSOC anchor on her hard trek from one episode of loss and grief to another—and the meaning of resilience
GOOD HEALTH
For years, Charlotte has been one of the largest American cities that lacked a four-year medical school. The health care professionals who finally made it happen overcame a series of setbacks, false starts, and failures, and they plan to use their clean slate to create a new kind of community asset
Summer Partee
From woodwork to retail, the kindergarten teacher-turned-designer has learned how to do it herself
Uptown or Downtown?
Archives illuminate how long we’ve argued over the perennial question
NOW OPEN NOVEL ITALIAN
Paul Verica brings a simpler version of the city’s hottest food trend to NoDa
TOP DOCTORS 2021
The annual list you can't without
