Originally published on ESPN.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles spent his first NFL offseason trying to fix some mechanical and fundamental flaws in his game.
He’s spending part of his second trying to make a difference off the field.
Bortles on Monday announced the formation of the Blake Bortles Foundation and a charity golf tournament and concerts to raise money for adults and children with learning disabilities as well as first responders in emergencies. The event will take place at the Renaissance Resort at the World Golf Village April 15-16.
“You become a professional athlete and it’s a given that you’re supposed to start a foundation or a charity of some sort,” Bortles said. “There was never a doubt that I was going to do it but it was like, ‘Let’s take time, find what we’re interested in and what we’re passionate about, and let’s do it the right way and actually make a difference and hopefully have some positive impact.”
It is the concerts that set Bortles’ golf tournament, which will be Saturday, April 16 at King & Bear, apart from other charity golf tournaments in the area. Country music artists Jon Pardi, whose single “Up All Night” reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2013, Ira Dean and Buck Bradshaw will perform on Friday, April 15.
Following the golf tournament, country music artists Kane Brown, Joe Bachman & the Tailgaters, Preston Pohl, and others are scheduled to perform.
“We want to raise as much money as possible and have a blast doing it,” Bortles said.